Green Lantern: First Flight Review

Hey once again from your friend, Mr. Burn Notice. This review is about, if you couldn't tell from the title, the latest animation film from DC; Green Lantern: First Flight. This is a sneak peek review due that this film has not came out yet. By the way you can pick this DVD or Blu-ray at your local store on 7/28. Now that we got all of that out of the way lets review
Green Lantern: First Flight...

I must first say I do not know the full history about Green Lantern, plus I don't know the real differences between the comics and this film. So bear with me. I do know that Green Lantern is a badass and is my third favorite character in the DC universe, behind Batman and Superman.

Green Lantern: First Flight is the fifth movie put out by DC universe original animated movies. This movie is the story of Hal Jordan's first mission with his new founded ring. Besides Justice League: New Frontier, this film has same type of feel as the other films done in this series of films (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman). In this film there isn't any back story to Hal Jordan. In the Superman and Batman films there was no origin story needed due to the previous T.V series and Wonder Woman gave a true origin story to the Amazon Princess. So a little suggestion for who are new to comics or just like watching the movies and T.V series, go watch New Frontier first. New Frontier gives you a great origin story to Green Lantern, unlike this film. So I guess the film started off with a negative for me.

Like I said the film starts almost instantly with Hal finding the ring from Abin Sur, Wikipedia people, and then meeting the Guardians of Oa. Now from the get go the Guardians don't like Hal at all to take over as a new Green Lantern, believing a human is not good enough to be a Green Lantern. Only one of the Green Lanterns stand up for him... Sinestro. Sinestro reveals to Hal that he feels the exact opposite as the Guardians about humans. He feels human strive in humanity for a reason and knows Hal will be a great Lantern one day because of it. While watching this I was surprise because of my previous knowledge of Green Lantern and I won't spoil what it was, but I bet most of you can guess what I'm talking about. I was really interested in seeing the story develop. So I must say it was good set up.

Now under Sinestro's wing, Hal and Sinestro go across the universe to find answers. We find out they are looking for the Yellow element, which has been stolen from the Guardians. The Yellow element was a defense system against the Green Lanterns if any of them got to powerful, but it could destroy them as well. We first see how Sinestro is unlike the other Lanterns. Using fear and violence to get answers. Many of the other Green Lanterns still give Hal a tough time, but one befriends him: Boodikka. She respects him and knows he means well. Slowly, Hal wins over the other Green Lanterns. The initial plot of the movie is thrown at you so quick that it might be tough at first to keep up, but they bang it over your head throughout the movie that you won't forget it. I like the initial plot, but I wish they could have given me more back story about the Yellow element.

Now I won't give you the rest of the plot, I'm not Leon (sorry Leon, that was a cheap shot), but I can tell you that story is interesting. You can pretty much tell the twist in story, but there is another twist that catches you by surprise. The story ends with a big climatic fight, just like all of the other films in this series. So no big surprise there. The action scenes are cool, and I must say there are some creative ring effects. From what I have read on Wikipedia, the story is closely based on the comics, so that's a plus in my book.

The dialogue and writing is great. I mean they couldn't have given it to a better person to write it. The writer would be Alan Burnett who has also done both of the Batman and Superman animated series. Hal Jordan is written like he was in the comics. They put in all of the other Green Lanterns that you love. Especially my favorite Kilowog, who is played by the great Michael Madsen. So that gets another nod from me.

Overall I give this film a Rental. There is no reason to own this film. I will say I like this one better than the Wonder Woman and Batman films. But this isn't anything that you haven't seen in the Superman or Batman animated series. I don't see myself watching it a second time and unless your a die hard Green Lantern fan, you won't either. What I do hope for is that they continue this with maybe another film or perhaps a T.V series. So as much as I wasn't in love with this film, I wasn't disappointed by it either. So go out and rent it, watch it, enjoy it, and you won't be sorry.

Thank you for reading, please comment below and if you got any questions please ask.
I'm Mr. Burn Notice and I am out.