Despite all the negative reviews, the crappy first trailer, the weird costume, the obvious Iron Man parallels and the vibe of desperation, the Green Lantern movie was pretty damn good. There were a lot of cheesy and crappy parts to it, but overall it’s a fun viewing experience. **SPOILERS** after the jump!

We're all about the logos

There is nothing spectacular about the Green Lantern movie – though there should have been. Here is a concept unlike anything else in comics – the Green Lantern Corps – and the movie absolutely wastes all that potential. For everybody who doesn’t know, the Green Lantern Corps are essentially an intergalactic team of space cops. So there are thousands of them, and a human just happens to get inducted. So whereas every other superhero movie (short of the X-Men) has dealt with that one superhero, Green Lantern could have featured themes about brotherhood and unity and camaraderie. Instead we’re treated to yet another solo superhero on Earth who must come to grips with his new responsibility all on his own in order to save the day. Green Lantern plays it safe when it comes to making a superhero movie, and that’s a terrible shame.

Though apparently there is something to be said for playing it safe. It’s a fun film. The lead hero is great, the costume looks cool, the powers are fun and the villains are appropriately evil enough. And along with all of the great segments in the movie, the overall makes for a good viewing experience. It’s definitely worth seeing. I liked it about as much as, if not more so, than Thor.

The best part of the movie are the horribly brief scenes with the Green Lantern Corps. Once Hal Jordan receives his ring, and after a few random scenes, he’s transported to Oa, the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps. Only three other Green Lanterns get speaking parts and there is really only one scene that features more than Hal and these three (this same crowd scene is repeated later in the movie, so I suppose two scenes). Seeing Hal interact with these other Lanterns and hang out in the big crowd scene is a blast. It’s different from all of the other superhero movies, and it really crackles with excitement. They could have pushed this feeling for the whole movie.

This should have been the whole movie

Of the three Lanterns, Tomar Re and Kilowog are really just afterthoughts. They’re pleasant, but you are immediately reminded of the actors who voice them and that takes away from making them complete characters. But they’re fun to watch on Oa, and it’s good to see them again at the end. Though they show up a few seconds shy of making their impact meaningful. Suffice to say, Hal is forced to fight all on his own at the end to defeat the bad guys. This movie should have had a dozen or so other Green Lanterns show up to lend him a hand in the final battle. That would have been new and exciting!

Sinestro is very, very good. The actor is brilliant in the role. He’s very regal and very sharp, like the edge of a blade. Sinestro is really the only reason I want a sequel. It seems that the filmmakers were confident that they would get a sequel, so they decided to save all of the best stuff for the second film. They used this one to tell the origin and get everybody familiar with the concept, and they’ll use the sequel to tell the really great stories with Sinestro as the antagonist. The post-credits scene definitely reveals that to be the case. So I’m glad that they were smart enough to take the time and develop Sinestro as a Green Lantern in this film. It should make his turn to the dark side all the more meaningful in the sequel.

Trying to cram both Hal’s origin and Sinestro’s turn from good guy to bad guy in one movie would have been a waste.

Ryan Reynolds is also very good as the lead. I’ve been reading Green Lantern comics since Hal Jordon was brought back from the dead, and I couldn’t really tell you anything about Hal as a person. I know what the writer would like me to think, but it never really sinks as much as the personalities of Peter Parker, Wolverine or some other Marvel characters. DC has never been very good on personalities. So Ryan Reynolds doesn’t so much play Hal Jordan as play the Green Lantern named Hal Jordan. The movie asks him to be smarmy and charming, and he does it splendidly. He’s a fun guy to root for.

And the costume looks really good. It looks bad in the publicity shots, but once it’s motion it really shines (literally). It looks even better when the black parts are black instead of dark green. The mask looks dumb though.

Hector Hammond as the villain also works out better than I had foreseen. Hammond is a stupid villain in the comics, and the images of Peter Sarsgaard with that giant forehead looked even stupider. But then Green Lantern doesn’t really have a lot of good villains. Hammond is creepy in a delightful way in the movie, and his powers are vicious – though they don’t do much with his telepathy. The fact that he, Hal and the love interest all knew each other growing up should have been given more emphasis. That could have raised Hammond into a bigger villain had they pushed that connection harder, though I think it was a good idea to tie him to Parallax. Hammond alone wouldn’t have been a good conflict for the space-faring Green Lantern. GL definitely needed something that threatened the entire planet because he is primarily a space-based character.

