Green Lantern: First Flight

(Note: This review was originally published in August of 2009 on the now-defunct Nine Panel Nerds Podcast site. I’ve republished it here to prevent it from being permanently lost. I’ve since made a few edits; mainly just removing NPN-specific text, errors, and redundancies.)

It’s time for a movie review! Today’s film? Green Lantern: First Flight, a direct-to-video release starring DC Comics’ emerald warrior.

I was eager to check out this flick, as aside from my being a Green Lantern fan, I know that Warner Bros. has quite the pedigree in animation. Their DC Universe animated television shows and movies have all been of the highest quality, and that level of quality certainly continues with First Flight.

The story follows hotshot fighter pilot Hal Jordan, as he’s chosen to be a new Green Lantern and faces a serious crisis in outer space. While bits and pieces of Green Lantern comic book stories over the past few decades all show up in First Flight, the film is clearly in its own continuity; think of it as Ultimate Green Lantern, if you will. (In fact, a comic book series based on the film’s universe would be most excellent! Hear me, DC Comics?) The basics are all there, but First Flight forges its own path. For example, the energy sources powering the Green Lantern rings and Sinestro’s ring are different than those in the comics, and in some cases, familiar faces aren’t quite who they seem to be.

The character art is more detailed than the usual Bruce Timm style that many fans are familiar with, and that’s a good thing. Alien species now look much more like aliens, rather than just humanoids with varying skin colors. Abin Sur and Kanjar Ro in particular look much better than their comic book incarnations. The Green Lantern uniforms are similar to the current ones seen in the comics, with differences here and there based on invididual characters; some might have armor plating, different color piping, cloaks, et cetera. The art translates well into animated form, too, as everything is nice and fluid, while the few instances of 3D — usually used for ships — are integrated seamlessly.

A stellar voice cast was assembled for First Flight, including Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU) as Hal, Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog, Victor Garber (Alias) as Sinestro, Kurtwood Smith (RoboCop) as Kanjar Ro, and the lovely Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Boodikka. Her voice melts the elastic in my underwear. If only this were a live-action movie, we could’ve seen Tricia as Boodikka in the flesh. In the meantime, my fantasies will just have to…

…ahem. Sorry. The voice actors do an incredible job bringing these classic characters to life. Robert J. Kral’s score is also quite good, and the surround sound mix is very well done. Crank it up!

First Flight is rated PG-13, and with good reason. There’s a surprising amount of violence, but thankfully it’s not too over-the-top. There’s some blood and gore, but it’s purplish alien blood, and one villain suffers a painful death reminiscent of Alien Resurrection. Regardless, the violence has its place in the story, and never feels like fanservice. Green Lantern may be a comic book hero, but don’t show this one to the kids!

The film’s available on DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and digitally through the iTunes Store. If you’re buying the DVD release, definitely pick up the double-disc version, as it’s got enough bonus material to make it worth it. There’s plenty of cool extras, like the Duck Dodgers episode “The Green Loontern” (in which Daffy Duck joins the Corps; no joke!), some of Bruce Timm’s favorite Justice League episodes, plus behind-the-scenes looks at the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies animated film and Blackest Night. (The Blu-ray version has all of this, plus a few more Justice League episodes.) I should also mention that the double-disc DVD and Blu-ray editions of First Flight come with a code to download a digital copy of the film, but it’s practically worthless. It’s in Windows Media format, which is incompatible with iPods…the devices most people would want to view the digital copy on in the first place!

To make a long story short, Green Lantern: First Flight is a thrill ride for new and old Green Lantern fans alike. Definitely worth watching!