I have said earlier that I was going to explore a bit more than 40K on this site, and I've already discussed a few movies and such here. So, after my Blood Gorgon's review, I've decided to review movies in a similar fashion. These types of reviews will be brief (there will be larger diatribes for special occasions). So, without further ado: Chaos Corner reviews Green Lantern----
Green Lantern is a DC character not well known to the mainstream. Comics fans sure know Hal Jordan though, and he has some die hard supporters. I've never been one of them, but my brother sure as heck is. My expectations were low for this, as GL doesn't mean as much to me as say Batman or Wolverine and the like. So, here's my impressions:
The Good: The special effects were really good, no doubt top notch here. There were a few "iffy" shots, but the money shots were fantastic. Most of the actors were very good. Mark Strong IS Sinestro. I loved his performance. His voice conveyed so much feeling, dedication, and also fear and by the end resentment. The perfect combination. Also standing out was Peter Sarsgard as Hammond. He's a lame villain in the books, but here the actor had just the right amount of weird/loser genius vibe going. The director did a good job of making Sinestro and Hammond to be inverted mirrors of Hal. I also liked the (brief) turns of Rush, Duncan, and Clancy Brown. The actors brought a lot of spice to their short screen time, and made it a better movie.
The Bad: There was too much going on- it was another "overstuffed" superhero movie. The smart part about X-Men First Class was the focus on Magneto and Prof X- the others mutants were there, but the emphasis was how Charles and Erik are confronting both Shaw and the emergence of a "Homo Sapien Superior" race. In GL, there's too much to explain, and there's too many baddies running around (Hammond and Parallax and the Senator and Sinestro and some of those Guardians). They could have focused on Hammond, making him a pawn of Parallax, without the big P actually showing up ON Earth. Save it for a sequel. There was some good humor, but some of it fell flat. Finally, the flaw of casting Ryan Reynolds as GL is a big issue. Granted, he is not as bad as I feared, but he wasn't great either. In the face of Strong, Rush, etc, Reynolds didn't pass muster. Again, he wasn't horrible, but not the greatest choice. Hemmsworth WAS Thor. Fassbender and McAvoy embodied their parts. Bale and Jackman ARE perfect. Reynolds was blah. Not awful. Not George Clooney bad. Just meh. You don't feel to strongly for him; you don't feel attached to him really. If he were better, the whole movie might have succeeded.
Bottom Line: So, this is NOT the abomination that many critics have suggested. Not even close to the damnable depths of Wolverine: Origins, B & R, or Iron Man 2 (admit it, it sucks). It is a serviceable intro to GL. If only someone said "Hmmm... not Ryan Reynolds... he's a good guy, just not for GL...", this would be a great comic book movie.
As it stands, I would rate it 2 1/2 out of 4 Marks of Chaos.
Be well, my friends!
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