Reports of the Green Lantern‘s death are greatly exaggerated. It’s not Batman Begins, but from this fan’s perspective, GL’s cinematic debut is a solid effort worthy of the emerald avenger.
I’ll admit, I was beyond bummed out when I read online reviews that called the flick “a disaster” and “a mess”. Having seen this movie, I can now ask those critics “hyperbole much?” No, Green Lantern isn’t in the Superman/Dark Knight stratosphere, but it’s galaxies better than Elektra, Batman & Robin or Spider Man 3. Those were disasters. This is a fun, faithful movie with some flaws. And Green Lantern’s biggest flaw is one that is inherent to most superhero origin movies: the lead character spends a lot of time going through the whole rigmarole of becoming the hero, and not enough time actually being the hero. That’s why so many times, superhero sequels are superior to the originals (with the exception of Iron Man). If I had to compare Green Lantern to another superhero movie, it would be the first X-Men. Just like Bryan Singer’s 2000 effort, GL has some storytelling missteps. But both movies are true to their comic roots and, ultimately, entertaining. Green Lantern sets up the players, explains the rules, and by the end, we have the Hal Jordan we all know and love.
And let’s face it, Green Lantern is a really weird idea that requires a lot of explanation. For example, if I had to explain the basic premise of Batman or Iron Man, it would be: “rich dude uses cutting edge technology to fight the bad guys”. Pretty simple right? Compare that to the basic premise of Green Lantern which is: “test pilot joins intergalactic version of a UN peacekeeping force to fight bad guys with a magical ring”. This is a strange mythology that requires a great deal of background, and I think that’s what annoys a bunch of the naysayers. Yes, aliens talking about “will” and “fear” might throw me off if I didn’t know the difference between Oa and Oz. But that’s what Green Lantern is about, and props to Warner Brothers for respecting the source material. In terms of story construction, it’s the GL movie I have always envisioned (with the possible exception of Hector Hammond). It hits all the canonical beats. This is Green Lantern in all its bizarre, far-fetched glory. My advice to prospective moviegoers is: don’t expect a plausible story anchored in reality. Expect a movie where a dude gets a magical ring from little blue aliens and fights a giant, soul-eating cloud. If that sentence caused you to roll your eyes, DON”T SEE THE FRIGGIN’ MOVIE.
On second thought: see the movie. I want everyone to see this movie, because I desperately need a sequel. As a fan, my biggest beef with Green Lantern is that I wanted more. More Kilowog. More Tomar-Re. More Sinestro. More outer space battles. They got all of that stuff right, so give me a sequel with more- MUCH more. I don’t need to deal with all this drama on Earth- take me to the far reaches of the cosmos. And be sure to bring Ryan Reynolds. That’s right fanboys. You can hate him all you want for being a likable pretty boy with six-pack abs, but by the final battle with Parallax, Reynolds IS Hal Jordan. Like it or not, he’s worthy of the ring. And now that the formalities are out of the way, it’s time for Sinestro to fire up the yellow ring, and for Hal Jordan to lead sector 2814 into its Brightest Day (that line was for you, my fellow GL nerds).
Postscript: Blake Lively is almost as bad as I imagined. Not Silk Spectre bad, but close. Warner Brothers, I understand that you need a love interest for these things, but feel free to scale back on the Carol and amp up the Kilowog. Thanks poozers.
Novel Novice 
This is by far the best review I’ve read and I agree with, this part should be remarked:
“Expect a movie where a dude gets a magical ring from little blue aliens and fights a giant, soul-eating cloud. If that sentence caused you to roll your eyes, DON”T SEE THE FRIGGIN’ MOVIE.”
I loved the movie because it IS a Green Lantern movie that respect its myth, I understand if self called critics who enjoyed movies like Titanic dislike GL, well, this movie just wasn’t for you, but it was certainly for me (unlike Titanic).
Stumbled upon your review while I was googling for Green Lantern novel adaptation. I must say your review is the most accurate and less biased one. You totally understand the movie and show the love of a fan.
Too bad most of the critics are just a confused bunch when it comes to films. Half of them shouldn’t even have a job.
I liked Blake Lively as Carol Ferris and would love to see her character being developed more. Of course I would love to see more Kilowog too so why not both?