Green Lantern Fails to Shine

Summertime is blockbuster-superhero-let’s-go-to-the-movies time. Luckily, with “X-Men: First Class” and “Super 8,” movie-goers have a few good options. I say luckily because one of the most anticipated films of the summer, “Green Lantern,” just doesn’t shine the way a summer flick should. With lackluster CGI effects and a story-line more Oprah than Man of Steel, the movie turns out to be the first big disappointment of the summer.

Hal (Ryan Reynolds) still smarts from the death of his test pilot father in a horrific crash when Hal was a small boy. Like his dad, Hal pushes planes to their limit, working for the aeronautics company run by the father of his childhood friend Carol (Blake Lively). Unlike his dad, Hal runs from every commitment, whether it be helping the company, being a good brother and uncle, or  being the man of Carol’s dreams.

So it’s a little strange when a mystical green ring chooses Hal to be the next Green Lantern. Last worn by a dying alien recently crashed on our planet, the ring summarily inducts Hal into the Lantern Corps, a union of space cops who keep the universe safe. They use a mysterious force, a sort of green wispy cloud emanating from the “will” of all the creatures in the cosmos. Once Hal learns to harness the green energy, he can will anything into existence.

It’s a good thing the green cloud is so strong because a skeletor-y octopus-y creature named Parallax has escaped his imprisonment. He uses the yellow power of fear to suck the life from the creatures on which he preys. Headed straight for the world of the Lantern Corps, he decides to take a short snack break on Earth on the way.

Get it? Will power versus fear?

It’s like the self-help section of the bookstore mounted an expedition into the comics section.

To be fair, the movie draws this central conflict straight from the source material, a DC Comics character created in 1940, as America looked in terror toward Europe and the Second World War, afraid of being drawn in. He was revived and fleshed out starting in 1959. In the light of this history, the story makes more sense. Green Lantern is a personification of the concept “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Unlike many superheroes who are ordinary men with a super power from the outside, Green Lantern’s power still comes from within, from his will, although it is enhanced by the ring. It’s a very humanist view of the world.

What it means for the movie is that it ends up having the feel of motivational speaker or an episode of Oprah. The fate of the world, indeed the universe, rests on Hal bucking up and being a man. He’s repeatedly told “Fight your fears,” “Finish what you start,” and the favorite, “You’re not the same as your father.”

Can “Follow your bliss” be far behind?

The movie has other problems. CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) provides most of the non-Earthly settings and characters. Parallax, the Lantern world, and the Lanterns themselves are rendered almost entirely by computer, the 21^st century version of green power that can create anything. Sadly, the creation depends on the imagination of the creators. It lacks anything new or exciting. They might as well have just used live actors and call it a day.

The other things that are supposed to make a great superhero movie don’t sparkle either. Reynolds gets only a few good lines, lacking the wit that makes all the serious world-saving fun. The flame between Reynolds and Lively only occasionally sputters. It’s not the worst film you’ll ever see, but nothing in it is above average.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, the scariest part is the Parallax attacks. There are a few B-level profanities, not the big ones. The opening sequence shows Hal waking up in bed with a girl he doesn’t know. It’s not a sexual scene, but it does induce a few cringes for parents. Also, the dialog makes it clear that Hal and Carol have sexual history.

All this makes “Green Lantern” an expensive disappointment. My advice? Go see the excellent “Super 8” or the sublime "Tree of LIfe" while we wait for the next big movie.