Green Lantern - Movie Review

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!

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is known for being reckless behaviour but is talented test pilot for the United States Air Force. While struggling to deal with his feelings with a tragic accident in the past and the relationship with his co-pilot, his life is turned up when a dying alien shows up and bestows a ring and a green lantern upon him claiming that the ring chose him as his successor. After reciting the oath, Hal is transported to the ancient world of Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corps, a organization tasked with the duty of keeping peace and justice in the universe. Green Lanterns use the power of Will which is channeled through the ring each of them wear. The vigorous training and responsibility of being a Green Lantern overwhelms Hal and he quits. When a seemingly unstoppable evil called Parallax returns to use the power of Fear to devour to whole worlds and threatens Earth. Hal will have to step up and prove that he has what it takes to be a Green Lantern and to save the people he cares about.

Being that I've never read anything about Green Lantern in my life, I wasn't sure what to expect. I've heard from people who have read the comics that the movie follows relatively closely to the original story. The trailer looked promising and I wasn't disappointed. The movie tells the back-story of the Green Lantern Corps and how Hal Jordan was first human to be inducted into the Corps. I liked the story and Ryan Reynolds brought his charm to his character. There were a few funny moments that had the audience chuckling.

The screening was in 3D and though there were some good 3D effects, these were few and far between. A warning to those who are looking for an action movie: most of the film is spent telling the origins of the Green Lantern, the powers of the ring and setting up character relationships. Only at the end is there a big fight between Parallax and Hal Jordan. I would also liked to see the relationship between Sinestro (Mark Strong) and Hal developed more. Sinestro is suppose to be the mentor of Hal and I didn't realize that until I researched about the characters. Despite these points, I enjoyed the movie thoroughly! It's a good fun movie to watch in the summer.

Remember to stay for the credits! Looks like there will be another Green Lantern movie in the future! Hurray!

Green Lantern opens in theatres on Friday June 17, 2011 starting with midnight showings tonight!