The movie Green Lantern must not be mistaken for The Green Hornet. They are two different characters.

The first — Green Lantern — is a D.C. Comics character and has a plot written by four writers. They throw a bunch of stuff at the screen hoping something sticks.

Not much does.

-- Local show times, theaters, trailer.

The Green Hornet is about a Batman-like character whose genesis is old-time radio. It’s written by two comedians who also throw a bunch of stuff at the screen.

Nothing at all sticks and the film completely sucks.

But The Green Hornet did get two MTV Movie Award nominations. When you’re done reading click to see how I feel about the MTV Movie Awards.

Both come in 2D and 3D. Green Lantern’s 3D is spectacular. It may be the best 3D I’ve seen from the spate of 3D films of the last five years.

Ryan Reynolds plays Hal Jordan, an irresponsible fighter pilot. He’s brilliant but a bit of a loose cannon. After losing a big contract for his employer, Jordan is fired. He’s terminated by Carol Ferris who is an ex-girlfriend and the love of his life.

Parallax, an entity with enormous powers who is guarded by the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps, escapes. He mortally wounds a Green Lantern who crash lands on Earth. While dying, he orders his ring to find his perfect replacement.

It’s Reynolds.

Green Lanterns have rings that allow them to make anything they visualize real. There are hundreds of them guarding the various quadrants of the galaxy. Reynolds is the first human to get the honor.

A bunch of sub-plots muddy-up the picture for an hour or so until you-know-who gets to Earth. Then Reynolds’ Green Lantern predictably saves the day.

Note that I’ve given Green Lantern a positive rating. Barely. What makes it work is the pupil-popping effects. Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) and the effects staff have put together a technical masterpiece with visuals that rival some of those found in Avatar.

Don’t see it for the plot. See it for the visuals. You can get lost in them.

I did. And in one fugue, an unshakable thought came to mind. Just for grins, let’s say the D.C. Comics stable of characters or the Marvel Comics cast are real. Each has a dozen or more super heroes fighting for truth and justice. They keep slime-ball human villains from taking over the world or alien life forms from destroying it.

Noble causes all.

Here’s how it goes. Aliens or megalomaniacs do their thing. Cars crash, planes crash, futuristic rays zap a building or two, death rays zero in on panicked crowds and some die. The rest run. Then the super hero saves the day and 10 minutes later all is well. Life is back to normal.

Or something similar.

Also assuming that there is continuity to the lives of the super heroes and the people of the planet, a few days or weeks later the next threat comes and the cycle repeats itself. People would not be doing business as usual. This would be the most paranoid planet in the galaxy. We’d all be hiding under our beds — ALL THE TIME.

Much of Green Lantern made me wish I was in mine.

Reynolds is so-so, and his love interest Blake Lively is definitely eye-candy but she can’t really act. Mark Strong is Sinestro, the leader of the Green Lanterns. With a decent script, he can act.

This isn’t a decent script.

The always-excellent Peter Sarsgaard (An Education) plays a villain, Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins have cameos and Clancy Brown, Michael Clark Duncan and Geoffrey Rush do the voices of animated characters.

Mr. Movie rating: 3 1/2 stars

Rated PG-13 for some mature themes. It opens Friday, June 17 at Regal’s Columbia Center 8 and at the Fairchild Cinemas 12.

5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it's your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on video.
2 stars to 1 star: Don't bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.