MOVIE REVIEWS

Lean, Green, Pudding Machine. Green Lantern does an efficient job for someone like me who was after a colourful bit of noisy entertainment. No expectation levels are set other than to not be insulted, so by and large this does a job. This falls more in line with a comic book adaptation that has no desire to set up a broody and conflicted hero, no hidden agendas or metaphors in the villain ranks, so yes! It's got a little campy flavouring to it. Which is fine if that is what you ordered. The effects work is very effective, though the sequences involving one of the villains, Parallax, are hindered by it being quite simply a very silly looking being. The story has some credible complexities about it, but the writers strain to keep it simple enough for a younger audience - which is both a blessing and a curse since it becomes uneven and corny whilst still retaining a watchable fun factor. The acting is only fine, but again this is because the script is never sure when to give emotional heft to the characters, or when to add some dramatic vulnerability. It's a safe superhero film, a creamy desert to satisfy the sweet palate, maybe one that is flavoured with Chartreuse? In other words it fills a gap for a while and is then quickly vanished from the memory. 6/10 Footnote: extended cut recommended as a preference since it puts more flesh on the human bones.

It's an whole twenty year old, this - and I still like it. OK, perhaps it is Ryan Reynolds wandering about in his tiny whities, and he is most certainly at his most easy on the eye for just shy of two hours. He is "Hal" a pretty flaky test pilot who manages to cost his employer - mainly the equally gorgeous "Carol" (Blake Lively) a lucrative government contract. Meantime, this shapeless baddie to end all baddies - who feeds on fear - has escaped from his remote prison at the far end of the universe, and the eponymous "Corps" must mobilise to defeat him. One of their best falls foul of this menace and his ring - the symbol of the power of the Order - passes to the unlikely "Hal". What now ensues involves our Ryan in spray on leather clothing and wearing goggles that wouldn't conceal his identity from a blind person in some fun adventures as he learns all about willpower, discipline and the power of green! Meantime, there are some shenanigans going on with "Hector" (Peter Sarsgaard), the hapless son of the powerful "Sen. Hammond" (Tim Robbins) that sees "Hal" and "Carol" with just a little more on their plates than they need. The special effects are fine; Mark Strong hams up perfectly as "Sinestro" and the wise guys in the impractically long capes add a bit of fun too. No, it's not "Star Wars" and the script is pretty diabolical, but, still - what's not to like...?

<em>'Green Lantern'</em> is indeed a rotten movie. Given it was impossible not to, I already knew the reputation that this film holds - from on/off chat down the years, as well as seeing Ryan Reynolds himself making jokes at this 2011 flick's expense. I can now fully see why, at the beginning I was wondering if it could be as bad as its rep and, boy, it sure is! Reynolds' performance is pretty poor, this evidently came out in the era of romcom Ryan Reynolds rather than <em>'Deadpool'</em> era Ryan Reynolds; ironically, if this had come out post-Wade Wilson I think it, even with all other elements the same, would've managed to have made itself work. Or perhaps that's too big a call on my part. Blake Lively is actually alright as Carol Ferris (glad her and Reynolds got something from this experience!), while Mark Strong plays a typical Mark Strong role so naturally is OK. Peter Sarsgaard (great in 2005's <em>'Flightplan'</em>, fwiw) is disappointing as an admittedly lame character. Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins are wasted, elsewhere Taika Waititi appears almost unrecognizably (he hid his accent well!). Kinda surprised (but obviously very pleased) that this didn't kill the eventual possibility of Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool. Thankfully for him, it's evidently merely a belatedly humorous blemish on his record.