TV & Movies

Green Lantern: First Flight tells "an" origin for Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern. I say "an" origin because it differs a little from the comic book - not in any way that alters the character, but in small ways that negate some of the classic stories of the comic books.

Follow up:

The Green Lanterns are essentially space cops. Each one is assigned a sector to patrol. They work for the Guardians, whom reside on the planet Oa. Hal Jordan is the first earthling to become a Green Lantern. He is a test pilot and "inherits" the position from Abin Sur, an alien that crash lands in the desert.

Each Green Lantern has a ring that provides them with the ability to create projections that reflect their will. The milieu of Green Lantern stories provides so many opportunities for great big budget special effect sci-fi films. A live action film will begin shooting, soon. For now, we will have to settle with this animated film. It isn't too hard to settle. Warner Brothers animation department consistently produces fine superhero animated features, under the leadership of Bruce Timm.

The production values are excellent - the visuals are clever, the directing excellent, the voice talent superb. If I had to produce a complaint about the production, it would be that the occasionally use of 3D computer animation within the 3D conventional animation is a little distracting. They could easily have made it less noticeable by reducing the reflectivity on the 3D objects (typically spacecraft and giant robots).

Christopher Meloni, from Law & Order: SVU, provides the voice of Hal Jordan. It's pretty much the voice I imagined Hal to have. Victor Garbor is perfectly cast as Sinestro. The only voice that felt a little off was Michael Madsen as Kilowog. The voice is good, but I expected it to have more of a growl.

The writers took elements from early Green Lantern stories and elements from very current stories to tell this origin. I don't have major problems with the changes they made - but to be fair, I am hardly an expert on Green Lantern Corps lore. Other than his appearances in Justice League, my interest in Green Lantern didn't really arise until Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back in the Green Lantern: Rebirth story.

My one complaint about the story, and I'll try not to give any over spoilers, is that if you are introducing the world to a cool character that has a cool ring that can do really neat things and provide almost unlimited stories - it's a little disappointing when the climax of the film requires that character to access a much greater amount of power.

The Blu-Ray makes viewing the film a pure joy. Animation looks great in high definition. The sound mixers did a great job, too - this film really put my surround sound and subwoofer to work.

The Blu-Ray has some pretty nice extras. There is a fairly extensive interview with Geoff Johns, a look at the symbology behind the ring, a preview of the big Blackest Night story in the comics, and five episodes of the Justice League cartoon that feature Green Lanterns. Incidentally, although many of the comic book animated features will have extras that pay homage to the comics, this is the first time I can remember where an upcoming comic is actually advertised in the extra features.