It’s hard to take this shade of green seriously. Martin Campbell’s (Casino Royale) adaptation of the DC comic establishes the universal battle between the yellow power of “fear” and the green power of “will.” Unfortunately, this “info-dump” happens twice: first for the audience, then again for pilot turned superhero Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). We get it, already: green is good. Reynolds meets a dying alien, fists a green lantern with a ring and his saving-the-day-with-conjured-green-objects shtick begins. Every action/comic/sci-fi flick needs a villain, even if its name sounds like a laxative: enter alien Parallax and the Parallax-infested scientist (Peter Sarsgaard). Without the comic relief of Reynolds and Sarsgaard, the predictable good vs. evil plotline, complete with the requisite romance between Reynolds and forgettable lady pilot Blake Lively, would be pretty lame. With low expectations, you might have a few laughs.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.