Which, again, is not something we’ve ever seen before in these superhero movies.

Sinestro

There are a lot of really cheesy parts to this movie, and a lot of missed opportunities. Blake Lively as Carol Ferris is only alright. I’ve seen some reviews where they say she’s wooden and bad. I suppose. I don’t really know acting well enough to tell. I thought she was alright. She doesn’t add much though. There’s no reason to swoon for her or for Green Lantern to really want her other than she’s really the only girl in the movie. They grew up together and have a history together, and that really seems to be the only reason both Hal Jordan and Hector Hammond want her. She’s nothing special, though I’m glad that she figured out that Hal was the Green Lantern right away. That made for a much better story than Hal trying to balance the two lives.

Most other side characters are as boring as Carol. Hal has a friend who helps him out with a ride now and then, and is in on the Green Lantern secret, but he isn’t good for anything. Amanda Waller is a pale imitation of the ball-buster she was in the comics, and has ridiculous hair. Hector Hammond’s senator father is just around to push Hammond’s anger into outright villainy. And Hal’s brothers and nephew show up in the beginning, and could have been a good subplot, but they’re never seen again.

There are a lot of little problems with the movie. When Hal shows up at his nephew’s birthday party, the local news is talking about him and his plane crash. The test flight was for some top secret super military jets on a private airfield, and nobody was hurt. Yet the local news station makes it their top story and uses Hal’s name. It’s one of those silly Hollywood scenes where the local news is always talking about something important to the plot, no matter how un-newsworthy it is.

All of the scenes of Hal doubting himself and his ability to use the ring are a waste, as are the scenes where Carol talks him into it. These minutes could have been better spent with Hal kicking ass. We’re told that Hal walks away from everything in his life, and so he’s now walking away from the Green Lantern Corps. Yet that’s not the case. He shows incredible initiative and guts in the test flight that opens the movie, and we have no idea how his relationship with Carol ended. Hell, they make it sound like they slept together a few times, and then Hal went on to sleep with more chicks. That’s one of the main aspects of his character, that he’s a ladies man. Carol just got caught up in that. Their relationship sparks back up in the film without any real reason why they are apart in the first place.

So seeing Hal ‘quit’ the Green Lantern Corps comes out of nowhere. When he’s on Oa, Kilowog trains Hal one-on-one for about 10 minutes by throwing discs at him and that’s supposed to stand in for all of his training. Then Sinestro shows him up and gives him a speech about needing to earn the ring. Rather than boost his pride, this just deflates Hal. He quits and goes home. Oh boo hoo hoo. Hal can’t handle a little light hazing as the new guy.

Of course he doesn’t give the ring back. He takes it back to Earth and uses its power to save the day at the first opportunity. So he really only ‘quits’ in word alone. But with so little time spent on Oa, his climactic scene where he confronts the Guardians of the Universe to put them in their place isn’t earned. It doesn’t feel like he has any right to be in that set piece. Though once he really gets into it, you really get a sense of what kind of Green Lantern Hal can become.

Like that old movie cliche: the chief of police tells the hero: “Dammit Hal, you caused thousands of dollars in property damage, you killed the crook so he can’t stand trial, I’ve got reams of paperwork to fill out and the Guardians are breathing down my neck. I should have your ring for this…but you’re the best damn Lantern I’ve ever seen!”

Also, what was with all the buildings and moving lights on the streets on Oa. Are there people living and driving around on the planet?

I didn’t have the best opinion leading up to the movie. I saw it as a desperate attempt to recapture the magic of Iron Man by taking the smarmy yet charming lead actor and having him learn enough humility to become a superhero. While I may still be right, it didn’t turn out as bad as I thought it would. I hope it does well at the box office and we can see a sequel, so that everything the filmmakers wanted to do can be done in the next chapter. Bring on the Sinestro Corps!