So I saw Green Lantern and I can say that it was okay, I'd even pay to watch it again.
The screening was actually in 3D, which worried me but not for long. This had some of the best 3D effects I've seen in a movie. I think Hollywood is starting to reach a smart point with the 3D effects. Subtle effects work even better than extreme in your face ones, and this movie did a good job of a mix of both.
Now, enough about the effects. The story was somewhat mediocre at best, but worked for what it was. It didn't try to be more than just another comic book movie, so I think they were able to set the tone well for the mixed target audience they have. The main villain, Parallax and his little buddy Hector Hammond definitely differed from their comic storyline (which didn't really relate to each other), but in a way that didn't feel inexcusably forced. Most of the Green Lantern designs that I originally hated looked much better in motion, such as Kilowog. Sinestro was a strong point of the film and a bonus scene during the credits show his path will go down the one you expect it to if you know anything of the Green Lantern mythos (a scene which I proclaimed was in ways better than the entire film). A couple of plot points hinged on things that didn't really make sense to me (Hal asks the Guardians for help to save the humans, and then asks permission to defend Earth on his own, which is something he shouldn't have to do as it lies in the sector he is supposed to be defending) and some others that are a bit more of a spoiler to discuss. Many of the characters were written well, and matched their comic personalities. Hector Hammond (who again, should have nothing to do with Parallax or the 'yellow powet of fear') was better characterized than I expected, his extreme jealousy showing even while possessed.
Sadly, the two disappointing characters were in the main cast: Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris. Hal started the film as cocky as he should be, but then his required daddy dying flashback and pretty much pusses out for most of the film, occasionally showing how courageous he is, but mostly being a big fat wuss who cries about how the ring shouldn't have chosen him. He had done this at some point during the comics, but he wasn't such a fucking baby about it. I think they took some inspiration from a Kyle Rayner storyline for that, which is also dumb because fuck that. Carol was closer to right, I think. She gets pissed off at Hal when he does something dumb, but when she finds out he turned into a glowing space cop and saved the world, it was if he never did a stupid, inconsiderate, asshole thing to her before. Granted, the biggest thing they referenced was him forgetting her birthday, which really isn't that fucking bad, but whatever. His biggest fuckup actually happens in the movie (along with the aforementioned pussyfying flashback, but it works out fine and that being a fuckup pretty much doesn't matter.
Again, I would pay to watch it again, even with 3D surcharges. Ryan Reynolds did better than I though he would as Hal, and I still think Nathan Fillion would have made more sense, and had more of the voice that I hear in my head for Hal, but I can live with. Hopefully they'll get his characterization right in the next film if one comes (I fully expect it). All the aliens were well done with some unimportant exceptions of characters that they did things that I was disappointed with (re: killing them, but someone has to die for there to be a real threat, right?).
I'll give it a 6.9/10.
Of the comic book movies I've seen so far this year, I'd rate them so:
Thor 9/10
X-Men: First Class 7/10
