Tomorrow will see the release of DC/WB’s latest foray into the direct-to-DVD animated movie market with Green Lantern: First Flight. In recent years DC has put out some pretty damn good animated movies including, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: New Frontier, Superman: Doomsday, and Wonder Woman. All of these have been solid entries geared to a slightly more mature audience than cartoons airing on TV. So it’s no wonder that most people will probably pick up Green Lantern: First Flight when it hits DVD/Blu-ray tomorrow with some pretty high expectations.
Unfortunately though, I think Green Lantern is going to end up being the weakest link in the DCAU thus far. It was by no means a bad movie, it just wasn’t as good as what DC has put out in the very recent past. The biggest problem with this film is the lack of character development, in that there just isn’t much at all. Hal Jordan’s origin is blown through in the first 5 minutes (which, in all fairness, culminates in an absolutely awesome transformation into the Green Lantern) and then it’s off, without question, to battle intergalactic evil and unravel Sinestro’s treasonous plot. With a character like Hal Jordan who hasn’t seen a whole lot of screen time in regards to the DCAU, I thought it would be imperative to focus a little more on who Hal is as a human, not just show him as a 100% confident, doesn’t question his new power, super hero.
Though, it’s not all bad news for Green Lantern: First Flight, solid animation, good voice acting, and lots of good action take up most of the 75 min. run time for Hal’s first outing as a Green Lantern! You can check out Arse-bot’s full review over at Examiner to check out what I had to say about what was good about First Flight and what you can expect in regards to special features!
The battles are pretty brutal and mature; people get bones broken, aliens get impaled, it’s all quality action movie stuff. The tracking down of Kanjar Ro and Sinestro’s eventual turn to the “yellow side” take up most of the 75 minute runtime, and the action and drama throughout is fun as hell to watch -especially during Hal and Sinestro’s final showown.