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If an overstuffed special-effects blockbuster could get by on its star's charisma alone, "Green Lantern" would be a fun movie.
But not even Ryan Reynolds' charm, which pours out of the actor like water over Niagara Falls, can overcome the lumpy narrative and special-effects overkill of this DC Comics superhero origin tale.
Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, a hotshot test pilot. His ex, Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), is also a test pilot and runs her father's aerospace company — which, thanks to Hal's reckless flying, loses a major defense contract that's backed by a powerful lawmaker, Sen. Hammond (Tim Robbins). Hal has daddy issues, as he flashes back to when he witnessed his test-pilot father (Jon Tenney) die in a runway explosion.
Meanwhile, serious events are happening in space. On the planet of Oa, home to the Green Lantern Corps — 3,600 intergalactic cops who keep the universe safe — the evil villain Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown) has escaped his confinement and is destroying planets in his wake.
One of the Green Lantern officers, the purple-skinned Abin Sur (Temuera Morrison), is gravely wounded and crash-lands on Earth. Abin Sur releases his green ring to find a worthy replacement. The ring picks Hal, who is transported to Oa to begin his training under the leader of the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro (Mark Strong).
Meanwhile (there's a lot of "meanwhile…" in this movie), back on Earth, the senator's scientist son Hector (Peter Sarsgaard) is called by the government to perform an autopsy on Abin Sur — and becomes infected by Parallax. And while this should transform Hector into a great supervillain, instead it turns him a creepy guy with an enlarged cranium and lascivious designs on Carol.
With a patchwork script overwhelmed by the demands of an origin story, director Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale") can't keep from bouncing erratically between the astral and the earthbound. "Thor" did that too, by the way, but it loaded up the outer-space scenes with some over-the-top grandeur.
In "Green Lantern," the effects — which center on Hal's ability to transform the ring's energy into physical form — spin off toward silliness as Hal's mind creates Hot Wheels ramps and giant punching fists. (These effects don't improve much with 3-D.)
Reynolds, ripped and buff, exudes the macho joy of discovering his superpowers. And he has strong chemistry with Lively ("Gossip Girl"), whose smoky sensuality plays well with Reynolds' swagger. If there is another "Green Lantern" movie (and a post-credits sequence sets one up), the makers should remember that this movie's most effective special effect is Reynolds' smile.
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Green Lantern
Special-effects silliness and a cobbled-together script overwhelm Ryan Reynolds' charm in this superhero saga.
Where • Theaters everywhere.
When • Opens Friday, June 17.
Rating • PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action.
Running time • 105 minutes.