Review: Green Lantern: First Flight
So there have been quite a few of these direct to video comic movies from both Marvel and DC. Some of have been awesome, like Hulk Vs. and some of been pretty bad, like the Iron Man one. This one definitely goes toward the more good end of the spectrum. The movie tells the story of how Hal Jordan becomes a part of the Green Lantern Corps and thankfully doesn’t waste much time getting him into uniform; about five minutes in his predecessor has already given him the ring and he’s off to the Green Lantern headquarters. The story then follows Hal as he works with fellow Green Lantern Sinestro to find out who stole the deadly Yellow element and where it is. The Green Lantern Corps. being essentially galactic police, this involves interrogating suspects and tracking down perps.
The animation is just above Saturday morning standards but it’s nice to see some American animation, as everything else is seemingly turning Japanese, and it’s smooth and crisp. They have a lot of fun with the Green Lantern powers, which let the ring wearer materialize anything they can think of, by having Hal conjure up a giant boot, flyswatter and more. The other nice thing about these direct to dvd comic movies is that they don’t have to tone them down like if they were on TV, people get impaled, blown up and more.
The voice cast is good for the most part as well. Chris Meloni from Law and Order plays Hal and he gives him a nice cocky attitude. The cast also includes Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer and Michael Madsen. The only one that seems out of place is Kurtwood Smith as alien crime boss Kanjar Ro. He’s great as a pissed off 70’s dad or US Senator but not so much an alien bug creature.
If you want to get a Crib Note version of who the Green Lantern is and where he comes from then I highly suggest checking this one out.
4 out of 5
