DVD Review: Green Lantern – First Flight (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Written by Hombre Divertido

Released on DVD by Warner Bros. Home Video, this new adventure from the DC Universe hit shelves July 28th, 2009.

Full of enough action to please the kids, the story will do nothing to endear adults to these animated features. The title First Flight is detrimentally accurate, as little back story into the life of our hero, test pilot Hal Jordan (voiced by Christopher Meloni), is provided prior to him receiving his green power ring, and taking off on his first flight. He is quite skilled at using the powerful piece of jewelry, and the only explanation given is that he had been practicing. Sadly, this is a huge opportunity lost. Seeing our hero adapt to his new role would not only have been entertaining, but it would have endeared him more and allowed him to become relatable to the audience.

Instead we have a guy that we don’t know and don’t care about, whose motivation is muttled at best, thrown into an obvious plot full of turns you will see coming a mile away.

The more interesting tale here is that of Sinestro (voiced by Victor Garber), a senior member of the Lantern Corp who is assigned to guide the rookie Jordan, and who would eventually become an arch enemy of the Green Lantern. Where as one would imagine that Green Lantern – First Flight would provide the origin of The Green Lantern in some detail, more of the history of the Sinestro character plays out here. Sinestro is displayed in this outing in a far more mature fashion than the childish clown like versions of past DC offerings and is the most enjoyable aspect of First Flight.

The animation does excel as the drawing is powerful and reflects the classic look of the characters while still allowing for the appreciation of the technology used to create them. The sound and music too are top notch as a theatrical environment is created for what is unfortunately a story only worthy of a Saturday morning release.

Article Author: Cinema Sentries

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