EXCLUSIVE: Green Lantern Review (2/5)

Much as I would love to call the latest DC Comics movie adaptation a success on a par with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, a stunning masterpiece in film that needs to be seen regardless of viewers' genre tastes, Green Lantern is anything but, falling into the traps of generic superhero origin stories and requiring too much suspension of disbelief from the audience. Opening on an alien world is always a dangerous risk, almost inevitably placing a mental barrier between the viewer and the plot by quite literally alienating them from the setting. Travelling to the Nordic world of Asgard after a brief throw-forward to a scene on Earth in Thor paid off, but having Geoffrey Rush explain the boring past of the Green Lantern Corps in voiceover for a good five or ten minutes before we even reach the first scene merely serves to ensure a total lack of empathy on our part for the characters and their situations. The haphazard plot devices continue throughout, with the writers clearly struggling to balance themes of romance, courage and light overcoming darkness despite a hefty two hour running time. This lame excuse of a script could perhaps have been forgiven if the casting had been spot on, however that is by no means the case: Blake Lively's love interest Carol Ferris is no Mary-Jane or Lois Lane, Peter Saarsgaad's antagonist Hector Hammond lacks the threat or presence to come anywhere close to Heath Ledger's Joker, and worst of all Ryan Renyolds' portrayal of Hal Jordan (aka the Lantern) is- at best- completely forgettable, a critical blow to the feature in its entirety that almost completely robs of its appeal. So what is there to like about Green Lantern? Admittedly, the special effects are consistently impressive, more than matching X-Men: First Class, and there are times during Jordan's training on the planet Oa where some gags did provide a few laughs to the point of showing promise, yet neither of these strengths are nearly notable enough to stop this feeling like a completely wasted opportunity. DC's past track record in the world of film has been hit-and-miss, ranging from the tedious Superman Returns to the sublime Nolan Batman series, but this can definitely not be classed as one of their better efforts, instead descending into the lower ranks filled by the likes of Catwoman and Jonah Hex- and that's somewhere no superhero film in this day and age wants to be. There are occassions where the faint air of potential gives hope that this might be a decent superhero film, but they can't possibly outweigh the wealth of shortcomings that make Green Lantern an utterly average affair.