GREEN LANTERN

Green lanter is an upcomming movie and Perhaps now's a good time to look in the mirror and admit that, by and large, your average issue of a superhero book maybe isn't an intellectual text worthy of the McSweeny's-style lionization comics have enjoyed of late. For every Alan Moore there are dozens of writers pushing a plot and making a deadline. Which is not to say they don't have value. But perhaps that value rests more in plain, dumb fun than in a representation of "our modern mythology." Green Lantern is, more so than most, an accurate representation of this art form: brisk, enjoyable.

At the very center of this picture, more so than the weird assortment of aliens or skin-tight CG suits, is Ryan Reynolds' ambitious performance. He is debonair but also vulnerable. And knows how to milk a joke. He sells the CG suit and even that absurd domino mask. He's great in the action scenes, ring-slinging clever green constructs that never fail to impress. He may remind you a bit of Chris Pine in Star Trek, but that's hardly a complaint. He loves playing this role and it shows.
Still, with so much happening in this movie, there is the trade-off that many of the scenes feel somewhat truncated. Just when things get going, but the portions are small.

The uninitiated may not quite know what the heck is going on at all times, and may even cry foul at perceived screenplay cheats. I reject this and say that this movie is one to be experienced on its own terms, as if it were a comic. I think by now we've established that this is as much its own, living genre as much as the film noir or rom com.

Green Lantern isn't perfect. James Newton Howard's score is a forgettable and the lack of feasible reaction to Green Lantern's appearance on Earth feels like something got cut in the editing room. But we all have the ability to overcome great quibbles. This story has chosen us, and if we answer to its call we can all have a kick-ass time at the movies.


THERE ARE VERY HIGH EXPECTATIONS FROM THE MOVIE...*FINGERS CROSSED*