Out of all of the superhero movies that were supposed to be released this summer, “Green Lantern” was the one I was most skeptical about. However, I did have some hope that the film would be good because it was directed by Martin Campbell. He is the one who rejuvenated the James Bond franchise with “Casino Royale”. So after seeing the picture, I can safely say that my negative predictions were correct.  “Green Lantern” is just an ordinary superhero film that doesn’t bring anything exciting or memorable to the genre. It is just an over produced and dull picture mixed with special effects that aren’t really special and a poorly written script.

Ryan Reynolds stars as Hal Jordon. He works as a test pilot and his personality can be best described as cocky and overly self-confident.  One day he finds a spaceship that has crashed landed and the dying alien inside gives him a ring. The alien explains that Hal has been chosen to join an elite group called The Green Lantern Corps; which is made of many groups of species, precisely 3,600 species, from across the universe. The Green Lanterns are the ones who protect the universe from ones who want to destroy it. When Hal wears the ring, he is equipped with a green suit and the power to create whatever comes into his imagination. If he thinks of it, he can use it. An example would be when Hal is battling someone. He thinks of a machine gun and he uses the ring to make a machine gun.

However, Hal (being the first human to be part of the Green Lanterns) is reluctant to join their group. But must become a hero when an evil force known as Parallax is about to destroy the earth. Other supporting characters include Blake Lively as Hal’s colleague and love interest, Peter Sarsgaard as an evil scientist, Tim Robbins as a senator, Angela Bassett as a government agent and Geoffrey Rush voicing Tomar-Re, who is one of the Green Lanterns in the Green Lantern Corps, and whose only purpose is to explain everything so it can make sense. He is one of those characters who have to explain everything as to who these people are and why they are there.

As I said earlier, this film was directed by Martin Campbell and he was the director of the 2006 James Bond film “Casino Royale”. If you saw that film then you could see that Campbell knew had to make an action film because the action in “Casino Royale” was thrilling, energetic and suspenseful. Most good superhero films today have all those elements, but that is not the case with “Green Lantern”. The action and stunts in “Green Lantern” is not exciting or thrilling, but instead just plain dull. However, when there were at least two exciting scenes but these scenes last for a mere minute or two minutes. That is the problem with the film; how can you have a good superhero film without exciting or thrilling action? It takes away the fun the film could have had.

Of course we couldn’t have action without it being mixed with some special effects and it is a shame that the special effects aren’t really special.  The CGI is obviously fake compared to everything in the real world. As proven in other superhero and action films, CGI can look very realistic, but this film makes CGI bad.

The actors are not well-written enough for them to be memorable. Ryan Reynolds, the films lead, is barely memorable as the films hero. It is not that he is a bad actor because I think he can be very good when given the right script. It is just that his character isn’t that well-written. He has just an ordinary personality and there is nothing specific that makes him memorable. There are moments of appealing charm but those moments are too far and between. He also delivers some forgettable one-liners that I found unfunny. Blake Lively isn’t really memorable as well. She just plays the generic damsel in distress role where the villain captures her to get to the Green Lantern. The only time they were memorable and strong is the scenes between those two early in the film. The earthbound scenes early in the film are the only times I was interested because this is where the film is engaging. After that it goes downhill.

The only character that was memorable and interesting and kept the film worth-watching was Peter Sarsgaard performance as Dr. Hector Hammond.  He is an evil scientist who has telepathic abilities. I wish he was the main villain instead of a side villain because his character is more fascinating compared to the Parallax. He has more range in his character compared to the other characters. If they developed him better as the main villain instead of some irrelevant side villain then the film would have been better to watch.

I don’t know how this will fare with the fans of The Green Lantern, but people who are unfamiliar to this character will most likely not be engaged with the superhero. I wanted the film to fuel my interest in the character; I wanted the film make me learn more about this character, but that doesn’t happen. Instead the film just offers a big CGI fest with unmemorable characters, a poorly written script and action that is minimally exciting. “Thor” was another film this year that had an overuse of CGI, but unlike this film, “Thor”’s effects were more creative and there was more charm in that picture then in this film. “Green Lantern” isn’t terrible because there are a few elements in there that are admirable. It’s just that there not enough of it.

**1/2|PG-13|114 Minutes