Green Lantern

Green Lantern – Dir. Martin Campbell (2011)

"In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power
Green Lantern's light!"

There was a time when Marvel Comics was incapable of getting a decent movie made. Fanboys still have nightmares about the Dolph Lundgren Punisher or the previous Captain America with the rubber ears. Nowadays, Marvel rules the roost as they build to next year's ultimate team-up, The Avengers, while other characters make the leap to the silver screen on an annual basis. DC, their "distinguished competitor," hasn't had much luck recently outside of Christopher Nolan's Bat-films. The Man of Steel is getting another reboot after the failure of Superman Returns while popular superheroes like Wonder Woman and The Flash have been trapped in development hell. DC is hoping to change their fortunes with Green Lantern, based on a character that isn't a household name like Superman or Batman.

The original Green Lantern was created back in 1940 by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, a writer who was instrumental to the early days of Batman. Alan Scott was a railroad engineer who carved a lantern and ring out of a mysterious, green meteor. In the 1950’s, DC was experiencing a renaissance and many of their Golden Age superheroes were being revamped with a more sci-fi bent during a time where nuclear power and the space race were making the headlines. This Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, who has become one of DC's most popular and enduring creations.

Ryan Reynolds plays Hal as a cocksure test pilot, still haunted by the fatal crash that killed his father (Jon Tenney), also a pilot. One night, he inherits a power ring from a dying alien named Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison). Abin Sur is a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force created by a race of ancients known as the Guardians of the Universe. Abin Sur has been mortally wounded by an enemy known as Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown), a primal being that feeds off fear.

Hal discovers he is the first human being to ever be inducted into the Corps. The ring taps into the emerald energy of willpower and allows him to create anything he can imagine. Meanwhile, Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), a nebbish biology professor is infected by a shard of Parallax. He mutates into an Elephant Man-looking supervillain with telepathic powers.

As the newest Green Lantern, Hal must learn to wield the ring and save the Earth from the threat of Parallax.

Green Lantern has largely been savaged by critics upon release. It currently rests at a dismal 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, a low score though nowhere near as embarrassing as the 13% Jonah Hex. While I don't believe the film deserves the shellacking it has received, it doesn't deserve a whole lot of praise. Green Lantern is just disappointing and mediocre.

There is a lot to take in as the film acts as a formulaic origin story and an introduction to the heavy mythology of the comics. As such, the story gets bogged down with endless exposition told in the most uninteresting manner. At approximately 100 minutes, the movie doesn't have a lot of time to introduce the main characters, the concept of the Green Lantern Corps and their powers as well as their enemies and their powers. Yet, Green Lantern still finds time to grind the forward momentum to a halt with an inordinate amount of superfluous scenes.

The Green Lanterns take their name from a green lantern, which serves as the power source for their rings. When Hal Jordan first taps his ring to the lantern, he learns the oath before being interrupted by friend and fellow pilot, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively). He goes to the bar with her in such a blatantly Top Gun moment that when he starts to sing, you think he'll bust out with "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Then, Hal gets into a fight out in the parking lot. Then, he gets whisked away to the Green Lanterns' homeworld of Oa. Were those previous scenes even necessary? Why not simply have Hal speak the oath then travel to the headquarters to keep the story moving? Alas, this brand of sloppiness is indicative of the disjointed screenplay credited to four different writers.

Green Lantern is another one of those comic book pictures where the hero mopes a lot and contemplates hanging up his tights. Heaven forbid we ever get a superhero movie with a superhero that actually enjoys being a superhero. Hal Jordan has a cool job, is obscenely handsome, and then gains the ability to create almost anything he wants. How can he possibly spend so much time forlornly staring at his belly button? Hal trains with Green Lanterns Sinestro (Mark Strong), Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), and Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush) for all of ten minutes before he arbitrarily takes his ball and goes home.

All the angst is a disservice to Ryan Reynolds, who excels at playing snarky characters. In the comics, Hal Jordan is more of a straight-arrow, but Reynolds makes him more of an irresponsible wiseass who must grow into the role of hero. He's not my first choice for the character (Nathan Fillion?), but he's charismatic and does a fine job carrying the picture on his shoulders. That's more than can be said for the woefully miscast Blake Lively, who is far too young to pass for an experienced jet pilot. The filmmakers are obviously going for a Clark-Lois feel to the romance between Carol and Hal, but their scenes have none of the spark that Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder possessed. On the other hand, Mark Strong gives a better performance than this movie deserves, lending a legitimacy to all the silliness. Of all the broadly drawn characters in Green Lantern, Sinestro is the only one you want to see more of. Not to spoil anything, but, yes, a guy named Sinestro will eventually turn evil (make sure to stay midway through the credits).

