5) Green Lantern
Verdict: I’m telling you, yes!
Ok, listen. Green Lantern is really good and I don’t entirely understand why no one seems to agree with me on this. That may be because I’m still figuring out what it is about it that works on me so deeply. Yes, there’s the Ryan Reynolds factor, and the unshakable impression that he’s toxic for big movies like those in the superhero genre. I’ll even grant that the space opera element is a tad bizarre and occupies maybe a little too much of the movie’s runtime.
And yet director Martin Campbell, who is arguably responsible for reviving the James Bond franchise twice, takes these potential weaknesses and bundles them into what I consider to be strengths. He goes full-on weird with the space opera stuff, bordering on experimental art film territory in some sequences. Then Reynolds’ obnoxious bravado that can occasionally be too much is used here to be not only deliberately too much but a clear cover for a deep anxiety he either needs to hide or distract himself from by various adrenaline-infused activities.
The whole movie, in fact, is about anxiety. It’s packaged under the more general theme of ‘fear,’ with the notion of ‘will’ being the slightly on-the-nose solution for defeating the fear monster, but understood through the prism of the characters, especially the terrific Peter Sarsgaard villain, this is rarely explored subject in movies. Describing the daily struggle for some people who must work to find the will to triumph over anxiety disorders of any kind as heroic is admirable. I still believe (at least hope) that Green Lantern will make a cultural comeback over time.
