Green Lantern

It ain't easy being a green superhero. The second green-themed crime-fighter flick of the year, Green Lantern is at least slightly better than its nearly disastrous colour cousin The Green Hornet, but it's still an awkward endeavour that stumbles far more than it soars. Dripping with heavily worn sci-fi elements that lend the movie a truly intergalactic feel, Green Lantern is an origin story that suffers from, well, too much origin. This is a full-on exposition party and the multiple flashbacks and backstories occupy so much screen time that there isn't much room left for the characters to do anything but get pushed around by the bossy narrative.

Watching Green Lantern is often like listening to a conversation that keeps getting diverted by the speaker. So there's an ancient group of alien warriors who band together to protect the universe and they all live on the green-ish planet of Oa, but oh did you know there's also a really evil guy who's been trapped on another planet, hoping to escape? Let's talk about him for a little bit. Oh, but enough of that. Let's go to Earth, where there's a cocky pilot named Hal Jordan (a cocky Ryan Reynolds) and he's a bit of a jerk who's always late, but did you know that he's still haunted because of a tragedy that dates back to his youth?

Well, enough of that! Let's go back to the evil alien, who's now on the loose and attacking one of the Oa residents, who ends up crashing to Earth! Back to Hal Jordan, who ends up being chosen by the magical ring of the dying Oa alien and is then told he will become the latest Green Lantern, which means he gets to wear a snazzy suit and create literally any object based solely on willpower (and the magical ring, too). But wait, there's more! There's a creepy, balding scientist named Hector (a creepy, balding Peter Sarsgaard) who comes into contact with some alien substance and starts developing terrifying powers!

There's also a young woman and lifelong friend of Hal's named Carol (a stiff Blake Lively, who is also young) who first appears to be a strong female character, but soon devolves into an unconvincing love interest and an unfortunate damsel in distress. And don't worry, because if any of this sounds confusing or complicated, there's surely to be a flashback to fill in absolutely every blank. Considering how much information screenwriters Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldenberg and director Martin Campbell wish to pack into the movie's 105-minute running time, it's a wonder that Hal gets to utter three words before finally facing off against the big baddie in the bite-sized finale.

The time allotted for character development is so minimal that the movie is completely devoid of any dramatic elements that could give weight to the proceedings. There's no reason to cheer on Hal or care if he gets the girl (since Carol is eventually reduced to standing on a balcony and pining for her hero, there's not much doubt about the outcome of the romantic subplot). The movie is so busy connecting all the dots that it loses sight of the need to give those dots any meaning. The actual ideas, themes, and threats that dominate the narrative landscape are potentially interesting and hint at something supremely epic, but while the individual pieces appear ambitious, the final product is anything but.

Campbell is an action flick veteran whose movies tend to be rollicking rides that achieve a grandiose scope. His Bond pictures, Goldeneye and Casino Royale, are two fine entries in that franchise and he even extracted some delicious thrills from a weak script in his mountain climbing extravaganza Vertical Limit. But his specific talents are out of their comfort zone here and he is unable to locate a balance between the exposition and the character-driven heroics. That isn't to say he doesn't offer up a decent action sequence here and there, since Green Lantern does feature some momentarily fun bits involving super-powered punches and green-tinged weapons.

The effects work is decent, too, if not entirely memorable. And Reynolds ensures that his charm is working overtime here, so while Hal has about as much depth as a Styrofoam plate, he's at least far more likable than irritating. But while these plusses prevent the movie from slipping below the line of mediocrity into something much worse, this Green Lantern's handful of strengths remain constantly undermined by its weaknesses. There are only so many diversions a plot can make before the whole silly thing collapses. Without some dramatic glue to hold all this together, the movie is just a pile of pieces moving in different directions. It's not aimless, but it's still messy.

It's nice to see DC Comics expand their cinematic franchise list beyond Superman and Batman, especially considering rival Marvel has attempted to make a franchise out of just about every title they figure is remotely recognizable (and done it all in just over a decade!), but this is a shaky start for a new superhero movie series. Green Lantern shows promise in its potential for gargantuan sci-fi spectacle and Reynolds is pretty good in the role, but the ridiculously inflated exposition proves a massive beast that not even Hal Jordan, with his magic ring and loads of willpower, can defeat.

A well-intentioned misfire, Green Lantern suffers from the sagging sum of its parts. The plot drags on and on before finally finding a finish line that feels like it has either come too early or far too late. Perhaps it's a combination of both, a product of spending too much time building plot threads and not enough time developing the characters who should be giving the plot some meaning. Or perhaps green superheroes are just doomed to underwhelm in cinematic debuts. Or perhaps this flick is nothing more than a playful (and expensive) reminder to keep your conversations focused and on track, because the alternative is ugly. Or perhaps... ugh. Now I'm just rambling, much like this movie.