GREEN LANTERN
Starring Ryan Reynolds,
Blake Lively,
Peter Sarsgaard,
Mark Strong,
Temuera Morrison,
Mike Dolye,
Gattlin Griffith,
Tim Robbins
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green,
Marc Guggenheim, Michael Goldberg
Running time 105 mins.
Rated PG-13
Best movie in 3D this year so far, and one of the best 3D movies ever.
Much of “Green Lantern,” based on the DC comics super hero, takes place in the vast reaches of space, and this us where the film excels. Moving realistically through strange alien realms could even have been the whole movie. An Edgar Rice Burroughs movie today with John Carter leaping around Barsoom could be extremely awesome. And “Green Lantern” has a lot of that awesomeness.
Upshot: A dying alien (Morrison) gives test pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds) his effectively magic cosmic cop ring, making him a super hero. Meanwhile, the evil that got the alien is getting stronger and needs to be stopped before destroying the world and beyond.
One of the film’s strong suits is the suit itself, in that it has the novelty of appearing instantly at will. Hal’s will. Better than that is the earthly villain (Sarsgaard) being a guy with a head that grows to humongous and horrific proportions. This peculiar malady comes from the stuff in the dead alien’s body which the guy examined, innocently enough. But then that stuff works on him all funny, which gets extra funny because his dad’s a senator (Robbins), and gives him cerebral power truly terrible to behold.
Some of the story seems a bit routine. Hal’s supposed to have courage as a Green Lantern, but fears he doesn’t, and is haunted by the memory of witnessing as a kid his race car driving dad’s dramatic death. Hal’s doubting that the Green Lantern ring chose him properly as the dying alien’s cosmic cop replacement takes up a lot of the movie.
And we can forgive that, just as we can look past a number of other sort of less-than-thrilling conventional aspects. A little bit of misogyny, for example. The filmmakers show a couple of token female aliens in the crowd on Oa, the home planet of the Guardians, but we definitely walk away with the impression that Green Lanterns are dudes who talk with prestige British dialects, and that when a gal says no, what she really means is yes.
But then there’s this H.P. Lovecraft-ish stuff that tips back in the film’s favor. It’s not a tentacled beasty from the deep, the Lovecraftian monster, but it is cosmic and ancient and looks sort of septic-related.
Further to the good, yellow being the one thing that can stop Green Lantern, this business from the comic books of yellow being the one thing over which his magic ring has no effect, this movie makes no mention of that at all. And I say good. That always was like crosses and vampires, just never made any sense at all. But the ring’s cool.
Especially in 3D, quality now with this new digital system and substantial glasses you borrow, one expects “Lantern” to create a lot of green indeed.
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