Will the DC Universe take off after this? In Thor, the title character’s exile on Earth results from his quickly-established arrogance and foul temper, it flows from an understandable character motivation – as does everything that his brother Loki does. In X-Men: First Class, for example, you know why Charles and Erik believe what they do and why they act the way they do. They don’t flow from a sense of character among the supporting cast. The other primary problem, and this is where the film shows its age when measured against more modern superhero films, is the fact that a lot of character actions and motivations seem to happen because the movie needs them too. I honestly wasn’t aware that he’d quit two scenes back until he announced he’d quit two scenes back. After all, he doesn’t return the ring (and, to be frank, if somebody quit my intergalactic police force, I’d take back their weapon), and actually carries on with the superheroism regardless. ![]() Later on, he tells his on-again, off-again, on-again girlfriend Carol that he “quit.” If not for that line of dialogue, I would just assume he’d sort of stormed off and decided he’d learned enough to be a proper Green Lantern. At one point, half way through the film, Hal decides he’s had enough of being lectured and flies off back to Earth. In fact, the movie seems so intent on cramming everything in that a lot of ideas don’t really get too much room to breathe. There’s never a sense of balance or symmetry the film, which moves through a plotting version of ping-pong. Then he’s suddenly recruited to join the Green Lanterns, whisked into space, learns his powers, meets new friends… and then bounces back to Earth… and so on. Then, after ten minutes of watching (admittedly impressive) CGI, we are dropped back to Earth to spend twenty minutes getting to know cocky fighter pilot Hal Jordan, who is a bit of an obnoxious ass who only seems to get away with being a dick to everyone who cares about him because he’s played by Ryan Reynolds. We spend ten minutes getting an oral history of the Green Lantern Corps, recounting a whole host of exposition we know will come in handy later. It’s just that the movie can’t really gel them conveniently together, which makes the movie seem maddeningly inconsistent at times. Being honest, it isn’t a case that one of these two plots is stronger than the other, or that they are weak plots of themselves. ![]() It’s simultaneously this gigantic epic space saga about strange blue aliens harnessing the power of emotion to keep the universe safe, and also a more generic earth-bound superhero movie complete with evil counterpart. ![]() The movie is essentially two movies rolled into one big package. Note: We also have an introduction to the Green Lantern mythos available, if you’re interested in checking it out. Hal Jordan: Space Cop? It has a nice ring to it.
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