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Green Lantern

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, and Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Screenplay by: Greg Berlanti and Michael Green

“In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might, Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!" - Green Lantern Oath

     Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a test pilot.  He is an almost fearless test pilot, making him a qualified candidate for being a Green Lantern, but he doesn't know that, at least not until a dying purple alien comes to Earth so the ring can select another person to be a Green Lantern.  
     So, Hal is selected and receives the Green Lantern ring, giving him superpowers.  Anything he imagines can be used as a weapon with the power of the ring.  It can create anything he imagines.  He goes to the planet Oa, home of the Green Lantern Corps (the peace keeping unit in the universe), to receive training in fighting perhaps the greatest threat ever to the Corps, and the entire universe, Parallax.  Parallax uses the power of fear to go on a genocide rampage throughout the universe until he becomes strong enough to take on all the powers of Oa, but before that, he will go to Earth.  
     Meanwhile, Dr. Hector Hammond is infected with Parallax's power of fear and becomes much like Parallax, except not so powerful to destroy an entire world.  Will Hal be able to stop Parallax and Hammond before it's too late?
     I enjoyed the performances by each of the actors, except for Peter Sarsgaard.  Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively deliver strong performances, but Peter Sarsgaard's performance seems weak and makes his character uninteresting, even as he undergoes a terrifying transformation, gaining the control of Parallax's powers.  
     The story is fine, but needs more action, especially at the end.  However, the theme of overcoming fear makes it decent.  The ring sees something in Hal that he himself doesn't see, the fact that he can overcome fear, and therefore on a larger scale, has a strong possibility of destroying Parallax.  The power of will (the energy source used by the Green Lantern Corps) is stronger and more stable than the power of fear.  It's a strange theme that is present throughout the entire movie, not just parts of it.  
      Normally, in a superhero movie such as this, the final battle is extremely long, drawn out, and explosive.  In short, it's the action-packed scene that makes the movie awesome and memorable.  This is exactly what we don't see in Green Lantern.  I won't tell you what happens in the ending scene, but you can probably guess for yourself.  You might think it's action-packed, but it isn't at all.  It's not even ten minutes long.  It's the most boring ending scene to any superhero movie I have ever seen.  
      It seems like many superhero movies have rather predictable story lines these days, and Green Lantern is no exception.  The movie spoils itself in the first twenty minutes because of its predictability, after that it's just boring.  It's overdone.  In short, Green Lantern goes farther than it needs to in order to get the story out.   
Green Lantern lights movie theaters with a C-.

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