Ronita Torcato

Green Lantern
Starring:Ryan Reynolds, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, Mark Strong,Tim Robbins, Jay O. Sanders, Angela Basset, Temuera Morrison, Taika Waititi and Geoffrey Rush (voice)
Director: Martin Campbell

Green Lantern, as those of you who've grown  up reading comics well know, is a hero with several histories.   Director Martin  (Casino Royale) Campbell's green dude is an amalgamation of all these strands, even as Sinestro (Mark Strong) is a far cry from his villainous  monicker. Campbell's  film posits the victory of the will (green in colour) over fear (yellow) endowing  the will with immense power. e.g"Will turns thought into reality" This is illustrated with the Green Lantern aka Hal Jordan in his test pilot avatar  willing objects (begining with a necklace for his lady love)  into existence. This reviewer though would like to make a rebuttal by quoting from sacred scripture "perfect love casts out fear" )  In other words, the conqueror of fear, is love.

Sadly, none of the characters, neither  test pilot Hal  (Ryan Reynolds)  who struggles to live up to the memory of his dead father,  nor  biology professor  Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) nor their love interest aeronautics executive Carol Ferris (Blake Lively) learn this profound truth.
To buttress the film's position,  Hammond is  infected with the malignant Parallax's negative energy which transforms him into a vindictive mind-reader and drives him to murder. And as his character changes for the worse, so does his appearance.Ugly is as ugly does.

To its credit, the film has an uplifting theme - that everyone,howsoever flawed, has  a special calling. Ergo,Hal, the reckless gadfly strives  to become a better human being and live up to the faith and trust of  the wise, old Guardians of the Universe,  who inhabit  Oa ( pronounced like Goa minus the letter G )
Hal is a reluctant hero,chosen  by  a very special ring which sees something in him, that viewers  don't.  Lest we forget,  G-d doesn't choose for a reason, he chooses only by grace.   Hal  believes  he was chosen for his flying skills. and by the time the film ends, shows he has learnt the meaning of responsibility a la Thor.

Reynolds has a great toned bod and and engaging countenance but is unconvincing as an irresponsible playboy ( the screenplay forgets the dictum, show don't tell)  Even so,  the role is a terrific break and should boost his stock in the movie market. Straw-haired Blake Lively, who I saw whining on the Jay Leno show about going brunette for Green Lantern, looks very fetching, IMHO with dark hair, as lovely  as, if not better than Jane Seymour. Strong lives up to his real name as Sinestro. The CGI generated Parallax is hideously scary and  may or may not have been inspired by Harry Potter's deathsuckers and the smoky creature in the TV series Lost. The dialogue is lacklustre and the action is nothing to write home about except until the end.

That said, let me add this lukewarm review doesn't mean I wouldn't greenlight a franchise.