Green Lantern

Green Lantern – Jet pilot, Hal Jordan, cannot commit to anything but is forced to re-evaluate his life when he is chosen to be the next Green Lantern – part of an elite galactic force that protects the universe from the evil power of fear. When an ancient and dangerous enemy escapes and threatens Earth, Hal must learn to master the power of will and overcome the fears that have so far ruled his life.

Green Lantern (2011) – Director: Martin Campbell

Rating: 12

Running Length: 114 mins

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard

Genre: Comic Book, Action / Adventure

REVIEW – ‘GREEN LANTERN’

It is perhaps a testament to the talent that comic book powerhouse Marvel has recently been employing to make movie versions of its characters and stories when you can see that isn’t quite so easy when you watch a film like ‘Green Lantern’. Sadly, the existence of a well-loved character in comic books isn’t always enough by itself to make a film that will be equally as loved. DC Comics has been trying hard to catch up with the wave of overwhelming positivity that recent Marvel adaptations have received, but, with the exception of Christopher Nolan’s superb ‘Batman’ trilogy, DC have not been able find a superhero they own that is able to turn into movie success. Unfortunately, this trend continues with ‘Green Lantern’.

Where ‘Green Lantern’ under performs is pacing. The movie suffers from ‘introduction syndrome’ where the majority of the time is spent with its main character learning how to harness his new power, leaving little time for any actual conflict with enemies. The token ‘love’ story is rather flat and we spend most of the movie waiting for a giant evil ‘fear’ villain to actually turn up from space, leaving for an unsatisfying conclusion to all the build up. That said, what ‘Green Lantern’ certainly does have is a sense of style. Due to the nature of the superpower – being able to create anything he can think of using the power of ‘will’ – there are many sequences that are visually impressive; be it deflecting a helicopter crash or creating an array of shields to deflect attacks. The movie will be a treat for those who enjoy a visual fanfare and will certainly make for entertaining family viewing. Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan is very watchable and the way in which Hector (played by Peter Sarsgaard) is slowly consumed by bitterness and resentment is well performed and scripted.

‘Green Lantern’ probably won’t be a movie that stands out in the memory, but for throw away entertainment it certainly has enough going on to be enjoyable to those who want a quick and fun distraction.

CONTENT – IS ‘GREEN LANTERN’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The opening scene features a voice over explaining the history of the Green Lantern world. It describes the gravest threat the Green Lanterns ever faced being ‘an entity of fear known as Parallax’ who was eventually imprisoned on the ‘lost planet of Ryut’. We then see three people in space suits who have crashed on this planet and inadvertently come face to face with Parallax, who looks like an aggressive skull surrounded by black smoke and flames. He ‘awakes’ and lifts the three astronauts using psychic powers. They scream and writhe in pain until he drains their ‘essence’, which is depicted as a yellow image of their bodies being ripped out and sucked into his mouth, which is enveloped in bright flame-like yellow streams. The astronauts then slump dead to the ground. However, due to the space suit helmets they are wearing, their expressions have not been visible throughout this scene and so the suffering is mostly experienced through their screams. Shortly after this, there is then a prolonged shot of around 30 seconds focusing on Parallax attacking a ship and its inhabitant which again features close up shots of his flame encompassed skull face which may be too scary for some children.

When we are introduced to Hal Jordan he is waking up next to a women he clearly does not know beyond the previous night. He leaps out of bed wearing only underwear and quickly dresses. However, he is much more respectful to her in this brief scene than we have seen in some other movies so beyond the implication of previous intimacy this scene is very mild. The next scene involves Hal flying a jet and as part of this action sequence there is some moderate swearing and curse words.

At one point in the movie there is an autopsy and this involves one character putting his hand into an alien’s body. The camera’s point of view is from within the body and we see the hand sinking into the flesh from this angle.

When Hal find himself transported to a different planet, he is temporarily encapsulated in an energy bubble. He spasms and clenches his fists in pain in a moment lasting around 10 seconds, but after this it becomes clear there is no threat.

Around half-way through the movie, the character of Hector is home alone and suddenly jolts in agony. He sinks to his knees and screams whilst his head begins to bulge. This is accompanied by painful sounding crunching noises. Later, he is talking to a female colleague and there a series of black and white photo images which comprise a flashback. It depicts the colleague’s husband being shot by showing smiling pictures of him with her, then flashes of a gun and the sound of shots being fired, and then her standing by a grave. This is over very quickly and shouldn’t be too distressing but some children may be upset by the implication of death and mourning.

Shortly after this scene there is a doctor holding a hypodermic needle but it is psychically wrenched out of his hand and thumps straight into his eye. We see this from the side but it happens directly on camera in quite a violent way. Similarly, a character is psychically thrown across the room and thumps head first into a glass wall, cracking it and killing them. Another character has two flamethrowers turned on them. The camera shows the character throw up their arms to defend themselves before becoming engulfed in flames whilst screaming. This shot lasts around 10 seconds.

Lastly, near the end of the film there are some shots of innocent bystanders running from Parallax. They are killed in the same manner as at the beginning in that a yellow body shaped ‘essence’ is forcibly sucked out of them. If your child has been alright up to this part then this scene should not be of concern but we mention it because of the level of innocents who die for a shot that lasts around a minute.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT – IS ‘GREEN LANTERN’ FOR KIDS?

‘Green Lantern’ opens with probably its strongest content and so if you are unsure as to how your children will react to this movie we would advise watching this part first as there is no lead-in to help prepare the ground. The manner in which Parallax kills is probably the scariest element and this effect is right at the beginning and then again at the end. There is some very mild sexual references in dialogue once or twice throughout but otherwise this is a movie that will most likely be appropriate to children aged 9 and above and should be good fun for those who love a superhero movie.

• Violence:  3/5
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (with all the action there is little time for characters to be too emotional about each other but there are some short moments where characters fear for another’s safety)
• Fear Factor: 4/5 (although there aren’t many scary scenes, the scenes that do exist are quite intense and the film opens with such a scene)
• Sexual Content: 1/5       
• Bad Language: 3/5 (occasional moderate cursing and one use of blasphemy as an exclamation)
• Dialogue: 2/5 (Hector is very bitter and his dialogue can be quite scathing. Also there is mild innuendo which implies that Hal has been historically promiscuous by using the phrase “flew together” to refer to past intimacy and then saying “you’ve been flying ever since with anybody who’ll get in the plane”) 
• Other notes: Deals with themes of responsibility, facing fear, living up to your potential and not giving in to temptation

Words by Mike Record.