"Green Lantern" fails to glow

There are many good reasons to see a comic book movie, but the dismal plot of "The Green Lantern” nullifies every one of them. In a genre characterized by epic battle scenes and exciting conclusions, "The Green Lantern” does not live up to the standard. This 3D action flick is lacking in many aspects, most prominently in its cumulative battle between good and evil.

The movie begins with the evil alien Parallax who, after escaping his years of bondage, uses fear to suck out the souls of three Green Lantern Peacekeepers. The Green Lantern Corp is a group of intergalactic peacekeepers whose power is in the form of the will of its members. The story then shifts to Earth where Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), an army jet pilot with conflicting emotions about his deceased father, is dealing with an unstable relationship. When an injured peacekeeper lands on earth, Hal's ring summons him and makes him the first human Green Lantern. He then has to protect the universe from Parallax and the power of fear.

To be blunt, "The Green Lantern” is a terrible movie with a weak plot. Many aspects of the movie are badly explained, the battle between will and fear comes off as cheesy and the anticlimatic ending ruins any chances of it being a good movie. The writers tried to do too much in one movie by including romance, humor and action without fully developing any of the three.

As is the case with most action movies nowadays, "The Green Lantern” is in 3D; however the 3D aspect is in the shadows for most of the movie, and with a lack of tremendous battle scenes it is certainly not worth the extra money. Although there are a few artistic shots of space, there are too few and the 3D is nowhere near the precedent set by James Cameron's "Avatar”.

In addition, the acting is mediocre at best. Ryan Reynolds is well suited for his lackluster role. He did not show much emotion through his character and his jokes were never met with more than a smile. With so little depth to the movie, none of his acting was noteworthy, and Reynolds' supporting crew was nonexistent.

In the end, the movie comes off as an hour and a half of bad story development with a lackluster climax and a conclusion squeezed into about three minutes. Fans of the comic books will be highly disappointed, as will any moviegoer who happens to stumble upon this production.

The Green Lantern (105 minutes) is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action. Now playing in theaters everywhere.