Be warned, spoilers lie ahead.

I’ve been a Green Lantern fan for a while now. The work Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons did with Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, and the whole Sinestro Corps story arc that followed really got me back into the DC universe. I also wear a Green Lantern ring that fits better than my wedding band (my wife is really pleased about that one). So when I say I was excited to see a Green Lantern film, it might be a bit of an understatement.

I saw the film in 3D and regular ol’ 2D. There’s not that much of a difference between the two. I honestly liked the 2D version better. The 3D just didn’t offer enough to make up for the difference in ticket price, nor did it feature any of the classic 3D gimmicks. There were a few times where the CG costume was bothersome, and the 3D just made it more apparent. The first sequence of Hal and Tomar-Re first flying around together on Oa was a prime example. It was obvious that it was just Ryan Reynolds head pasted onto a CG suit.

The other GL’s look really good. Tomar-Re, Kilowog, and every CG lantern we see were faithfully animated (Kilowog was almost a direct translation of some of the Ethan Van Sciver drawings). Their movements seemed natural, and Oa looked pretty cool. The ring powers were spot on. I loved seeing the big fist come out and hit the three a-holes from Ferris aircraft. I also appreciated the second, even larger fist late in the film. It’s one of those things I’ve been pretending to do through my childhood, teen years , and well into my late twenties.

This film spends a lot of time on Earth. It seemed that the writers wanted to focus more on Hal’s human relationships than of those with his fellow lanterns. I know it’s an origin story, so I’ll let it pass.

Several characters seemed to be underused. Peter Sarsgaard plays a fantastic Hector Hammond. He gave the character an awkwardness and genius that makes viewers want to like him. The downside is that viewers only get his full back story three quarters of the way through the film. I was looking forward to seeing the brilliant giant-headed villain wreak havoc, instead he was a throw-away character. The other characters that were underused were the alien Green Lanterns. There are only a handful of sequences where Hal Jordan interacts with them. Tomar-Re (who is Hal Jordan’s first contact in the comics as well) was perfecty cast with the voice of Geoffrey Rush. He was a calming presence, assuring Jordan he was the right man for the job. Kilowog didn’t have a quality line in the film (despite my smirk every time he said poozer), but hey he looked good. His training sequence with Hal felt like a video game walk through. I kept waiting to hear him say, “look up, then down. Does that feel okay? Would you like to try inverted?” Mark Strong was a good choice for Sinestro. He was serious and vigilant, and you could see his clear desire for order. I only wish we could have had more screen time with Hal & him. I never got the mentor/mentee feeling from those two. Instead it seems that Tomar-Re is more of a mentor for Jordan, and Sinestro is just there to approve or disapprove.

Ryan Reynolds delivered a solid performance as Hal Jordan. He was a little more witty than Hal in the comics, but I think it works for the film. Taika Waititi played Hal’s best friend, Thomas Kalmaku (originally Hal’s mechanic in the comics nicknamed Pie-face) quite well. I was glad to see that character brought into the film, and his relationship with Hal was apparent from the beginning (he cheered on his best friend, rather than his own tech). Carol Ferris, played by Blake Lively, was merely so-so. Her lines were typically generic, and thus the character played as such.

What also bothered me were some of the changes from comics to the film. Parallax (featuring the awesome voice of Clancy Brown) was almost completely changed for the film. I liked the original premise of Parallax, a being comprised entirely of energy that fed off fear, imprisoned in the Core Battery, causing the yellow impurity. I suppose it was deemed ‘too science fiction-y’ for mainstream audiences (which eliminated the one weakness of the ring itself, and instead left the weakness to the bearer). The other issue I had was the sudden jump that Sinestro made to conclude the only way to fight Parallax was with a yellow ring. No one seemed to argue it, instead the Guardians just looked around, shrugged and said, “Okay. Let’s give it a shot.” Really? Also, if you stay through the credits (the first half) you’ll get the bonus scene to set up the next film. I watched that and couldn’t help but wonder why he had to do it. The only motivation seems to be that the ring was made, and he was the one pushing for the construction, so hey don’t let it go to waste!

So was I enamored with the film? No. It was a decent flick worth the price of admission (but not 3D price). I’ll definitely see a sequel, and hope for more time on Oa, or at least more time spent with the Corps.

Overall Grade: B