When test pilot and war veteran Hal Jordan accepts a mysterious, powerful ring from a dying alien creature, it transforms him into the Green Lantern, one of an elite force of intergalactic heroes who patrol the universe to ensure peace and justice for all, under the leadership of the Guardians of the Universe.
Unsure of their newest recruit, the Guardians assign Hal to their most-honoured Green Lantern Sinestro for training, unaware that a sinister plot is already well under way that seeks to overthrow the Guardians and create a new order that will replace chaos throughout the galaxy.
It’s a battle of might and willpower as Hal, the first ever human Green Lantern, must prove his worth both as a honourable member of the human species and as a hero to all!
Green Lantern: First Flight is a 2009, direct-to-video Warner Bros. and DC Comics animated film adaptation of the Green Lantern mythology, the first such film of its kind. The story focuses on the first mission of Hal Jordan, the first human inducted into the Green Lantern Corps and is written by veteran DC scribe Alan Burnett. The film is produced by Bruce Timm and directed by Lauren Montgomery, who previously directed DC’s Wonder Woman animated feature film also released in 2009.
In terms of story, Alan Burnett has been such a staple in the DC bullpen for so long now that it is almost impossible for him to put a single step wrong when it comes to DC superheroes and as such the film simply works, building up nice and quickly, humanising as many of the characters as possible and then finishing off with the perfect heroic and explosive end. There are scatterings of humour here and there, but first and foremost Green Lantern: First Flight is an space-based action movie fuelled by limitless imagination – and this is exactly what it chases after from start to finish.
One thing that I am glad about is that they decided not to rehash the whole origin story (despite the film’s title) as this had been covered more than comprehensively enough in the previous Justice League: New Frontier movie released in 2008. Rather, they rushed through this rather well trod sequence and instead chose to focus on the story of Hal Jordan’s first missions as a Green Lantern and the rise of Sinestro, a decision that I wholeheartedly applaud.
Visually, Green Lantern: First Flight is pretty much standard super hero fare, but this is in no way a bad thing when you realise that this means crisp, square-jawed antagonists with extremely clean lines and fluid animation, which when combined with a fairly bright (if a little flat) colour and shading palette delivers an end result that is certainly more than just a little pleasing to the eye.
Unfortunately the film does however stray in that ‘throw a little CG in here and there’ mentality and as per usual the meld between 2D and 3D does not blend seamlessly together and this does cause a little bit of irritation in what other wise would have been a perfect visual spectacle. Thankfully though these sequences and blendings are kept to a minimum and in the end, I can only hope that the cost savings made by substituting the CG in for traditional was worth the money for the producer.
As per usual, the orchestral arrangements and just general background music choice and sound effects for the film are absolutely spot on, but what is a nice change of pace is the inclusion of quite a few well known actors and actresses for the various voice roles in the movie, a move that DC seems to have started in earnest now, following their inclusion of a big(ish) name in Keri Russell for the previous Wonder Woman film. This time around we get Christopher Meloni as Hal Jordan, Victor Garber as Sinestro, Tricia Helfer as Boodikka, Juliet Landau as Labella, Olivia D’Abo as Carol Ferris, John Larroquette as Tomar Re, Larry Drake as Ganthet, and last but most definitely not least, the king of B film action actors, Michael Madsen as the ever lovable Kilowog.
Like it or hate it, having big(ish) names attached to a project (even if just in the voice acting category) certainly can’t hurt in overall sales, and apart from the ‘star power’ that the producer is most certainly hoping for, all these people are trained actors, meaning that their performances are all pretty much top notch.
In summary, Green Lantern: First Flight is a more than worthy addition to DC’s ever growing stable of animated feature length films, featuring some great action, solid story telling, competent animation and just an amazing level of faithfulness to the source material as a whole, all jumbled with that complete sense of wonderment that space-based superhero yarns so often instil deep in a fanboy’s heart.
It is a great composition and if you are a comic book fan then this is one animated film that should definitely be sitting snugly in your DVD rack! :)
Related link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern:_First_Flight