Green Lantern

Directed by Martin Campbell

(PG-13)

*

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“Remember when big summer blockbusters were fun—when they were a light, clever, and entertaining escape?” said Christy Lemire in the Associated Press. Well, “that notion apparently eluded the makers of Green Lantern.” In Hollywood’s latest comic-book adaptation, Ryan Reynolds plays a test pilot who is handed a magical ring by a dying alien warrior and given the task of protecting Earth from a giant, tentacled glob known as Parallax. The digital special effects are among the film’s few small pleasures, said Karina Longworth in The Village Voice. The Parallax itself provides a “breathtaking visual” that momentarily distracts you from the “fact that the narrative is nonsensical” and the action sequences are often incoherent. As for the superhero himself, Reynolds supplies the character with gym-pumped abs, but his performance consists of little more than “loafing and posing,” said Rex Reed in The New York Observer. “Even in the brainless world of cinematic comic books gone bad,” Green Lantern is “as bad as it gets.” The movie is a “pointless, ugly, moronic, and incomprehensible jumble,” not to mention boring.