To be fair and frank.  I’m very excited for all of the comic adaptations coming out in the movie theater these days. Growing up, I would have never guessed that $150-$200 million budgets to bring superheroes to the silver screen would ever take place but that has become one of the most common occurrences in the cinema for the past several years.  There have been some amazing success stories.  Iron Man, X-2: X-Men United and the one-two punch of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are a few  of the stellar breakthroughs. 

Even those that aren’t the best in the genre are very re-watchable and fun.  However, just like with any group, there are those that make you embarrassed to be a nerd.  Electra, Catwoman and Punisher: War Zone?  I’m looking at you.

While Green Lantern isn’t that hideous, it falls short in its quest to be the next “tent pole” for Detective Comics or “DC”.  In this example, the tent pole, or intellectual property that props up your company and allows you to bring even more great stuff to the forefront.

Iron Man was a great example is this.

A lesser known character in the Marvel universe with a limited rouge’s gallery, the movie was a smash hit with the perfect casting of Robert Downey Jr. and a great introductory story line.  Honestly, an alcoholic, self-destructive prodigy who has no respect for authority?  Downey IS Tony Stark.

I wish I had similar words for Ryan Reynolds’ uneven performance as Hal Jordan who is selected as the first human to join the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps.

Instead of becoming the greatest one of them all per the comics, Reynolds’ Jordan is immediately tough to swallow because he seems so miscast right from the beginning.  At the risk of being viewed as the whiny fanboy, Jordan is a test pilot.  Full of testosterone with little regard for his life, he has a serious quality when confronted with the awesome responsibility of the ring he receives.

Does that sound like Ryan Reynolds?

I thought Reynolds comedic talents and physique would have translated perfectly to The Flash, who’s flaky personality meshes with the city he protects.

Reynolds does his best, but the script is not great and full of issues.

The one worse issue in this film is that of Blake Lively who plays Carol Farris.  The 23-year old starlet is almost cringe-worthy in her attempt to play Farris, who is supposed to be a tough, beautiful future head of a major aeronautics company.  Lively is gorgeous, but she is less believable than Denise Richards was as a nuclear scientist Bond girl named Christmas in The World is not Enough.

You can’t fault the effort, but the best actors in the film are given precious little time.  In particular, Mark Strong’s appearance as Sinestro doesn’t look quite right and he is not given nearly enough scenes.  Geoffry Rush voicing Tomar-Re and Michael Clarke Duncan playing Kilowog are great choices, but you hardly ever hear them.

The more disappointing concept is that with a weak script, all the folks at DC had to do is a live-action version of their excellent Green Lantern: First Flight story line in their full length animated film line and watch people start to love the color Green.

This film fails in giving the studio another name brand to market alongside Batman and seems like an effort that was put together almost with the expectation that it would do well on name brand and advertising alone and then they would focus on a sequel where Sinestro would play his traitorous persona.

I love my super hero movies, but this is one that my brother would call “a renter.”

With no cement plans for The Flash and with a monumental challenge of bringing someone like Wonder Woman to life in an acceptable way, the folks at DC had better hope that next summer’s Superman reboot under director Zach Snyder is a hit.  Not because of whiny fanboys, but because they are running out of recognizable characters to try.

After all, I don’t see my wife going to see a Martian Man-hunter movie.