Green Lantern First Flight, Animated Film Review
DC Comics and Warner Home Video Team for Green Lantern Cartoon Movie
Nov 15, 2009
To many DC Comics fans, Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern. A founding member of the Justice League and an inordinately powerful superhero, Jordan's Green Lantern alter ego was due an animated feature film. Green Lantern: First Flight is that film, depicting the birth of a hero and his most notorious adversary, Sinestro, in violent, not-for-young-children action.
The Origins of the Green Lantern Character
Technically, Hal Jordan was not Earth's first Green Lantern. The character debuted in the July 1940 edition of All-American Comics. Alan Scott, a human who by chance comes into the possession of a magic ring with extraordinary powers, fought crime and evil in a cape and orange and green tights.
But only die-hard Green Lantern fans remember Scott. The real-deal Green Lantern, a.k.a. Hal Jordan, came about in the late 1950s, completely upgraded and in every way bettered by DC Comics. He was given a new name, costume, back story, enemies, and attitude. He became a world-class hero.
Other Green Lanterns would come after Jordan, including Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, and John Stewart. Although Jordan was the original Green Lantern member of the Justice League, Stewart replaced him in the Cartoon Network's Justice League animated series.
Green Lantern: First Flight Plot - Hal Jordan Goes from Test Pilot to Earth's Hero
The plot of Green Lantern: First Flight is fast-paced. Hal Jordan obtains the Green Lantern ring from the dying alien, Abin Sur, within the first five minutes. Five minutes later, Jordan is on his first mission, under the tutelage of the most prominent Green Lantern, Sinestro. The two are charged with the task of bringing in Abin Sur's murderer.
As any Green Lantern fan knows, Sinestro is not a good guy (as if his name alone weren't enough to tip viewers off). First Flight highlights his treacherous attempt to overthrow the Guardians, the Green Lantern Corps' leaders and protectors of the green element that gives each Lantern his or her power. This plot line is as central to the film as is Jordan's rise to heroism.
Talented Actors Lend Their Voices to the Telling of Green Lantern: First Flight
Christopher Meloni of Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit stars as the confident but inexperienced Hal Jordan. Victor Garber of Alias voices the cold, calculating Sinestro. The true test of a voice actor's ability is whether his spoken words match the viewer's expectations of what the character should sound like despite the emotional depth or unique circumstances the character faces. If viewers believe that Meloni's voice is the right and only voice for Hal Jordan, and likewise Garber's voice for Sinestro, then the actors have thoroughly succeeded. In Green Lantern: First Flight, Meloni and Garber certainly succeed.
Other talented actors fill out the supporting cast. Michael Madsen is the perfect voice for the Green Lantern Kilowog. John Larroquette's Tomar Re, Tricia Helfer's Boodikka, and Kurtwood Smith's Kanjar Ro all blend seamlessly into the film's dialogue.
Green Lantern: First Flight is a Great Film for Fans of the Superhero, but It is not for Children
Green Lantern: First Flight earns its PG-13 rating. Although a quality animated film, First Flight is not for children. It is loaded with violence and even has a high death count, the dead consisting mostly of Green Lanterns. Nevertheless, Green Lantern: First Flight will surely appease all fans of the DC Comics series.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2009. Fans of the cartoon will also have a live-action, Green Lantern film to look forward to, now in pre-production and set to star Ryan Reynolds (Waiting..., Adventureland, X-Men Origins: Wolverine).
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