The plot concerns ace test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who upon discovering the wreckage of an alien craft inherits the ring and lantern from purple skinned extraterrestrial Abin Sur (Star Wars Temuera Morrison). The ring and lantern bestow superhuman powers as well as membership to the Green Lantern Corps, guardians of the galaxy from the planet Oa, responsible for maintaining peace. It is not long before infected scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) coupled with the awesome Parallax, an entity that feeds on the yellow energy of fear that the safety and well being of earth is in peril.

What I liked about this film is that it does not take itself too seriously it notably references other superhero franchises like ‘Spiderman’ with a riff on the ‘with power comes great responsibility’ line. Reynolds is perfectly suited (pardon the pun) to portray Jordan a.k.a. the Green Lantern as he has shown a gift for playing likeable comic characters in ‘Just Friends’ and ‘Definitely, Maybe’ whereas his action hero credentials have been exhibited in the likes of ‘Blade: Trinity.’

Blake Lively is Carol Ferris, Jordan’s long-term girlfriend, apart from looking pretty and getting into danger, Lively is not given much else to do unfortunately but she has good chemistry with Reynolds. Mark Strong as Sinestro, Geoffrey Rush as Tomar-Re and Michael Clarke Duncan as Kilowog are also criminally underused. Apart from Rush providing narration and aiding his two colleagues with Jordan’s training the trio don’t really do much. You get the impression that these allies of Jordan are deliberately held back so that attention is not drawn away from the title character, which is another pity.

That said the special effects and musical score are outstanding and the money is all up there on the big screen. It’s just that the overall execution seems a little flat. Not a bad effort overall and certainly its target audience of young children, teenagers and fans of the comic book won’t be disappointed. You can’t really go to a film like this and expect life changing high art or existentialist drama. It is what it is and accepted on its own terms its undemanding lightweight fun.