Green Lantern: First Flight

Plot synopsis:
Before any other sentient beings existed in the universe, a race of beings calling themselves the Guardians of the Universe harnessed the power of the green element, the greatest power in the universe, to create the Green Lantern battery. However, the battery was vulnerable to the color yellow, the one part of the light spectrum that could resist green. The Guardians hid the most concentrated source of yellow energy, the yellow element, to prevent others from using it against them.
After the death of Abin Sur, several Green Lanterns arrive to take Ferris Aircraft's test pilot Hal Jordan (Christopher Meloni) to the Green Lantern Corps on Oa. He is placed under the supervision of respected senior officer Sinestro (Victor Garber), who is investigating Abin's murder. While undercover on the ship of Kanjar Ro (Kurtwood Smith) searching for the whereabouts of the stolen yellow element, Abin had come under attack. Fleeing to Earth, he had his ring find his successor and died of his injury shortly after. Unbeknownst to the other Green Lanterns, Sinestro had provided Kanjar with the location of the element in order to have it fashioned into a weapon of comparable power to the Green Lantern battery.
Jordan quickly comes to understand that Sinestro's beliefs are not in line with those of the Guardians: Sinestro believes that the Guardians have reduced the Corps to merely picking up the messes criminals create as opposed to proactively dealing with the problem. During a mission to capture Kanjar Ro, Jordan is knocked unconscious by Kanjar's energy staff. Sinestro comes in and kills Kanjar, pinning the blame on Jordan. As punishment, the Guardians strip Jordan of his ring.
While Jordan waits to be taken home, Sinestro uses his ring to temporarily animate Kanjar's corpse, allowing him to learn the location of Qward where the yellow element weapon is being fashioned. Jordan convinces fellow Lanterns Boodikka (Tricia Helfer) and Kilowog (Michael Madsen) that Sinestro is not what he seems. When they catch Sinestro enacting his plot, Boodikka reveals her true allegiance and incapacitates Kilowog, allowing Sinestro to escape. Jordan tricks her into destroying Kanjar's unstable energy staff, the explosion launching her into the tools hanging from the ceiling and killing her.
On Qward, the Weaponers bestow Sinestro with the yellow ring and battery, the latter of which resembles Ranx the Sentient City. Using its power, he lays waste to Oa, the yellow light easily overpowering the Green Lantern rings. The yellow battery destroys the green battery, rendering all the Green Lantern Corps' power rings inert and causing death by asphyxiation of countless Green Lanterns who were in space at the time of their rings' failure. Jordan, having recovered his ring moments too late, finds the battery and pounds on the inert green element. He places his ring on the small crack that appears, absorbing the whole of its power. Imbued with the full might of the green energy, he destroys the yellow battery by crushing it between two moons.
Having exhausted most of the green power to destroy the yellow battery, Jordan is left to fight against Sinestro under his own power. After an intense hand-to-hand battle without constructs, Jordan uses the last of his power to knock Sinestro to the surface of Oa where Kilowog crushes the yellow ring (as well as Sinestro's hand) with his foot. Having regained partial power to his ring earlier, Kilowog takes to the air and saves Jordan from a fatal fall to the planet's surface.
Once Oa is rebuilt and the Green Lantern battery restored, the Guardians give the privilege of leading the Corps in reciting the Green Lantern oath to Jordan. Jordan then leaves for Earth to check in with his other boss, Carol Ferris (Olivia d'Abo), remarking on the long "commute".

Tags: fantasy, action, murder

Review:
i thought this was a very well done animated movie.it's the origin story of how Hal Jordan became a Green Lantern.i have no idea how close it is to the original comic book origin.but i do knew,i loved the story.i thought it flowed very well,with a good mixture of action and drama.i thought the voice acting was terrific.plus,they seemed to have a good script to work with.i found the dialogue to be really good,as well.none of the usual cheese we tend to see in many animated or even live action movies.i think this particular animated film is as good as any of the recent spate of releases by both Marvel and DC,and it's certainly as entertaining.for me,Green Lantern:First Flight is an 8/10.
