For years, he was known mostly as the wise guy. In "Van Wilder," he was the college partier who loved the scene so much that he never managed to leave. In "Waiting" he was the waiter who not only didn't care about his job, he took joy in spitting in other people's food. It was in "Definitely, Maybe," when he donned the hat of a sensitive father and romantic interest, and also in "Adventureland," when he played the creepy carnival worker cheating on his wife, that Reynolds hinted at a wider range of talent and interests.

As Hal Jordan, Reynolds proves he has the goods to carry a film that demands humor, heroism and honor. Van Wilder has officially grown up - into the kind of man who believably seems capable of saving the world.

Jordan, as devout "Green Lantern" fans are no doubt already aware, is a test pilot for the Air Force who becomes the first human ever selected for the Green Lantern Corps, a supernatural brotherhood of warriors charged with keeping order across the universe. Their super powers are channeled through their rings - devices that require willpower to activate properly. Unlike Superman, who can fly, or Batman, who builds his own gadgets, Hal Jordan is a blended super character - made invincible thanks to a device, but a device that he must effort to use correctly.

The foe in this particular comic tale is Parallax, an enemy that sets the chain of events into motion. Threatening Earth, the Green Lantern Corps decides to welcome Jordan into their midst. Now on the front lines, the newbie sizes up the big stakes: Not only is the fate of his planet resting on his shoulders, but he could also go from newbie Green Lantern to the greatest of them all.

The film's production design is top-notch, the 3-D is a large step up over other summer entries and there's no question that the epic stakes of Jordan's mission infuse the story with a palpable sense of melodrama. As he struggles with learning how to power his ring, Carol Ferris (a gorgeous Blake Lively), a fellow pilot and Jordan's childhood sweetheart, brings some movie star radiance to the plotline.

But this blockbuster, even more so than "Thor," highlights the chasm that can divide mainstream audiences and hard-core comic book enthusiasts. Unlike "Iron Man," and its focus on stardom, or "The Dark Knight," with its moral compass, or even "Spider-Man," with its love-story origins, "The Green Lantern" is mostly focused on a supernatural ring, a man's mastery of his new superpower and the broader scope of this Green Lantern Corps. By the time we travel to the mystical planet Oa, where thousands of Green Lanterns converge, it becomes clear that this burst of sci-fi tilts decidedly towards the "sci."

So while the story is a tad bit too hokey for me, and the scope of the story a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around, I think I'll still look back to this fondly as the movie that proved Reynolds had what it takes to embody the majesty of a hero. Maybe the next "Green Lantern" could just be "Hal Jordan."