Green Lantern - D+

​Quick Hit: A good cast goes wasted in this CGI fueled monstrosity. 

For those of you that don’t remember, there was a Green Lantern movie once. It came out in 2011, and it starred Ryan Reynolds before he was in both Wolverine Origins (as a Deadpool-esque character) and then again as Deadpool in Deadpool. Deadpool actually takes the chance to make fun of it. And honestly, it deserves to be made fun of. It’s hilariously atrocious at times.

However, some of the atrociousness comes solely out of ambition. Making a movie about a man who has essentially limitless power that is an intergalactic space cop is risky, and Warner Brothers/DC went right into it. Money got ponied up for it, and it got made. The movie was well hyped – including a tie-in comic series. Seeing it in the theater I thought it was great to see some of the Lanterns on screen that I never would have expected – Kilowog (voiced wonderfully by Michael Clark Duncan before his untimely passing) and Sinestro (played capably by Mark Strong). 

On the note of casting, all of it is actually pretty good. Reynolds makes a convincing, if cliché, Hal Jordan. Blake Lively plays a similarly dull character as well as can be expected. There is even credit that should be given to Peter Sarsgaard in his role as Hector Hammond, because he hams it up to the absolute fullest. None of their performances are perfect, but none of them are bad.

What’s bad is the over-use of CGI in a lot of the movie. I understand that giving convincing power simulations that are all generated from a ring that is powered by a lantern is probably something that has to be done using CGI. But did Parallax really have to be a cloud? What’s with villains in the more out there movies like Doctor Strange or Fantastic Four consistently being portrayed as clouds? And why, GOD WHY, did they have to make Reynold’s suit out of CGI? Did they run out of budget or what?

Another consistent problem is the fact that the movie is always slowing down to invent romantic drama. You don’t need to. The movie is most interesting when it is completely focused on Hal and his struggle at overcoming personal demons, as well as a disbelief in himself. It’s also a completely different movie when scenes are located on Oa. Dare I say that there was probably a good movie hidden somewhere that focused on Hal learning to become a Lantern, along with the inner turmoil that someone like Sinestro would feel at having a human come in and immediately be adept at rebuking fear and powering will – Warner, feel free to send a paycheck my way. 

Unfortunately, there is too much in this movie to like. I turn it on occasionally, the same way I occasionally will submit to watching Wolverine: Origins. But hey, they can’t all be great. “D+”.

For more on this film, check out IMDB.