Green Lantern: First Flight

• Directed by Lauren Montgomery
• July 28, 2009

Voice Cast

• Hal Jordan / Green Lantern-Christopher Meloni
• Sinestro-Victor Garber
• Boodikka-Tricia Helfer
• Kilowog-Michael Madsen
• Tomar Re-John Larroquette
• Kanjar Ro-Kurtwood Smith
• Ganthet-Larry Drake
• Appa Ali Apsa-William Schallert
• Ranakar-Malachi Throne
• Carol Ferris-Olivia d’Abo
• Cuch-Richard Green
• Labella-Juliet Landau
• Ch’p-David Lander
• Abin Sur-Richard McGonagle
• The Weaponers of Qward-Rob Paulsen
• Arisia-Kath Soucie

Hal Jordan finds himself recruited by the Green Lantern Corps and confronting a conspiracy within the very organization.

I need to start off by saying Green Lantern: First Flight is head and shoulders superior to the live action Ryan Reynolds film. If they had used this as their foundation and just added a little bit of padding or exposition here and there, they would have had an amazing live action film. As it stands this is a pretty good animated feature.

Hal Jordan and his life are pretty quickly set up though some elements are kind of moved past quickly. While Carol Ferris is a significant character in the mythos of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern (she becomes Star Sapphire) here she’s reduced to an inconsequential figure. There is some playful banter between the two but unless you’re familiar with the character herself you would probably not realize who she exactly is. I’m not sure if her name is even mentioned at any point.

If you know anything about Green Lantern then you know that Sinestro is a major villain but he starts out here much like he does traditionally in the mythology as a well-respected and well regarded Green Lantern. You know that’s not going to last because he is certainly a dark figure in the story. It is to the point you kinda wonder how nobody else in this fictional universe became concerned about him. There are red flags galore about the dude!

Green Lantern: First Flight is as much of a story about the origin of Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern as it is a story of the origin of Sinestro as a Yellow Lantern. They also take a dive into the mythology and the Weaponers of Qward are introduced as are a whole bunch of significant Green Lantern Corps members and DC science fiction villains.

This movie goes straight in the direction of space opera and it is just great. It’s exciting and it is character driven and visually stunning. There are twists and turns and the story just builds to an big climax. More importantly things are not treated simplistically. As is often the case with good DC films nobody in the audience gets talked down too.

Green Lantern: First Flight is what they should have done for the live action film. It goes all in on the action and the mythology and it’s just a great watch. I recommend this!