A hero is only as good as his villains and Green Lantern features some of the weakest villains in a comic movie since Ghost Rider. Hector Hammond serves as a secondary villain, but one that adds absolutely nothing to the film. This is not a knock on Peter Sarsgaard, who gives the kind of mannered performance you expect from a lighthearted comic book movie. There are times when it seems he's doing the world's best John Malkovich impression. However, Sarsgaard can do little while hidden behind a ridiculous make-up job that makes him look like Rocky Dennis from Mask. There's also a poorly drawn backstory about Hal, Carol, and Hector being childhood friends. Aside from the fact that their ages are completely different, their shared history is only introduced halfway through the picture in one scene with a handful of dialogue. Then, you have Parallax, who is essentially a giant cloud of smog with a face. There is nothing exciting about watching the good guy fight a cloud. Did nobody learn their lesson from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Give the hero somebody he can punch.

As a summer blockbuster, Green Lantern will live and die based on the special effects, which are a mixed bag. Watching Hal create various constructs in battle was neat, even if some of them were goofy (a Hot Wheels race track, really?). The FX artists went into a great level of detail in creating the alien Green Lanterns. Despite being mere background filler, they all look unique and hardcore fans will have fun spotting comic characters like Boodikka, Stel, Bzzd, and Gallius Zed. G'nort, I'm afraid is nowhere to be found. Yet, one of the film's few strengths is also one of its most glaring weaknesses. There are over 3600 Green Lanterns, but not a single one could be bothered to help this inexperienced rookie against a universal threat of epic proportions?

Warner Brothers went with the decision to give Green Lantern a wholly CGI uniform rather than a physical one. There are shots where the costume looks cool, highlighted by pulsating energy. In other shots, it looks like a bad Photoshop job. Much like Thor, Green Lantern has a heavy sci-fi/fantasy element. Thor divided the story between Earth and the otherworldly realm of Asgard while Green Lantern struggles to find a balance between its bland Earth scenes and the planet of Oa. Both suffer from video game-style graphics, but Asgard had a sense of grandeur lacking in Oa, which looks incredibly dank and primitive, not at all fitting for a race of wise ancients. Martin Campbell, who is a competent action director, seems out of his element on a film so reliant on CGI.

Rounding out the main cast is Angela Bassett, who is thoroughly wasted as Amanda Waller, a shadowy government operative. If you're a comics fan, you'll know Waller is an important character in the DC Universe and should have been the movie version should have been the equivalent of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. Tim Robbins is also thrown in as Sen. Robert Hammond, Hector's overbearing father because everyone in this movie has daddy issues in lieu of actual personalities.

Audiences are definitely feeling superhero fatigue. As more and more of these characters are brought to life, it becomes harder for studios to differentiate themselves from previous entries in the genre. Elements in Green Lantern have already been conveyed more effectively in films like Iron Man and Thor. If it had been released earlier, Green Lantern may have fared better. As it stands, the movie is the by-product of bad committee filmmaking. It's a scattered mess lacking in depth and originality. Warner Brothers reportedly sunk $300 million into the production and marketing campaign, but pulled in a meager $53 opening weekend. The poor domestic take spells doom for a potential sequel as well as plans for other characters and the fanboy dream of a Justice League flick.

Green is a lucky color for some, but it hasn't been so for superheroes this year with The Green Hornet and Green Lantern failing to connect with audiences. Poor Green Arrow will have to wait awhile.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

Knight and Day

Knight and Day - Dir. James Mangold (2010)


I’ve made it known that I am able to set aside an actor’s or filmmaker’s personal life in order to enjoy their work. Despite his general craziness in real life, I’ve enjoyed a lot of Tom Cruise’s output over the last few years such as the Mission: Impossible franchise and Minority Report, one of the best films of the past decade. And who can forget his profanity-laced performance in Tropic Thunder? Cruise is an actor who enjoys working in big-budget, Hollywood pictures. However, you can’t help but feel that his couch jumping antics have dulled his star power.

Cruise attempts to play up his action hero persona in Knight and Day alongside his Vanilla Sky co-star, Cameron Diaz. Diaz is June Havens who runs an auto body shop in Boston and is flying out of Wichita after picking up some parts. She bumps into Roy Miller (Cruise) at the airport and winds up on a plane full of assassins. Miller dispatches the passengers, crew, and even the pilots before landing the plane in a cornfield.

As with all spy movies, there’s a MacGuffin at the center of it all. In this case, it is a perpetual energy battery (AA-sized) code-named the Zephyr. Miller claims to be a CIA agent who was double-crossed by his partner Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard) who hopes to sell the battery to a Spanish arms dealer (Jordi Molla). The CIA claim Miller has gone completely off his rocker and cannot discern from reality and delusion. Shanghaied on a globe-trotting adventure, June finds herself falling for Miller while questioning the truth about him.

