I didn’t see the Green Lantern at the movies, mainly because funds were very tight, and there were a plethora of super hero movies out this year. So I did what I normally never do, I listened to the critics, and the “fan boys” on sites like AICN. I’m sorry I did.

Ryan Reynolds for me has always had somewhat of a special appeal for me. I dig his fast paced Chevy Chase style humor and delivery mechanism. He always makes me laugh, especially when he is unrestrained in films like “Waiting” or “Best Friend”. The trailer for Green Lantern did come off to me somewhere between hokey and super cool. I was worried that Reynolds would not be able to find that hero element that is required for a property of this caliber. Green Lantern is considered by most to be the 3rd greatest DC super hero, slightly edging out Wonder Woman as a fan favorite. For me, Reynolds got it right.

Martin Campbell, who brought us Goldeneye and Casino Royale found a way to use Reynolds natural talents to great effect, hiding the hero he needs to be within a shell of smart-assery, a shell that is baked on by fear. And Fear is what this movie is about.

I don’t write reviews to talk about story elements, so I won’t go into the details about Green being the color of will, yellow the color of Fear, and all that, but let’s just say Campbell is an intelligent director who keeps the story elements revolving around these themes without going too far into symbolism, which a movie about a police force from outer space doesn’t require. The intelligence of the movie is found in the always fantastic Mark Strong as Sinestro, Geoffrey Rush as Tomar-re, and Temura Morrison (Jango Fett from Clones) as the voice of the spectacularly done Abin Sur. Campbell knows he needs to make the could-be silliness of the world of OA more credible, and the reality of earth more goofy to get the two worlds to connect, and it’s done so brilliantly. I could have certainly done with more Oa, but the extended cut sharpens up the characterizations of our main protagonists of earth by showing their relationship as children, and adds more weight to scene between Hal and his nephew. The result is a much better, more emotional experience, and it gives us a lot more reason to love Hal Jordan and understand his fears and why the ring picked him than the theatrical cut did.

Blake Lively is spectacularly sexy and sweet in what is in this installment, just a character role, but she doesn’t go over the top, and keeps the movie grounded in the right areas. Peter Sarsgaard is good in his role as Hector, but the character itself is one of the film’s flaws, as it could have been used to create a deeper connection to the characters, and utilized to create a real emotional conflict within Hal and Carol… You feel sorry for his character a bit, but you don’t sense that the other characters were ever affected by his plight or even cared about him at all that much. This should have been worked out to give the film the extra bit of punch it needed. It doesn’t kill the film, but I sense it’s the stone that dragged the picture down. Maybe there was more on the cutting room floor. Clancy Brown was great as the voice of the Parallax, and the Parallax is great in the scenes it’s in. There is better wizardry in the final battle between the Green Lantern and Parallax than in any fantasy of recent memory.

The score is pretty good. There are some electronic drum beats that bothered me, and the music for the training scene with Kilowag was as bad as the thankfully short scene poorly played by Michael Clark Duncan. There is a fantastic little theme in there, a finally heroic cue that not only underlines the coming of the Green Lantern, but gives the proper amount of punch and emotional release. It’s not Superman, it’s not Batman, it’s somewhere in between. I found myself humming the cue after it was over. A good sign.

All in all a very good movie, with a very good score, very good performances, and very good direction. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best super hero movie I saw this year. Xmen was terrific, but the XMen are not super heroes, Thor and Captain America were great as well, but the marvel super heroes are usually more concerned with fighting the super villains than ever saving ordinary folks (Iron Man 1 and Spider-Man being exceptions). Green Lantern is here to save the Earth, just like Batman and Superman. I would welcome and am hopeful for a sequel.

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