by Corby Kennard
Green Lantern: First Flight is the DC Universe's newest animated feature. It puts Green Lantern, a character whose time to shine has definitely come, front and center in an epic adventure across the universe. Accompanied by various members of the Green Lantern Corp, the newest lantern, Hal Jordan, has to stop a rogue Hero-turned-Villain before he destroys the Corps and enslaves the universe. It's big, loud, explosive, and action packed; everything one would expect from a superhero movie in general, and a Green Lantern movie in particular, which is why it's that much worse that the final product is mildly disappointing.
Buy Green Lantern: First Flight on DVD or Blu-ray
To be fair, the film does more things right than wrong. GL's origin story is greatly abbreviated into a five minute segment before the credits even roll. Superhero origins are generally the same: Alien falls to Earth/Fish out of water - Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Wonder Woman; Parents killed by criminals/Are criminals - Batman, Robin, Jericho, Raven; Bestowed power by alien/accident - Spider-man, Green Lantern, Flash; Parents are heroes - Black Canary, Huntress. The only people who don't understand that hero origins can be summed up in a few words aren't going to be buying this movie, and the director, Lauren Montgomery, understood this. Unfortunately we don't get much character development about Hal Jordan before he is given the ring, but we know what we need to: i.e. He's a test pilot, an alien Green Lantern named Abin Sur crashes on Earth, his ring finds Hal and brings him to the injured Green Lantern, Abin Sur dies, and Hal is given the mantle. Perfect, concise, and easily flows into the title sequence.
Dave flies solo this week and catches up on comic book movies, talks about actors playing multiple characters in the same universe and Thanksgiving movies.