Knight and Day certainly had potential to be something different. I didn’t expect Cruise to poke fun of his personal life, but he doesn’t attempt to ridicule his on-screen persona either. He simply coasts by on the same jittery charm he’s always had. The film doesn’t attempt to lampoon the familiar tropes of the spy thriller. Instead, it simply revels in them, employing cliché after cliché.

The latest entry in this year’s rash of action/romantic comedy hybrids, Knight and Day kicks off with the rom-com staple of the meet cute before bouncing back and forth from genres. Compared to similar movies like The Bounty Hunter and Killers, Knight and Day does action bigger and better. Credit goes to director James Mangold whose diverse filmography includes Kate & Leopold, Walk the Line, and 3:10 To Yuma. Mangold keeps the film from really dragging even if the action sequences come off as lightweight Jason Bourne. Once the action subsides, we’re left with comedy and drama that fall flat. The banter feels contrived and the plot lacks any element of mystery. As if Tom Cruise could be anything other than the hero.

Cruise’s character may be defined, but they can’t seem to make up their mind about Diaz. One moment she’s a spastic mess shrieking in fear, the next she goes into John Woo mode while straddling Cruise as they rip down the streets of Barcelona on a motorcycle.

Though first-timer Patrick O’Neill is the only credited writer, the script was passed through the hands of nearly a dozen other writers, including Mangold himself. Knight and Day is the kind of utterly conventional picture that comes from filmmaking by committee. Dull, toothless, and forgettable.

Rating: *

An Education

An Education - Dir. Lone Scherfig (2009)


The bourgeois, coming-of-age tale of a British schoolgirl isn’t exactly the type of film I rush out to the theaters to see. However, An Education was almost universally praised by critics and so I gave it a shot. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed An Education, but I shouldn’t have been. The cast is a collection of A-list British thespians and director Lone Scherfig helmed the Danish rom-com Italian For Beginners which I was equally surprised by, especially since it stuck out of the Dogme 95 movement like a sore thumb. I mean that as a compliment. The film was based on the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber and the script was adapted by Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity and About a Boy, both of which were turned into films.

Carey Mulligan (22 at the time of filming) plays the 16 year-old, Jenny, who considers herself far too sophisticated for the boys at her school. She excels in her classes and is well on her way to Oxford. Jenny enjoys art, existentialism, French pop music and French film, none of which hold much interest for her friends or her decidedly middle-class parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour). Her life forever changes on one fateful, rainy day when she and her cello are given a lift by the handsome David (Peter Sarsgaard). This dashing older man welcomes Jenny into his Bohemian existence. He introduces her to his best friend, the equally urbane Danny (Dominic Cooper), and his girlfriend, the dim Helen (the underrated Rosamund Pike). Jenny’s life becomes a whirlwind of art auctions, jazz clubs, concerts, and fancy restaurants. David even takes her to Paris.

And what do Jenny’s parents think? You’d figure they would blow the roof off their suburban home at the idea of a man dating their underage daughter. But, David pours on the charm and wins them over easily. He even convinces them he’s pals with C.S. Lewis. David’s proclivity for bending the truth should have been the first clue that something was up with him. Other clues stare Jenny right in the face when she witnesses David and Danny “liberate” an antique map from an old lady. However, David’s biggest secret isn’t discovered until the film’s heartbreaking climax.

Taking place in 1961, An Education is set at a time when Beatlemania and the swinging sixties London culture were still a long ways away. The duality between conservative post-war culture and forward feminist thinking is firmly in play here. Jenny’s father, in particular, wants nothing more than for his daughter to go to Oxford and make something of herself. Yet when David arrives, he sees a new opportunity. Why bother to spend thousands of dollars on university when he can marry her off right away?

Scherfig directs with an even hand with Jenny’s home and school portrayed in cold colors as closed places. This is in comparison to the warm and wide open spaces of Paris. Hornby has an excellent ear for dialogue, but it’s the cast who really pull the film together. Carey Mulligan deserves all the praise she has received for her star-making turn as Jenny. She’s witty, intelligent, yet vulnerable. With her hair done up, you can see a little of Audrey Hepburn in her, especially in the Roman Holiday-style sequence in Paris. Alfred Molina, known more for his villainous roles in films like Spider-Man 2, shows off his comedic chops as Jenny’s stuffed shirt father. Emma Thompson and Sally Hawkins, who shot their scenes in one day, add a level of gravitas despite their brief screen time. As David, Peter Sarsgaard is shockingly effective. His posh accent is so well-done, I had to double check his IMDB page because I didn't remember him being British.

An Education is a bittersweet story, one that is still full of life and romance.

Rating: ***