And it's safe to say that Green Lantern can claim its rank with those other examples, nestled most likely in quality and entertainment between Superman and Justice League.It basically plops us into his origin story, or at least a solid re-telling of it.
And, meanwhile, Sinestro maneuvers behind the scenes...Oh, it's not exactly the 'easiest' sort of story and world, so to speak, to enter into on a first viewing with only limited experience to Jordan and the Lantern corp.
But once one is acclimated to everything, the animators and filmmakers take it from there and make it a rollicking science fiction action story, with touches of the space opera (sometimes blatantly, like with the rip-off of the Cantina scene from Star Wars when Hal and Sinestro go to interrogate someone).
In fact, Sinestro was what made this far better than I initially expected, as a character who is on the side of good, but has his very questionable methods - and then crosses that line where he can never go back from.I imagine that for the die-hard fans of Lantern from the comics, who perhaps aside from the die-hard fans of WB/DC animation, this might not be anything too new storywise, but the best thing about it is it doesn't need to be.
This is the first time we've seen any kind of direct-to-video, or just perhaps any, actual feature film version of the Lantern story (until the Martin Campbell film comes out anyway), and as an origin story it does what it needs to.
Although I have seen Green Lantern being featured in the the few Justice League/DC comics that I have read, I never did know the hows and whys of the original character.
The people who put together Warner Brothers animated DC universe movies have a lot more on the ball than the people who spend millions of dollars putting together the live action films.Fans already know the story...
Sinestro makes a deal with the Weaponers of Qwad to develop a Yellow Power Ring that gives him the ability to beat the Lantern Corps.Okay, that's the basics, but this movie really elevates an old story into an art form.
Telling the origin of Hal Jorden the Green Lantern (with some tweaks here and there), the Green Lantern Corps and Hal's arch-enemy Sinistro, this animated movie, while not as good as the previous Wonder Woman animated film, is still able to keep one's interest due to the pretty good amount of action in the film.
I was always a lukewarm Green Lantern fan growing up but this film was very good and makes you realise that the character is quite unique.
Hal takes to the ring like a duckling takes to water, and soon he is flying high with the other Green Lanterns, getting into trouble on alien worlds, and saving the day.The pluses of the movie are many.
By 1959, the character became the sci-fi superhero comic fans know today - Hal Jordan, a pilot who was given a green ring from a dying alien, who is part of an intergalactic police force the Green Lantern Corps.
And I also love the live-action Green Lantern movie too..
Test pilot Hal Jordan is in a simulator when he suddenly finds himself transported into the desert where he meets a dying alien, is presented with a green ring that gives him great power.
It is not very long before others come with the same power and he learns that he is not unique but that the "ring" has chosen him to join an elite intergalactic police force (the Green Lantern Corps).
He joins with the leader of the group to be trained but he finds that his natural style doesn't sit well beside the more cruel and fear-based method of police favoured by Sinestro.Coming to the Green Lantern as a completely casual viewer with no knowledge of him I will say that this film didn't come over as quite abrupt to me because I was introduced into the creation of this character in about the first 30 seconds of the film!
That said, once it gets past this and the Green Lantern Corps are introduced, I did sort of forget that my initial feelings were that I had been thrown in at the deep end, because the plot became pretty simple, the characters pretty obvious and the action pretty engaging by virtue of keeping lots happening.Although I came to it thinking it would be a kid's affair, it is actually pretty strong in terms of action and plot; OK it is still comic book material but I did like it and in a way not knowing the story actually helped me because I didn't already know what was happening.
The voice work is solid enough – reasonably big names but I wasn't really ever thinking "oh, who is that it's on the tip of my tongue", although Meloni, Garber, Madsen, Smith and others all do pretty good jobs.I'm sure I'll see the live-action blockbuster at some point, but for this animated film I did rather enjoy it.
