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Green Lantern

In brightest day, in blackest night.... you get the drift, Hal Jordan an arrogant and brash young test pilot is wondering who he really is after a failed field test of a new type of plane. Across the galaxy Abin Sur a legend amongst the Green Lantern Corps and the one who sealed Parallax, an evil planet concurring alien away is attacked by his old enemy and badly injured is forced to crash land on Earth. Abin Sur sends his ring to 'Choose wisely' and select a new owner who upholds the Green Lantern way of fearless courage age and a strong will, which leads the ring to Hal. With a new shiny ring on his finger it's up to Hal to train himself and his will to protect Earth and his sector of the galaxy from 'those who worship evil's might' with the help of the other Green Lanterns Kilawog and Tomar-re, Hal must prove himself to the planet and  a legendary Green Lantern, Sinestro. Others such as Hector Hammond, a scientist with daddy-issues who contaminates himself accidentally with a Parallax sample and Carol Ferris an old friend of Hal's and love interest are both thrown head first into the carnage, forcing the newest Green Lantern to stand up face his fear and save the world.

Ryan Reynolds is a great actor when he's right for the role that it is, and yes he does make a good hero in the shape of Hal Jordan but he lacks the emotional depth of a man plagued with fear which is supposedly Hal's biggest weakness. Even though in reality it seemed like his biggest weakness was actually the use of CGI and not being able to do anything really heroic. Blake Lively has only one purpose and that's to look pretty whilst being the damsel in distress, other than that she just acts as the usual love interest as with most mediocre comic book adaptions. Peter Sarsgaard actually made a fairly adequate villain, it's a bit of a shame that when it came to a real stand off (of sorts) nothing really happens and instead the main threat is supposedly a giant brown cloud which sucks people up and screams a lot, even then the conflicts usually end with Hal on the floor whimpering about how he can't fight. I think the supporting cast should have had longer appearances with a bit more emphasis on the role of the Green Lanterns through Mark Strong and the voices of Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clark Duncan they could have had some decent scenes between the empty voids of said entertainment.

If Batman Begins and The Dark Knight hadn't been made and instead DC had made Green Lantern straight after Batman and Robin then i could forgive it as just another step in the wrong direction, but with those films under their superhero belts i dont see how DC could have gone back to the previous school boy errors. Instead of following the current theme of darker and more realistic origins, DC throws Hal Jordan into the old idea of cheap and silly visuals with no real underlying content, whenever the ring was used it seemed like Hal had the imagination of a five year old and in this case that's not a good thing meaning the idea of a ring that has the ability to make anything that can be thought off a wasted element. This really is a childish flash of colour and dazzle intended to hit an untouched fan-base and going way off the mark, making it a disappointing journey into the tale of a  hero that most people won't care about, let alone remember. To be honest i hope DC bury this ring for good and focus on the darker aspects of heroes which served them so well when it comes to The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel.

3  /  10

FIN.

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