Green Lantern: First Flight
Written by: Alan Burnett
Directed by: Lauren Montgomery
Featuring the voices of: Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette, Kurtwood Smith, Larry Drake, William Schallert, Malachi Throne, Olivia d'Abo, Richard Green, and Juliet Landau
Special Features: Disc One - Exclusive Sneak Peak at DC Universe's upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Behind the scenes of Blackest Night, The Epic DC Comics Super Hero Event in Which the Dead Rise, Explore three other DC Universe Animated Movies. Disc Two - Behind the Story with Geoff Johns: The New York Times Best-Selling Writer discusses the Mythology of the Green Lantern, Duck Dodgers Series Episode The Green Loontern, Green Lantern Corps Character Profiles of Sinestro and the Guardians of the Universe, Bruce Timm Presents 2 Bonus Cartoons.
As far as these latest DC Universe animated films go Green Lantern: First Flight comes in at number two. It's certainly better than Superman: Doomsday and Batman: Gotham Knight but it's not quite as good as Wonder Woman.
I had high hopes for this being a recent Green Lantern addict. I was certain this movie was going to be fantastic.
Turns out, it's only a decent shot at what could have been gold.
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First Flight is basically an origin story mixed with some recent story points from the comics. It comes across a bit rushed though. It seems like it was made to be a quick rapid fire film to launch a potential franchise, which I guess is fine. I just wish they did a better job of it.
Geoff Johns is a busy guy but why on earth didn't he write this movie? It seems like he has restored Green Lantern to one of the best books on the shelves but also one of the best characters. I feel like this movie would have been on an entirely different level had he been the one behind the script. Instead, it seems a bit lazy.
The animation is great. I am really enjoying the style they are using for these movies. They're visually interesting with some great character designs.
One thing that shocked me is how violent this one is. The fight scenes are just brutal. Probably less so that what we saw in Wonder Woman, but there is one scene in particular where I audibly reacted to a characters demise. PG-13 indeed!
The voice acting is okay for the most part. It's nothing to write home about to be honest. I will say that I didn't recognize a lot of the bigger names with the exception of Kurtwood Smith who has a rather recognizable voice. That's probably a good thing. I'd rather not be thinking of the actor voicing these characters over the film.
The disc is loaded with special features, which I detailed previously. The most interesting are Geoff John's discussing the Mythology of Green Lantern and the look at Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
Bottom line is this: Green Lantern: First Flight is a decent animated film. It has some great fights, great action, and is a pretty fun watch. I really wanted more though. I wanted to hear more about will power and learn that Hal Jordan has a tremendous amount of it. Fans of the character should check it out. It's definitely worth the time to watch it even if it's not perfect.
Green Lantern: First Flight is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.
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