Well, what to say about Green Lantern having finally seen it? I liked definitely, but is it the among the best movies of the summer? Sadly no.
First, what worked?
I'd say the casting was pretty spot-on. Ryan Reynolds as Hal worked well enough for me. People complain he's pretty much playing the same character he always does, and there's some truth to that, but this worked for the screwup version of Hal that the movie was going for. When I think of other actors who've played lovable underachievers there are few who come to mind quicker, even the other fan favorite pick Nathan Fillian. I start to wonder if he had played The Flash as people would've liked would his character have come off better?
Blake Lively, who I really worried would be the film's biggest liability, was also quite solid as Carol Ferris. IMO she was competant and loveable I can't complain about her. And she gave me one of my favorite moments of the movie with regards to the ridiculous implausibility of domino masks
Mark Strong's Sinestro was boss! he commanded every scene he was in.
What didn't work?
every other character in the movie. From the Lanterns, to the humans, to even Hector Hammond. Don't get me wrong Hammond was creepy and villainous enough to get by, but he wasn't important to the plot in any meaningful way besides keeping Hal (and the audience) distracted until Parallax arrived. Forgettable, nothing more. The main characters have deep history together, but their not connected in any way that the audience can feel.
I wasn't too impressed with the CG Guardians from a visual standpoint, not to mention the script lost some serious fanboy points with me not a mention of Ganthet or Krona by name, or any of the others for that matter. How hard would it have been to at least name drop two of the most important figures in Lantern mythos? missed opportunity.
But the biggest disappointment of all came from the character I liked the most. Hal's rise to prominence is supposed to be mirrored by Sinestro's fall from grace. In this movie we get no real foreshadowing of that; Sinestro is a good, loyal Lantern here from start to end. We see the forging of the yellow ring that's all well and good, but to Sinestro that ring was just a means to an end, which Hal proved was unnecessary by single-handedly defeating Parallax. In the end he gave Hal his respect and at least publicly showed restored faith in the corps and their power. We've seen nothing of Sinestro's dark side or of his ever disagreeing with Lantern philosophy, so it made absolutely no sense to me for him to then steal the yellow ring and put it on. That should've been a major payoff, when a destined villain crosses the point of no return, like the first time Anakin is dubbed Darth Vader, and this movie didn't come close to earning it.
Was it good? yes. Will I go see it again? pretty sure I will. I'm giving it a generous 7/10. I hope there is a sequel (or reboot) to give Ryan & Mark a do-over with actually something of substance to work with
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