Overall, Green Lantern is a fun action film with science fiction and comic book overtones. It moves along at a fast pace and has gorgeous visuals. The performances are good, though none of the actors have much to work with: the dialogue is trite and the story holds no real surprises. Any disappointment I have is because I see so much potential within the film that could have made it so much more.
Abin Fucking Sur. Yeah, I know the movie-going public wouldn't go see a movie about a bald purple alien, but I totally would.
The movie opens with narration and visuals to quickly set up the premise of the film: the Green Lantern Corps was established by a race of immortals called the Guardians to keep peace and fight evil throughout the universe. A being named Parallax, which feeds on fear, would have destroyed worlds but was defeated and imprisoned by Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), the greatest of the Green Lanterns. Unfortunately, a spaceship crashes on surface of the desolate planet where Parallax is kept and he grows strong enough on the fear of the survivors to escape. Abin Sur confronts Parallax, but is mortally wounded. Before he dies, he crashes his ship on Planet Earth and sends out a signal to find a new bearer for his ring, the container of his power.
Enter our hero, Hal Jordan; as played by Ryan Reynolds, Hal is charming and earnest in his own way, but mostly an annoyance to those around him. We know he is an irresponsible maverick because he wakes up late for work and next to a woman he doesn't know. He is test pilot who flies recklessly, destroys property and causes the company he works for to lose a major contract, which in turn causes others to lose their jobs. Yet in spite of all this, the ring chooses Hal to be Abin Sur's replacement. To Hal's credit, he doesn't understand why the ring chose him either. In a well done scene, Hal panics as his jet stalls and he remembers the day his father, an air force pilot, dies in a fiery crash. Hal's life since then has been trying, and failing, to live up to the memory of his heroic and fearless father.
Of course, Hal does become a hero in the end. We don't expect anything less and what matters are the details of his journey and not the destination. Where the movie really shines is on Oa, the homeworld of the Green Lanterns, and the introduction to larger universe. I wish the film makers had spent more time with Hal's training, because it seems he spends only about ten minutes in the story training with fellow Lanterns, the mild-mannered Tomar-Re (voiced by Geoffrey Rush) and gravely-voiced drill sergeant, Kilowog (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan). The scenes between Hal and these characters are playful and pure fun, and I simply wanted more time with them.
The real star on Oa, though, is Sinestro, played with icy, regal arrogance by Mark Strong, and here is a truly wasted opportunity. Sinestro is the embodiment of Hal's inner conflict: Sinestro does not approve of Hal and does not see him as a fitting replacement for the legendary Abin Sur (I don't either; I am huge Abin Sur fangirl, too, Sinestro). Again, Hal is overshadowed by and stuck living up to the legacy of a dead father-figure. Yet, Sinestro and Hal spar only once and Sinestro sends Hal away with his tail between his legs. I wanted that conflict to go further, to see more of Sinestro pushing Hal's buttons and Hal learning to deal with Sinestro as well as his own self-doubt. Also, the film sets up Sinestro as a tragic figure in the literary sense and gives him the means to his downfall, but never actually uses it - the comic book fans are probably wailing and gnashing their teeth right now.
Another missed chance is with Hector Hammond, played (with relish, I add) by the nearly unrecognizable Peter Sarsgaard. Hector is the stereotypical nerd scientist with daddy issues of his own; his father is a prominent senator (Tim Robbins) who seems perpetually disappointed in his son. Hector is called in by a shadowy government agency to examine the corpse of the alien Abin Sur and is somehow infected with Parallax, which warps him physically and gives him mental powers (unfortunately, the film makers forget that Hector has these powers when it is convenient to the plot).
Hector would have made a much better primary foe than the alien Parallax for Hal; we learn in passing that Hector has known Hal for a long time and carries a torch for Hal's on-and-off girlfriend, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively). One confrontation between them is the classic nerd-versus-jock in which the deformed Hector bitterly compares himself to hunky Hal. In a sense, they are two sides of the same coin, both men were chosen by aliens to fulfill a purpose they did not choose; both dearly want their fathers' approval; and both are in love with the same woman. As with Sinestro, this conflict should have been at the center of the film; I wish Hector had been the host for Parallax rather than the incidental, infected victim.
I think the movie can best be summed by a line from Carol - she notes that Hal has been given so many gifts that he simply wastes. As it is, the movie is vibrant, often funny and entertaining, but it left me wishing for just a bit more.