Fridae

It says something about a movie when its best scenes remind you of parodies of scenes from other, better films in its genre. In Green Lantern, that scene comes with a meet cute that’s an outright parody of the balcony scenes between Superman and Lois Lane from Richard Donner’s Superman (1978).

The fact that this scene is among the film’s best says something about the problem with Green Lantern as a whole: it’s so busy trying to be just like every other film in its genre that it never ends up developing an identity of its own or creating a world of its own that one would like to spend a few more movies in.

The story, as is deserving of any first instalment in a superhero series, is a coming-of-age tale. Like a medieval morality play (which in its day was what superhero movies are for today’s audiences), a protagonist meets various different personages representing different moral qualities to either seduce him to evil and cowardice on one hand or good and bravery on the other. Here, our everyman is test pilot Hal Jordan, a cocky lady killer defined by his lack of responsibility and maturity as he is by his skill and courage. His on-and-off girlfriend is aerospace heiress Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), who just wishes he’d put a stop to his hijinks and grow up. So it turns out that when Abin Sur, formerly the greatest of the intergalactic peacekeeping and crimefighting organisation known as the Green Lantern Corps, literally crashes into his life, Hal finds himself heir to a Green Lantern ring and destined to be the next member of the Green Lantern Corps, who harness the power of will to fight the powers of fear, here heralded by this massive yellow, glowing, Lovecraftian, seemingly omnipotent being called Parallax that feeds on fear. It so happens that Parallax is now about to destroy Earth, aided by nasty, nerdy academic Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) who it has possessed. Hammond, having felt rejected by his crush (Carol Ferris of course) and his Senator father (Tim Robbins) all his life, sees this as an opportunity to take revenge. Needless to say, Jordan will soon find himself in over his head with fear and a not quite readiness to accept his responsibility, and must find the courage he possesses to overcome that fear. Whether he finds it or not should be an answer readily known to anyone familiar with the genre.

There is no question that it is very well-made. Martin Campbell, the man responsible for rebooting the Bond franchise not once but twice (with Goldeneye and Casino Royale) delivers clipped, lean direction that hurtles long at a pace fast enough to allow you to forget how cliched the entire story itself is and how you can see almost every turn in the plot coming a mile away. Even the action sequences, normally the spice of all superhero movies, feel silly rather than awe-inspiring. The willpower manifestation that the Green Lantern Corps possess basically means that their fights are like extended classic Warner Brothers shorts, with combatants materialising various weapons and gadgets from thin air till the entire process recalls the same sort of violent slapstick comedy Bugs Bunny and Co. engaged in.

It’s no surprise that everyone seems to behave like they know what’s coming up next and are just acting accordingly. Even with a fairly good cast, the actors struggle to otherwise bring to life to their very flatly and unsubtly written characters, with the possible exception of Sarsgaard, who seems to be having way too much fun as he parades his new, bulbous noggin around, in a performance oddly recalling that of Jeffrey Jones as the Dark Overlord (another nerdy scientist possessed by a cosmic demigod) in the notorious flop Howard the Duck.

At the end of the day Green Lantern remains a well-made film. But it’s a well-made film without being a particularly good one. It’s looking in a few years for a reboot.