Review - Green Lantern

“In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let all who worship evil's might, Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!” Thus decrees the Green Lantern Corps, a mighty intergalactic police force and the subject of Warner Bros' contribution to the Superhero Summer That Never Ends. But despite that stirring mantra, and despite charismatic flyboy Ryan Reynolds burning up the marque with green computer-generated flames, Green Lantern turns out to be a flightless bird. Perhaps a colourfully plumed one, but bulky and awkward nonetheless.

Green Lantern begins with an old school narration describing the cosmic origins of the Green Lantern Corps so that average Joe Moviegoer can understand what the heck the deal is with these little rings energized by the power of will (which is coloured green, as everyone knows). The stylized storyboarding of this prologue seems to recall conventional comic book artwork, making it an appropriate start to the film. But it isn't long until we're dropped (literally) into a sensory-overloading chain of events that are both catalytic and cataclysmic. First, we witness the escape of the villain, Parallax, a terrifying entity that feasts and grows fat on the power of fear (which is coloured yellow, as everyone knows). Next we meet revered Green Lantern Abin Sur, fatally wounded during a close encounter of the Parallactic kind, hastening to Earth to find a worthy successor. His magic ring seems to think cocksure pilot Hal Jordon (Reynolds) is the man for the job, although we are meant to believe, by storyteller's design, that he's no hero. The writers and director Martin Campbell take much delight in depicting Hal as childish and irresponsible – probably more delight than we the audience take in actually watching Ryan Reynolds clowning around for two hours.