Green Lantern: First Flight

I've never been a huge fan of the Green Lantern, I think it's because I'm not a big "Space" and scifi guy and let's be honest Green Lantern is certainly DC's premier space traveller.

This is an origin story, I suppose. But the actual origin is basically compacted into 5 minutes, no....really.

It then immediatly moves onto his first mission which none too surprisingly involves longtime nemesis Sinestro and yadayadayada.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying in any way shape or form that First Flight is bad, it's just so incredibly paint by numbers and I needed something special to take my attention away from not being keen on Hal Jordan.

Yes, no doubt this is considerably better than the live action movie which I'm still in denial about but this really is one for fans and perhaps fans only.

The Good:

The chair shot made me laugh

Great voice cast

The Bad:

Highly rushed origin story

Highly generic

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Super heroes in space simply don't work for me *Ahem* Except Guardian Of The Galaxy

The blue men group are ancients? This explains so much

A pleasant introduction to one of DC Comics most beloved heroes, an origin story well adapted and finely crafted in terms of its animation. I find most DC films from its animated universe to be of top-quality, and this effort is no less. Perhaps it doesn't fully share the spectacularity of Justice League films or the grandeur of Superman, or the somberness of Batman, but it feels rather cosmic in its nature, it takes on an astronomical dimension obviously due to Green Lantern's stories mostly taking place in outer space. To me is utterly satisfying when a hero and their stories develop an atmosphere of their own, and are able to produce a sense of warming familiarity when you are watching.

Make sure you watch this, if you don't know the first thing about Hal Jordan's Green Lantern, definitely check this movie out, and even if you do you'll realize what a fine origin story WB has in store for fans.

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.

A very solid effort from the writers and animators at DC. The origin of GL, Hal Jordan, is solidly told, if a little quickly and predictably. We have the dying alien, Abin Suhr, giving his ring to someone worthy, ace pilot Hal, a decent guy doing a hard job and trying to have fun with it.

And fun he has! Hal takes to the ring like a duckling takes to water, and soon he is flying high with the other Green Lanterns, getting into trouble on alien worlds, and saving the day.

The pluses of the movie are many. The animation is smooth, and green never looked so good. The voices are excellent. Christopher Meloni excels as Hal, and Victor Garber is suavely evil as Sinestro. All the other voice roles are handled well; in fact, there are no slackers in the bunch.

The music is also excellent, providing drama when necessary, being playful and light at others. As always, the alien worlds were depicted imaginatively. Watching this movie might have been somewhat predictable, but it was a fun ride all the way.

Its only drawback was that Hal took to his power ring too quickly. No practice, no failures in forming constructs...nada. A little exposition might have made the screenplay work better, but all the same, it was enjoyable, and the ending fight between Hal and Sinestro was superbly staged. A worthy addition to any fan's animated collection.

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.