The Summer Cineaste: Green Lantern [Review]

Green Lantern is the fourth major superhero film to hit theaters this year (fifth if you count Super), and the only one of the batch to come from DC stock. Directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Edge of Darkness), the film is an adaptation of the long-running comic series about a group of intergalactic police who wield a green energy to defend the universe.

In particular, it tells the origin story of Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), who becomes the first human to join the Green Lantern Corps after an encounter with one of its dying soldiers. It also tells the parallel story of Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), touched by the encounter with the "dead purple alien" too, however for the worse. It also tells the story of Parallax, an entity of pure fear driven to destroy Oa, the headquarters/home of the Green Lantern Corps, because well, you see, Parallax was once a Guardian, a member of a race of immortals who...sigh. If just summarizing the plot is this tedious, what chance does a 105 minute movie have?

The original Green Lantern origin story is fairly straightforward -- Hal Jordan, a test pilot in Coast City, CA (DC's San Francisco) is bequeathed a power ring by a dying member of the Green Lantern Corps. He is trained by a high-ranking member of the Corps named Sinestro, who becomes corrupt and in turn provides Hal with his baptismal battle and a lifelong nemesis. Granted, this probably would've been the wiser (and far simpler) story to tell, but as DC already told it in their 2009 animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight, they seemed to have painted themselves into the proverbial corner. Campbell's job on Green Lantern, then, is to juggle three simultaneous plots, each in need of exposition upon exposition. The result is a film that gives its leads two to three scenes max in which to fully develop. Such condensed arcs force the film into utilitarian territory -- every scene must serve some explanatory purpose, reducing a comic built on the complexities of interstellar moral policing (as seen from a human's perspective) to what feels like a super-nerd recounting their favorite 6-issue run to a total newbie.

Green Lantern, if anything, is disorganized and unfocused, but it's not completely ramshackle. Campbell, best known for reviving the James Bond series (not once, but twice), knows his way around a set-piece, even when said set-piece is largely composed of CGI. And the CGI here is more than competent. As eye-candy, it's wonderful -- it's hard to think of something prettier to render in 3D animation than deep space and weapons made of light, and honestly, that's not something to take lightly given the subject. Half the joy of Green Lantern comics comes from the fantastical art the hero's power gives license to. His superpower, the ability to construct anything he can imagine out of pure energy, is played well in Green Lantern, and it's hard if not impossible to criticize the film for its more cartoonish aspects given the nature of the books.

Still, the books took their art for granted (given the limitlessness of the comic medium) enough to concentrate more heavily on their characters. This is an option, given the sheer number of characters and plots, that the film doesn't even leave open for itself. Even what thematic value the film has to offer is quickly simplified to rote dialectic -- the word "fear" hasn't been this heavily featured in a movie since Batman Begins. The result is hollow, however fun, visuals, and talented actors used as props. At its core, Green Lantern is solid enough popcorn fare, but tragically too caught up in its own desire to entertain to create any lasting impression. Fans of the comic will enjoy seeing Oa and the Corps rendered on the big screen, but newcomers will be lost in the murky back-and-forth between action and explanation. After superhero movies have come so far, there's no excuse for one that isn't epic or personal enough.