Don't believe everything you read - Green Lantern is a good movie. I'm actually at a bit of a loss to understand the mixed reception the latest comic book adaptation has received.

For those who don't know, the movie is the tale of a human chosen to become part of an intergalactic police force called the Green Lanterns. The human's name is Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who actually has a busy schedule of test pilot, womaniser and generally irresponsible guy.,

But he's picked a bad time to be recruited as an entity named Parrallax - who feeds on fear - is about to destroy the universe. The film features a nice mixture of on- and off-world experiences as our hero comes to grips (no pun intended) with owning a ring that brings his imagination to life.

His obligatory love interest (Blake Lively) does an excellent job as the cliched strong, independent woman who doesn't need Hal but secretly pines for him.

Cue the special effects, interesting fight scenes and destruction. And that's it.

It's fun, interesting, and well-characterised, acted and directed. I'm not sure what else critics wanted or expected.

Sure the initial story might seem a little complicated for a non-geek but it's hardly rocket science and yes, the ending is a bit rushed but the simple fact of the matter is that it's a fun romp of a film. Yes,the pacing is a little all over the shop and they seem to have spent a lot of time dithering about how much to include but it's hardly the disaster many are trumpeting.

From a movie perspective you couldn't ask for too much more. Indeed the people I saw it with were two people who knew nothing about the comic and one who knew the character vaguely but had never read it specifically. All three come out gushing and speaking of possibly buying the comic.

As a comic-reading geek there were a few irksome things - movie Hal has fear, comic Hal simply doesn't - and problems but there were also some cool easter eggs and references. I'm big enough to concede some changes have to made for the general populace.

Any concerns that the FX wouldn't be able to do a good job with ring constructs were quickly allayed and - as much as I hate 3D movies - I actually really enjoyed some of the incredible things done in this film, especially early on. Impressive enough to become only the second film on my list of 'movies worth seeing in 3D (and no, the first was not Avatar).

Director Martin Campbell - who gave us the amazing casino Royale and the vastly underrated Edge Of Darkness - has done a wonderful job of capturing the spirt, if not the full essence, of the Green Lantern Corps.

Go see this movie. Enjoy Mark Strong's cool but arrogant Sinestro and Peter Sarsgaard's whiny Hector Hammond. Take in the wonder of willpower and imagination.

And make up your own mind. This is a great example of why you should be wary of trusting movie critics.

Except me of course.




, can Ryan Reynolds play any other type of guy?