First Flight of Green Lantern

Finally got around to watching the WB Animation's take on Green Lantern: First Flight. It's Hal's origin story, and has some elements from the actual comics, but by and large is a 'retake' on most of it. (It isn't the first story, nor is it Emerald Dawn (still have to see the live action movie to see how well they do that).)

Hal gets the ring, is taken to Oa, and has to help Sinestro deal with the threat of the yellow element. With that set up, those in the know can tell where it's going, but still not the standard take on Qward by any means. Have to say, it's not really that ambitious, in that the plot is rather obvious and it's largely a matter of waiting for it to play out and the final fight to happen. It's still enjoyable, but they don't do that much with Sinestro unlike, say, Emerald Dawn II.

Speaking of things they don't do: the rings are all powered off the central battery, so there is no "recharge eery 24 hours off the local battery" moments. This means the oath is missing, although they still find a great moment at the end to recite it. Also while there is the "yellow impurity", it isn't the show stopper it is in the comics. It makes the Lanterns a little more vulnerable, but nothing like "cannot affect anything yellow". Meh. Kinda undercuts the power of getting control of the yellow element.

The production is standard, in that the characters are drawn with a wide brush, and everything is well produced. Some big names, such as Tricia Helfer as Brodika, and Michael Madsen (as soon as I saw the name, I thought 'he'd be a good Kilowog') as Kilowog. Didn't recognise the main actors, but their voices worked well. (Also a cameo by Olivia d'Abo as Carol Ferris.)

I picked up the two-disc version. On disc one are 10 minute bits about other movies (would have liked to see the same for this movie). On disc two are some other Green Lantern bits, mainly about the current comic arcs (which I am completely not paying attention to), and some special Green Lantern related cartoons. One is a two-parter from Justice League Unlimited, with a very over-bulked John Stewart (although there is an amusing moment where Hal Jordan shows up). The other is a Duck Dodgers cartoon, the Green Loontern, which, I have to say, as a 22-minute cartoon, is a more enjoyable take on Green Lantern that the movie was! Certainly written by someone who knew the comics, it hits all the high points and has many, many, many recognisable Lanterns. Neat. :)

If you aren't wanting to pick up a copy, Armageddon (in a few weeks time) will be screening it, so check it out there.

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