'Green Lantern': What the Critics Say

Early reviews are mixed at best for the summer tentpole, with one critic calling the film “moronic.”

Official Green Lantern reviews are coming in at a fast and furious clip in advance of the film’s Friday opening, and they are mixed at best.



“It’s as bad as it gets—a dumb, pointless, ugly, moronic and incomprehensible jumble of botched effects, technical blunders, and cluttered chaos,” New York Observer’s Rex Reed wrote in his review.



Drew McWeeny at Hitfix.com was similarly disappointed with the anticipated summer offering.



“In a summer where we've had some good superhero films already and we're seeing people really start to have fun with the genre, Green Lantern stands out as a pretty major misstep,” he wrote, adding: “It is the first genuinely ugly film shot by Dion Beebe.”



Other reviews were less visceral in their reaction to Green Lantern.

LA Weekly film critic Karina Longworth stopped short of savaging the film, yet she, too, seemed disappointed with some of the big names attached to Green Lantern.



“[The film's director] Campbell's ADD style privileges spectacle over story--so much so that the film never rewards the viewer for even trying to keep track of what is going on,” she wrote.

The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy wrote of the film in his official THR review: "To be sure, there is enough going on here to keep fans' 3D glasses glued to their heads: In Oa, there is a whole new planet to explore (even if parts of it disconcertingly resemble a darker version of the ugly set for How the Grinch Stole Christmas), the actors are mostly well cast and effective enough and the action comes on frequently, if not always convincingly."

Katey Rich at Cinema Blend was in a forgiving frame of mind regarding the movie, saying:



“The script perks up a little for the big third act finale, which ties nicely into earlier action scenes and actually allows Reynolds to look like he's enjoying his new Lantern powers; Campbell, for his inability to manage the massive story, does well by the action sequences throughout.”

Glenn Kenny at MSN Movies summed up the film in his review, saying Green Lantern was a "pretty joyless comic book movie experience."