Linterna Verde: Primer vuelo

Let me just say right up front that I've never read a single comic book in my entire life (I just couldn't get into them as a kid), so that's why I'm very thankful for the existence of film adaptations based upon these superheroes' backstories and mythos. The first time I'd ever heard of the Green Lantern character was in 2011, back when the whole fiasco of Ryan Reynolds' critical and commercial failure was released onto the big-screen (only a couple of years after this animated film originally came out). Say whatever you want about it by all means (personally, I didn't think it was as awful as everyone makes it out to be), but that financial bomb helped expose many people (such as myself) to the fictional world and expansive lore of the Green Lanterns (so in a way, I suppose not all box-office flops are completely worthless).

Under the surface of things, Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) is really a more in-depth character study about Thaal Sinestro - a tired and bitterly broken-down veteran member of The Corps who finally goes rogue when his faith in the Guardians' justice system has been pushed to its limits and ultimately, his own rigid beliefs in achieving total peace and order in the universe are skewed far beyond repair. It's refreshing to have a superhero film that takes the time to properly establish its antagonist's motivations, even if the character himself is a bit underdeveloped in certain areas (I still say Thanos in Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War is the number one best supervillain out there, which was all thanks to The Russo Brothers meticulously fleshing him out to the point where you could then start to understand the reasoning for his extremist attitude). That being said, even thought it feels a lot more small-scale than it actually is, the film still manages to provide the same amount of action spectacle as any MCU movie would.

Hal Jordan still retains his archetypal character traits (from what I've heard about the actual comics, that is) of having a cocky and brash personality, while also maintaining the likeable and heroic qualities of his otherworldly superhero persona as a smooth-talking, and sometimes smart-mouthed, inexperienced rookie cop on his first terrifying assignment. And by the way, no offence to Christopher Meloni's voice acting, but I actually think I prefer Nathan Fillion voicing the eponymous character (his vocal performance in Emerald Knights just fits the role a lot more).

For a direct-to-DVD animated movie, I thought the action sequences were very well choreographed by the talented team of animation artists. The fight scenes in traditional hand-drawn animation tends to look awkward, in a stiff and jerky kind of way (a little rough around the edges, is all I'm saying), and although that's usually the case for most of them, I'm happy to say the animators were experienced enough at knowing how to pull it off in a way that made the lengthy battles appear to have fluent and swift movements when it came to the characters' actions (I mean after all, this is the same team who also worked on the animated Wonder Woman film). The only other good 2D cartoons, which are primarily action-oriented, that I know of are the original Ben 10 series and the 2003 revitalisation of TMNT.

To sum things up; not even a $200 million big-scale "blockbuster" could compare to this action-packed, yet somehow humble, cartoon feature. This was everything that the expensive live-action movie should've been in order to impress casual audiences worldwide and start a whole new ongoing film franchise (but sadly, that never came to pass).

What did you expect from this? Animation that is decent, but nothing spectacular, lots of pretty colors and funny faces, everyday guy with large manly jaw becoming galactic marshal rookie, rookie fighting evil, rookie defeating evil. I knew what was going to happen, who was the bad guy and how good will prevail from the first 10 minutes, yet it still was fun :) Sneaky sobs!

Bottom line: it's a cartoon for kids. Nobody sings, thank you very much, but there isn't much humour in it either. A simple plot which explains the birth of the Green Lantern superhero. To their defense, I doubt they could have squeezed much in it anyway, as the plot was packed with action from beginning to start.

It just fails to really introduce us to Hal Jordan before he gets the powers, and after that, he's kind of a "Gary Stu" (male's version of Mary Sue) that in my opinion is a pretty weak character beyond some fine jokes here and there.

Yet, when the plot of the actual story takes off, it has great pace, good twists and particularly violent action (compared to other movies of the genre), that serves the (considerably serious) tone well.

The third act is more "typical", but the animation finds another gear (and the great use of color and good desings help) and the action is good enough to end the movie on a high point.

Although I have seen Green Lantern being featured in the the few Justice League/DC comics that I have read, I never did know the hows and whys of the original character. This animated movie explains how he came to being without lingering too much on just the origin and continues with solid action throughout. The twists in the story were engrossing and the climax was spectacular and lived up to it's name. I was also riveted by the score, almost as chilling as how Dark Knight was. Some room was also made for wry humor although the content veered more towards PG-13 than PG. All in all I am very impressed by the movie which leaves me eagerly awaiting for the Martin Campbell one of 2011. 8/10.

Good origin animated movie, quite entertaining and with a more than decent villain. The level and type of animation is interesting, as it's far from what DC Animations normally offers in its movies. It has a good kinetic flow and the character design fits very well considering this is an animated space opera.

We could make a direct comparison between this animation and the Live Action Green Lantern movie from 2011. Leaving aside the bad CGI and the changes of antagonists, I think that the story that the animation offers is better. There's a better consistency, Sinestro is more complex and has a gradual evolution within the movie.

The animated movie has good pacing too, filling half of Act 2 and all of Act 3 with fast-paced action and revelations that make it all the more engaging. While the power levels are somewhat unbalanced, it's satisfying to see the outcome of First Flight, after all.

In its negative aspects, some characters are very underpowered, the humor doesn't quite work and the patterns of power become repetitive.

Recommended for those who follow the animated series of DC movies.