Green Lantern: First Flight Review

Everyone and their uncannily funky grandmother has written a review of Green Lantern: First Flight, so I don’t intend to go into it in lengthy detail. I do, however, feel like I should write one. I anticipated this direct-to-DVD movie so much when it was announced, I thought it’d knock the ball right out of the park. Unfortunately, it’s a mixed bag of crap and gold.

Let’s start off with what I liked about it first. Oh, and SPOILER WARNING: Do no proceed if hate minor spoilers.

The easiest thing I can say that anyone will love about this film is the action. The action goes over the top, as it should because it’s definitely more of a space adventure more than anything else. Just like JLU action scenes, the fights are well coreographed. The violence pushes the boundaries of its rating. Each energy blast seems powerful and ring tricks are things you’d notice from the comic books, including some fan favorites. A lof the animation seem so to be anime influenced, and while that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it tends to go overboard at some points. No, not those giant sweat drops, though.

SHORYUKEN!

Character designs were another great thing from this movie. I love how Hal looks in the comics already but there’s something to be said about the First Flight design. It was new and modernized yet satisfyingly familiar, as well. Sinestro’s look as both the agent of the Yellow element and as a Green Lantern was stern and powerful yet it strikingly it stills fear.

The two designs that didn’t sit so well with me were Kilowog and the GL Battery ones. They looked very off for some reason. They don’t look bad by any means, but there are some elements that I could have done without, like the yellow parts of the Green Battery.

In terms of voice actors, it seems to follow the comic book genre to a different genre rule- The Villain will most likely steal the show with superb performances. Heath Ledger, Kevin Spacey, Liev Schreiber, all Spidey villains and now Victor Garber, as the voice of Sinestro. Strict, unerring, honorable, and ferocious. Those are only a few words I looked up in the dictionary to describe how Sinestro speaks in the film. Voice acting is top notch, and since it was paired with a solid script (well, for Sinestro), it made listening to the characters a treat. Especially since there isn’t enough of it in the movie.

There are a lot of elements in the movie that make it awesome, yet it is still severely lacking. I was looking for a better backstory for Hal Jordan. Or hell, at least some motivation. No, it was more of “Hey, a green ring which lets me do stuff. ADVENTURE TIME! I’m A HERO!” 

He was portrayed as a space cowboy- unwavering dedication and complete fearlessness- but not much more. It’s hard to care for a character who has no reason to do what he’s doing. Just having a GL ring doesn’t mean you have the character to be the greatest Lantern there is. The plot portrayed Sinestro’s plans and characterization much better, thus making the viewer empathize with Sinestro more.

The story felt rushed and it may be said that longer explanation and backstories might cripple the action sequenecs, but I’d rather trade a few minutes of boom boom pow for a deeper look into the dynamic between these two:

Also, Goku Hal Jordan = WTF?

Anyway, because it lacks any emotional attachment to our heroes, but kicks major ass in the major ass kicking department, I gave it 2.5 Kyles out of 5.

If you can buy it, then go for it. If you can rent it, go for it. Since it lacks a story and is just a fun space brawl, it’ll probably cool to see again and again.