Green Lantern: First Flight

Green Lantern: First Flight

On Tuesday we see the release of Green Lantern: First Flight. Much like the previous Wonder Woman and New Frontier made for home video movies were, this is DC's latest attempt to capture their comic characters in animated form and frankly, I'm all for it.

But since I'm a crazy Green Lantern fan, I went ahead and saw this before it was released. Don't ask how... ok, it's pretty obvious. I mean, I was at comic con, right? So how was it, you ask? The film doesn't take any time setting up Hal's origin story. Within the first three minutes you see him get Abin Sur's ring and get suited up. While not up there with Batman and Superman in terms of how known his origin actually is, the basics are out there and understood. I would have liked some background for all those new folks walking into the Green Lantern universe.



But it just tossed you into this world of the Oans. Speaking of which, what was up with the names? They're suppose to be nameless except Ganthet who took a name and they all got pissed. I mean, what's up with the lack of comic accurately! Either way, it's a sort of blend of the modern green lantern/Sinestro Corps accessible to those who don't pick up comics monthly and aren't in the know on the history of the green lantern mythos.

To put it simply, the film is the cartoon version of Training Day. You get the good cop/bad cop out of Hal and Sinestro to degrees that you're surprised they didn't just rip off the script completely. Sinestro, which I never understood why anyone assumed he would be anything but evil with a name like Sinestro, who crosses the lines to get what he wants. At one point he's making an alien overdose on some space drug to get the answers out of her. Ah, classic stuff. You might as well have him light up a joint with his ring just to stamp it home that he's using his powers for evil.



But this isn't by accident. It bears repeating that Green Lantern: First Flight is described by the director, who also did Wonder Woman, that it's partially inspired by Training Day. I bet I could write something for the script of this if they just had told me in enough time.

_{Today's a training day, Private Jordan. Show you around, give you a taste of the business. I got 38 planets under my watch, 63 in my shared territory, another 250 I can be called to. I supervise five corps members. That's five different personalities. Five sets of problems. You can be number six if you act now. But I ain't holding no hands, okay? I ain't baby sitting. You got today and today only to show me who and what you're made of. You don't like power rings, get the fuck out of my Corps. Go back to your nice pussy Air Force job chasing Russians or something, you hear me?}

I was sort of have expecting Sinestro to say "Gorilla Grodd ain't got SHIT on me!"



And I suppose if you're not a nerd you wont get that reference as well. Oh well. Live and learn. The one thing I really didn't enjoy as much is that they didn't do much for Hal other than toss on a ring for him and made him some rookie, which I guess he was. But it would have been nice to see why he is so fit to wear the ring. Show off his father dying in a plane crash. Show some of the love interest with Carroll to set up for Star Sapphaire if they ever do a sequel.

I can't say I liked it as much as the Wonder Woman animated film. It had better voice actors and the story was a little better fleshed out to the comic world. This one is still a good and enjoyable film. But maybe my bar is set a little higher given that I really am a huge Green Lantern fan. Hell, if I ever do get married, I'll probably make it so that my wedding band is a green lantern ring. Now that's something that takes plenty of willpower.

Worth a purchase. Especially on Blue Ray, which seems to make any animated film look amazing and far more crisp. Now let's see if they do the live action film in a similar fashion.