Ryan Reynolds Suits Up as the Green Lantern

I like to think of myself as being pretty geeky. Nonetheless, my knowledge of comic books remains limited, as blockbuster season often reminds me. Last night, I went into Green Lantern knowing nothing about the character aside from what my brother had told me. The main thing I knew about the movie itself was that it stars Ryan Reynolds, whose performances I have generally enjoyed, though I also heard that the critics weren’t too impressed with it. I didn’t hear why, so as I watched, I kept wondering which parts of the movie should be disappointing me. I’ve always been better at pointing out strengths than flaws in things, so maybe I just missed some glaring problems. But basically, I found Green Lantern to be quite an entertaining movie.

The film, directed by Martin Campbell, helpfully provides an expository introduction to get everyone up to speed on the rules of the Green Lantern universe. In this mythology, an ageless council of sage beings stands as guardians of the entire universe, which they have divided into 3600 sections, appointing a protector for each. These protectors wear green rings that harness the energy of will, which the guardians consider the strongest force in the universe. As the film begins, these green-garbed protectors face a grave danger from a growing threat that feeds on fear. Some of the finest of this elite group have fallen prey to the enigmatic entity; one of them needs to find a new bearer on Earth, and that’s where Reynolds’ character comes in.

While the beginning teeters on being a tedious information dump, it’s short enough and presented dynamically enough that I didn’t mind, particularly because it all felt like pretty essential background. However, it’s when Reynolds shows up that things really get cooking. He’s Hal Jordan, a flippant fighter pilot about to be late for work on the worst of all possible days. He has a big demonstration to pull off, and he manages some pretty fancy flying, but his daring feat is not exactly appreciated.

Hal is a loose cannon. I kept finding myself reminded of Maverick in Top Gun. Like Maverick, Hal is a highly skilled but reckless pilot driven to live up to his father’s legacy. Like him, Hal is romantically involved with a talented female fighter pilot. He even serenades her in a bar and uses flying lingo as a metaphor for their relationship. Later in the movie, after he has shown how irresponsible he can be, he must prove to a skeptical commander that he is up for the challenge of a lifetime. So even though I didn’t know a thing about Green Lantern, Hal’s trajectory felt very familiar to me.

That didn’t bother me. In fact, it made it easier for me to connect to Hal, as well as his rarely ruffled love interest, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), daughter of his boss. In the beginning, Hal pilots fighter jets; by the end, he’s flying on his own through outer space. Turns out that he isn’t quite as fearless as he initially appears, but the same daring spunk he displayed in his firefight will be needed as he faces off against a grave enemy. That nemesis is the terrifying Parallax (Clancy Brown), who has harnessed the yellow power of fear and is using it to wipe out entire civilizations, growing stronger each time. He reminds me of no one so much as Hexxus, the grotesque sludge monster in the animated Ferngully who feeds off of pollution, growing stronger with each sip of smog or toxic goo. The scenes in which we see him directly are the most disturbing in the movie as he sucks the life force out of everyone who stands in his path, leaving nothing but a pile of dry bones to clatter in his wake. There’s very little blood in the movie, but these scenes could be traumatizing to sensitive young viewers.

Shortly after Hal puts on his green ring for the first time, he is whisked away to the planet where the guardians reside in order to be debriefed on his powers and his responsibilities. This is a visually dazzling sequence involving hundreds of intriguing alien life forms, a bustling intergalactic city and the dueling skills of multiple protectors as they try to break Hal in. The three major characters we meet here are Sinestro (Mark Strong), one of the most influential members of the Green Lanterns and a close friend of the protector Hal replaced; Kilowog (Michael Clarke Duncan), an imposing bestial alien who puts Hal through some intensive training; and the wise, gentle Tomar-Re, a fish-faced alien played by Geoffrey Rush. Of these, the last is my favorite, but the first is most significant to the story.

The other major character is Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), who becomes the vehicle through which Parallax plans to conquer Earth. Hector is a jittery, socially awkward biologist who looks like Sesame Street’s Mr. Noodle. He’s hunched and withdrawn much of the time, but when he is chosen to examine the deceased alien who bore the green ring before Hal, he comes alive with excitement. For the first half of the movie or so, I found him mostly sympathetic, despite some slightly creepy tendencies. This is a man with a brilliant mind who has always felt rejected by society at large and his father in particular. His self-esteem issues run deep.

He seems to have an ally in the calm Dr. Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett), who takes him to perform the autopsy, but that isn’t enough to keep him from going off the deep end once he becomes contaminated with the yellow power of Parallax. One thing the movie demonstrates very effectively is how evil can corrupt even the most well-intentioned. The yellow power made me think of Lord of the Rings, since it is a formidable force but those who use it always fall under its vile influence. When one Green Lantern forges a yellow ring meant to wield that energy, you just know that no good will come of it.

Having two competing forces allows for some pretty impressive battles as one hurls destructive forces and the other repels with creative forces. A Green Lantern has the ability to create anything imaginable, provided he is properly focused. Watching Hal experiment with these abilities is a lot of fun, as is seeing him take to the skies in his bright green suit. Despite Parallax’s all-consuming destruction and Hector’s more traditional mayhem, the movie does not feel particularly violent, especially considering the genre. I didn’t notice any profanity, and although the first time we meet Hal he’s hopping out of a bed he shared with a one-night stand, most of the romance in the film is quite chaste. Flashbacks to Hal’s childhood and the introduction of his 11-year-old nephew help bolster the interest for children. While I was hoping to see more of that nephew toward the end of the film, his tender scene with Hal early on made the hot-headed hero easier to empathize with.

