The last time Ashley and Veronica went to see a nerd flick with the nerd boys, they left it up to them to figure out the screen time and ended up having to sit through a painful 3D viewing of Thor. This time, Veronica took control of the situation to ensure we attended the right showing of Green Lantern in 2D.Unfortunately, she had to eat a bit of crow when we arrived at the theatre for the 7:50pm show to realize that it was showing only in 3D in the UltraAVX theatre at that time. Luckily, Scotiabank’s UltraAVX theatre has ultra comfy seats and wicked surround sound that easily distracted from the 3D factor.
Our expectations for Green Lantern weren’t high from the get go, after hearing many mediocre reviews from avid movie goers to nerds alike, but the movie needed to be seen on the big screen so we could decide for ourselves.
In a rather bold move, Ryan Reynolds is cast as Hal Jordan, a cocky test pilot who is granted a mystical green ring and given otherworldly powers and the honourable responsibility of joining a squad of intergalactic warriors to keep peace within the universe. A screw up in every other aspect of his life, Jordan feels the pressure of not living up to what is expected of him by the other Green Lanterns and defies his calling.
That is until recluse Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) and his new found alien-created psychic abilities decides to take his daddy issues out on his Senator father (Tim Robbins) at a large public function endangering hundreds of innocent lives, specifically that of Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), Jordan’s childhood friend and love interest.
This is the beginning of a one-man battle between Jordan and the fear-essence being Parallax, who tries to do his bidding through Hammond by turning him into a
big head bad guy determined to have Ferris for himself and take Jordan out of the picture. In a series of green manifestations of will power weaponry, Jordan uses everything his imagination can foster to try to defeat the fear-thriving entity and save his world.
While Reynolds wasn’t the only live-action character in the movie, he may as well have been. There was a strong cast of supporting actors, but they held no real precedence to the story and Hollywood’s need to romanticize everything is getting tired and lame. Sure, the hero should get the girl but in this case there was zero chemistry between Reynolds and Lively, making their involvement and the final scene seem unnecessary.
Overall, Green Lantern wasn’t entirely disappointing, considering all these superhero movies seem to have the formula down. But it could’ve been better. While Reynolds is pleasing to the eye, he doesn’t have the presence or depth to play Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. Too much stock was placed in Reynolds’ comedic ability rather than focus on who Hal Jordan actually is. His feeble attempts in playing the tortured soul struggling with his identity was mediocre at best and just lent to how the movie was set up with no follow through.Not to mention it’s really hard to look at Reynolds and not remember him in the enticing vulgar scenes of Van Wilder.
Images from Google Images
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