Green Lantern (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Martin Campbell. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard
The weakest and most soulless comic book adaptation in recent memory.
Fighter pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is recruited by a dying alien into the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps, a group of intergalactic peacekeepers based on the planet Oa with the power to create anything their imaginations can conceive.
For all its production values, Green Lantern appears to have been assembled from a "build your own superhero movie" kit purchased at the grocery store. Instead of naturally unfolding action, we get the distinct impression that we're going down some executive producer's checklist: an action scene here, some personal angst here, a cathartic breakthrough over there. When a biologist acquaintance of Hal's gains superpowers of his own, he becomes a villain seemingly for no reason except that he feels this is the sort of thing people do in his situation. Tedious romantic interactions between the main character and Blake Lively are included in a lame attempt to increase the film's appeal, but it's hard to believe any female viewers will be impressed by this irrelevant subplot's awkward chemistry and clumsy interruptions to the story. Natalie Portman's character in Thor may have been boring, but at least she had a part to play in events.
The story's screeching halts every 15 minutes for its regularly scheduled romantic interludes feel like an irritating intrusion only until it becomes apparent that the main plot isn't very interesting either. For all I know, by now the comic book Green Lantern mythology might have grown to rival the works of our greatest civilizations. But distilled down to this form-green men flying between galaxies, an alien crimefighter boot camp, and enough sparkly-eyed drivel about the magical energy of human emotions to fill a Deepak Chopra book-all I see is pure C-grade pop sci-fi cheese.
And for a story about the power of imagination, it sure isn't very imaginative. There are only two or three scenes where the powers of the Green Lantern are really indulged in, and all that Hal seems to come up with are variations on glowing energy balls, machine guns, and, in one very strange instance, a race car.
The film never takes the time to play with its greatest (and perhaps only) story asset.
The distant world of Oa and its inhabitants are even more uninspired. Beneath the alien exteriors of these characters are the stock personalities of a 1990s high school TV drama. The halfhearted attempts at establishing tension between Hal and some of his fellow Green Lanterns make the film look like Team America: World Police played straight.
Rated PG-13 for playing in the sun.
2.5 out of 5
Horrible Bosses (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Seth Gordon. Starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis.
Clever comedy with an all-star cast.
Three average guys-Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, and Jason Sudeikis-are pushed to the breaking point by their horrible, horrible bosses and embark on a half-baked plan to murder all three of them.
Three idiots running around trying to pull off a major crime isn't exactly a new premise, but this is the rare comedy that succeeds at both the physical/situational humor and the wordy conversational humor.
While it's rarely brilliant, it offers more than empty sight gags, and more than witty dialog.
Jennifer Aniston's over-the-top sexual harassment of Charlie Day (his motive for planning her death) is funny in part because it makes a decent case for why, despite gender stereotypes, this role reversal is as sleazy and uncomfortable as more traditional pervert arrangements. But there's really only one joke here-one brief snicker to be had from hearing Aniston rattle off her first volley of filthy talk. After that, you've got to suspect it's only being done for titillation.
All three of the villainous bosses-Aniston, Colin Farrell, and Kevin Spacey-are like that: easy vacations from the kinds of roles these actors usually play. Farrell is a greasy coke fiend with a combover (and only gets a few minutes of screen time) while Spacey tries on a straight-up corporate sociopath who is perhaps even easier to hate than his character from Seven.
If the bosses are the established A-listers, then the protagonists-Bateman, Day, and Sudeikis-are the rising stars. None of them deviate much from the comedic personalities they've cultivated in their earlier works, but naïve and hyperactive Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is new to most audiences and should win some well-deserved fans.
Though it probably won't be remembered as a classic, Horrible Bosses is the best comedy I've seen in 2011.
Rated R for fulfilling Friends fantasies.
4 out of 5