The movie blatantly sets up a sequel, especially if you sit through the credits for a few minutes, so I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of the Green Lantern on the big screen. I have no idea how faithful the movie is to its comic book origins, but I thought it had just the right mix of elements to be a fun summer blockbuster. It didn’t make me laugh quite as much as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, but there was still enough humor to offset the darkest elements of the movie, and it’s effects-laden enough that the movie pops on the big screen in a way that you know it won’t quite do on all but the biggest televisions. If you like this type of movie, I’d recommend catching it in theaters. I certainly enjoyed the ride.

The Proposal Shines a Light on Alaskan Wilderness and Family Togetherness

My friend Libbie and I have a mixed track record when it comes to Sandra Bullock movies. On the one hand, Miss Congeniality was one of the first movies we saw together in the theater, and we loved it. On the other, both of us agreed that 2007's Premonition was pretty dismal. Still, the good impressions outweighed the bad as we watched the trailer for The Proposal, and the premise looked cute, so we decided this was probably a cinema-worthy chick flick. I'm glad we followed through on those theater plans.

The Proposal stars Bullock as Margaret Tate, a no-nonsense book editor seemingly cut out of the same cloth as Meryl Streep's Devil Wears Prada tyrant, though she never quite achieves that level of cool collectedness. Still, she rules her office with an iron fist, and nobody has to put up with more grief than her personal assistant, the adorable Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). There's nothing he won't do in his sycophantic quest to achieve his dream job, and he's about to find out just how far Margaret will push that envelope. When she receives the shocking news that she is on the verge of deportation to Canada, she produces a fiance - Andrew. To satisfy the government, being engaged is not enough; they'll have to actually marry. First, though, they'll have to announce the news to his extended family, who are gathered in Andrew's Alaskan hometown for his grandmother's 90th birthday party.

My favorite Bullock movie is probably While You Were Sleeping, a wonderfully sweet romantic comedy about a woman whose longtime crush is in an accident that knocks him into a coma. She is the first on hand to help him, and by the time he's safely settled in the hospital, staff and family alike assume that she is his fiancee. After a few initial attempts to set the record straight, this lonely woman allows the family to embrace her. The details of the two movies are very different, but in some respects the basic plot is very similar: isolated woman falls in love with the family of a faux fiance. Because while film is about Margaret and Andrew falling for each other away from the stresses of work and the constraints of the boss-employee relationship, their romance blossoms largely because of the nurturing environment of the affectionate Paxton family. And all that fresh Alaska air doesn't hurt either. "How could anybody choose the city over that?" Dad asked me during a scene displaying a vast vista of verdant grass and snow-capped mountains. I don't know. (I do know, however, that I caught my dad not only admiring the landscape but laughing out loud several times, so guys, don't snub this one automatically!)

It's a surprise to us and Margaret alike when a ride through Andrew's hometown reveals that the Paxtons practically own the city. Their name is everywhere, and his parents live in a luxurious estate. His distant father Joe (Craig T. Nelson) has nothing but disdain for his son's chosen career path; he's the only child, so Joe was counting on him to keep up the family business. His mother Grace (Mary Steenburgen) is appropriately named, for she is happy to forgive Andrew for his long absences and only wants to keep the peace between the two most important men in her life. The always-delightful Betty White is the eccentric Paxton family matriarch, a position whose power she wields shrewdly. Grammy is no dummy, but unlike the bigoted neighbor White played in Bringing Down the House, she is genuinely sweet. The previews highlight her punchiest moments, giving the impression that there's more of a bite to her than there really is.

Aside from these three, there are four other significant supporting players. Denis O'Hare is Mr. Gilbertson, a smug immigration officer who distrusts the sincerity of Margaret and Andrew's connection. His is largely a comic role, though he is a central source of conflict as he tails Margaret with relentless Catch Me If You Can-style determination. There's also Gertrude (Malin Akerman), the childhood sweetheart who once turned down Andrew's proposal because, unlike him, she wanted to remain in Alaska, and Kevin, the adorable puppy who apparently has an innate dislike for Margaret. His slapsticky contributions to the movie are funny but seem to be there mainly for the sake of any kids who might be watching.

Finally, there's Ramon, a family friend and jack of all trades. Libbie and I are both fans of The Office, so we were excited to see Oscar Nunez, who portrays soft-spoken, level-headed accountant Oscar, in this film and amused by the many roles the zany character plays in the community. I do think, however, that a comedic bit involving him as a stripper is gratuitously raunchy and goes on much longer than it needs to. Though the movie is clearly geared towards adults and doesn't even have any characters in it who are children, this is one of the only scenes necessitating a PG-13 rating. Another involves Margaret and Andrew accidentally colliding while unclothed, but the circumstances are innocent and the shot is tastefully done. Scattered throughout the movie are a few suggestive comments, but there's surprisingly little profanity.

The Proposal is a tale about the importance of family and respect, and it happens to be set in an absolutely glorious location. Reynolds and Bullock have great chemistry despite the slight age gap; she's 12 years older, but that seems fitting, since she's so much higher up on the totem pole business-wise. He's lovable from the beginning, while it doesn't take long for her character to become sympathetic. Margaret has pushed Andrew around for three years, so it's fun to watch him yank her around a bit once their strange situation gives him the upper hand, but it's also touching to see him staunchly defend her when questions about her arise. Meanwhile, her big end-of-the-movie oration, while strikingly similar to her speech in While You Were Sleeping, shows how much she has matured in just one weekend.

If you like Bullock or Reynolds, you'll probably like it, and if you've also always wanted to visit Alaska, you'll probably love it. For a feel-good, mostly old-fashioned romantic comedy, I propose you check out The Proposal!