One hottie actor + one hottie actress = one great movie, right? WRONG! Thank God I arrived at the first showing on Sunday, and I only had to pay 5 bucks. Actually, it wasn’t even my $5 (thanks, mom!). Opportunity cost is gas, $3.73 of movie snacks (never buy them at the theatre) and two and a half hours of my time. I don’t even want to think of how I could’ve spent this time and money. Oooookay, time to stop ranting and off to criticizing!
Honestly, way too many elements are in this movie. Nothing was coherent. The plot didn’t flow; it felt like two incomplete plots intertwined. Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a test pilot for Ferris, a plane corporation (I guess, never really explained), in some city in America. Yes, the titles that pop up at the bottom of the screen tell the random planets and galaxies, but where in America does this take place? Only the comic book readers may ever know. He and the owner’s daughter, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), apparently had a relationship some time ago, but that’s never really fully explained, like every other aspect. Deductive reasoning at its best can only see that Hal totally messed up, since apparently that’s what he does.
Well, guess how the screw-up emerges from screw-up-dom? Well, a dying alien “chooses” him to become the first human Green Lantern. The Governor’s son’s, Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), DNA becomes infected when recruited by Dr. Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) to do a biological analysis on the dead alien. Someone, Hector becomes evil. Again, it’s never really explained. He is Hal’s first enemy. The other plot is one of an alien creature that wants to destroy all the green lanterns. After I stopped yawning every few minutes, I noticed that it looked like a head of thick dreadlocks without the head.
The leads, Reynolds and Lively, are actually the weak actors in the film, which is much more because of the lines they were given than Reynolds. Reynolds needs to stick to the romcom genre, and Lively needs to stick to television. I’m still convinced The Town was a fluke, even though her Bostonian accent wasn’t to be desired. Sarsgaard was excellent as the maniacal villain who came from the shadows, more specifically his dad’s. Not that he’s really a recognizable actor, but I never would’ve guessed it was him.
Go see a movie this weekend, just not this one. The end is predictable. No cliffhanger is really left for a sequel, because apparently the (or both) plot is finished, but I really wouldn’t mind one. Nothing can be worse than the original. It’s summer! Get some sun, and wait until a movie worth your opportunity cost is released!
