Earlier this summer I did a review for MARVEL'S Thor, to be equal and fair I have decided to go in and watch DC's Green Lantern and do a review for this comic book movie as well.

I love my comic books. Granted I am a much bigger fan of MARVEL than I am of DC, but I still enjoy DC and have read enough Green Lantern to have a general idea about this character and what I would have loved to have seen on the big screen. In fact, going into the summer, watching trailers to Green Lantern, Thor, X-men 1st class, and Captain America, I felt based on the trailers that Green Lantern had the potential of being the best of the Superhero movies of the summer. What I got was an enjoyable film that didn't quite live up to the expectations I had, but was still an enjoyable popcorn movie all around.

The story is about a pilot named Hal Jordan, played by Ryan Reynolds, who is selected by a ring to join the ranks of the Green Lantern Corp, pretty much the police force of the universe. But the new Green Lantern has very little time to get used to the new Superhero lifestyle as the powerful alien entity known as Paralax threatens to destroy earth.

The casting for this movie was pretty solid. I enjoyed Reynolds performance as Hal Jordan, but a strength to this movie has also become a weakness as I found the supporting cast ended up being more interesting and at times overshadowed Ryan's performance. Mark Strong played an amazing Sinestro, by far one of thee better casting of a comic book character I've ever seen. I would have loved to have seen Sinestro and Hal interract a lot more than they did on film. Peter Sarsgaard also did an amazing job as the villain Dr. Hector Hammond. At times I actually enjoyed watching his transformation into the villain more than Hal's ordeal becoming a Green Lantern. And as always I loved Geoffrey Rush, who provided the voice for Tomar-Re. But was disappointed in the little screen time he had. Once again this isn't a dis on Ryan Reynolds performance as Hal Jordan, but I felt in this film the supporting cast in general, especially the ones mentioned above performed just that much better.

I know Hal Jordan is the central character, and the story needs to focus on him, but at times I felt the story focused a little too much on him. My favorite parts of the movie were when he was on the planet OA learning how to become a Green Lantern, and interacting with the rest of the corp. More time was focused on him, where I felt the movie would have been stronger if it used more from the corp through the story. Especially when they show Paralax taking out 4 of the more powerful Green Lanterns very easily, it made Hal's battle with him at the end seem most unlikely. I would have been more excited to see the rest of the corp, or at least a few additional members be involved as well.

The action was solid. Lots of dialogue, at times you wished for more, but there was still enough to carry the movie along. The CGI, lots of it was really well done, but was spotty. At times certain scenes looked rushed, and at times second rate to some of the other graphics.

Overall Green Lantern was still an enjoyable comic book movie adaptation, I felt it was lacking in various areas and didn't live up to the expectations I had for it, but it was still a fun movie that isn't deserving of so much of the negative critiques it received.

FINAL GRADE: C/C+

Trailer can be viewed here
]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-GO9fo9DtM