Green Lantern: An underwhelming adventure

Hal Jordan is a hotshot test pilot who always lives life on the edge. His life is forever changed however after he is chosen to join an intergalactic group of warriors known as the Green Lantern Corps. While he struggles with the demands of being a superhero an evil force gains strength and threatens to destroy not only Earth, but the universe.

There was a chance here for the Green Lantern to be another one of those successful comic book adaptations much in the same vein as Captain America, Iron Man, etc. Hal Jordan was a complex character who, although bestowed the awesome powers of the Lantern Ring, struggled with his own personal demons of fear and tenacity. His story had the opportunity to show the audience that terrific powers can only help one so much, that it takes the will of a person to see things through in brightest day or in blackest night.

Unfortunately the script failed to give the film a consistent flow, juggling too many subplots and characters and simply not keeping the audience mentally engaged with anything on the screen other than the elaborate action sequences which were not all that great. The perfect example of this was the final showdown between Hal and the main villain of the film (Parallax), which was anti-climatic and unsatisfying given the build up of Parallax's powers and abilities as well as the power of Hal's Ring. Ryan Reynolds tried his best to make Hal not only cocky but accessible and vulnerable but he was (again) hamstrung by the script, which gave all of the characters in the film the individual emotional depth found in the characters of a SyFy made for tv movie. Director Martin Campbell only seemed interested in making sure the CGI looked good and also ignored the chance to present the audience with a story that would accentuate the action.

Green Lantern was an underwhelming excursion into the DC comic book universe.

Grade: C-

Horrible Bosses: Good for a few laughs

Nick, Dale and Kurt are all miserable at their jobs thanks in large part to their bosses. One night, after drinking heavily, they come up with a plan to eliminate them. They even go so far as to hire a murder consultant to help them go through with the evil deeds, but will they?

Taking its cue from the Alfred Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train (or the Danny DeVito classic Throw Mama from the Train if you believe Dale), Horrible Bosses attempted to give the audience a comedic look at three guys trying to enact the ultimate scenario for those people that cannot stand their boss. Most of the laughs in the film were provided by those horrible bosses, which included Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell (who did not get nearly enough screen time as Kurt's cracked out boss Bobby) and Jennifer Aniston. Aniston in particular was hilarious as Dale's maneater of a boss Julia for the character was so unlike the "good girl" character she usually plays that every nasty comment that came out of her mouth (and trust me, there were a lot of them) was all the more shocking and funny. Jason Bateman and Charlie Day pitched in with some comedic gems of their own (Jason Sudeikis was just as slimy and unlikable as his boss Farrell) but the film failed to be anything more than a mean-spirited comedy with little to offer beyond its last gross-out gag or sexually charged line from Aniston.

This is not a bad thing, sometimes it's nice to just turn off one's mind and giggle at the insanity happening on screen but if you are looking for a comedy with layers and depth, Horrible Bosses is not the film for you.

Grade: C 

Fast Five: A satisfying sequel!

After Brian and Mia break Dom out of prison they try to stay one step ahead of the law. This eventually leads them to Rio de Janeiro where they run afoul of a powerful local drug lord named Reyes. In order to gain their freedom and stop Reyes from hunting them, they need to pull one last job. Little do they know that even as they assemble their team a hard nosed federal agent named Luke Hobbs is on their tail, looking to capture them.

When a film series hits its fifth installment, chances are it is so much like the previous films, in characters, story and actions, that it boarders on ridiculousness and cliche (see the Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street series for examples of this). In light of this, it is shocking that The Fast and Furious franchise has reached a fifth film, given the fact that all of the subsequent sequels to the 2001 original have been lacking in originality and entertainment.

So why should you check out Fast Five? For starters, the action was intense and constant. Not only were there the expected car chases/stunt sequences (the most insane of which involved Dom and Brian tearing up the streets of Rio with the bad guy's safe in the finale) but a number of fight sequences that were unusually effective. Beyond the sequences that most action fans were hoping to see in the film what helped to set this sequel apart from its predecessors was the story and characters. Director Justin Lin did well to make sure they satisfied the conventions that fans of the series were expecting while, at the same time, expanding upon those conventions and characters so that Fast Five was not just another brainless retread. Framing the story around the caper that Dom, Brian and the rest of team were trying to pull not only allowed for some Ocean's Eleven type caper action, but also for the cast (including a number of familiar faces from the previous films) to provide some memorable performances that made their characters easy for the audience to connect with. Add to that an absolutely show-stopping performance by Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs (the parts where he and Diesel squared off were epic) and you can start to see why this sequel merits at least one viewing.

Taken for the good old fashioned popcorn action flick it is meant to be, Fast Five was a satisfying sequel with plenty of action but also surprising depth of character and story.

Grade: B