Not that they were boring, oh no, not at all, I'm just saying that all their good lines and actions came from bouncing off of others.Actually, Hal himself was the least interesting character, because he became more of a spectator once he teams up with the Lanterns, but he had a great action scene with mean punches in the climax.Over all, a really good origin story of The Green Lantern and definitely a treat for the fans..
The nuts-and-bolts origin story in 'Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)' is over and done with in literally the first five minutes and, consequently, we don't ever get to see our hero come to terms with or get accustomed to his newfound powers and accompanying responsibilities.
Luckily, the former are simple to understand from an audience's perspective and the latter are explored somewhat throughout the rest of the piece, with the implication that the initial escapades of the protagonist don't involve many heroics at all, as much of the movie is dedicated to what essentially amounts to Hal Jordan's 'trial run' as a member of the Green Lantern Corps - a sort of intergalactic police force.
Having loved Green Lantern: Emerald Knights and being underwhelmed by the live-action movie, I found myself really liking this film.
But the actual origin is basically compacted into 5 minutes, no....really.It then immediatly moves onto his first mission which none too surprisingly involves longtime nemesis Sinestro and yadayadayada.Don't get me wrong I'm not saying in any way shape or form that First Flight is bad, it's just so incredibly paint by numbers and I needed something special to take my attention away from not being keen on Hal Jordan.Yes, no doubt this is considerably better than the live action movie which I'm still in denial about but this really is one for fans and perhaps fans only.The Good:The chair shot made me laughGreat voice castThe Bad:Highly rushed origin storyHighly genericThings I Learnt From This Movie:Super heroes in space simply don't work for me *Ahem* Except Guardian Of The GalaxyThe blue men group are ancients?
Lacks the detail that other DC films have and relies a little too much on very average CGI effects.The story is similar to the comic but adds in silly rip-offs from better science fiction films such as "Star Wars" and "The Fifth Element".The action scenes are few and nothing special.Voice acting is fine.All up, worth a watch if you like G.L. but honestly - he is portrayed better in the 'Justice League' series and films.Not up to standard of some of DC's previous works..
Fans of the Green Lantern, is probably going to really like this movie.
It does a good job of showing the origin story of the Green Lantern and where he comes from and how he got the ring.
I think the 2011 live action Green Lantern was probably saving certain plots from this animated movie for the sequel.
Cause the story is good enough for a Green Lantern movie to make it worth a watch.
Hal Jordan's character also develops better here than in the live action movie.
I have to admit that I had a really good time watching director Lauren Montgomery's animated feature "Green Lantern: First Flight." Here we get just about everything about the DC Comics character set up in some pretty quick tempo.
Just to keep things in check here, Peter Parker/Spider-Man (of DC Comics' rival, Marvel Comics - my favorite comics company, by the way) is my favorite superhero of all time, and "Spider-Man 2" (2004) is my favorite superhero movie of all time, and my #2 favorite movie of all time.Green Lantern struck my fancy only because I thought he had one of the coolest superpowers of any superhero from DC's Silver Age, and that was the "power ring," which was first given to test pilot Hal Jordan by the dying alien Abin Sur and thus immediately indoctrinated him into the elite Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic police force that patrols the galaxy in an effort to maintain universal peace and stability.
(Though, true to comics at the time, he accepted his mission without hesitation, was stalwart, and was hard to relate to on an emotional level and didn't suffer from the mundane personal problems that say, Spider-Man and other Marvel Comics characters would become famous for and change the comics game completely.)The movie blazes through Green Lantern mythology pretty quickly, leaving out a lot of back-story and time for proper character development (and since the movie dives right into the action from the get-go and never really stops until the very end, there's no way you could possibly say this movie is ever boring), and the movie may only serve as a quick introduction for new viewers and as a supplement for established veterans; I fall somewhere in between both categories, having been introduced to the Green Lantern two years ago and have spent time quickly catching up on all his Silver Age adventures.I already mentioned the details of how test pilot Hal Jordan (voiced by Christopher Meloni of television's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit") obtains the power ring and is inducted into the Green Lantern Corps, and later undergoing training by Sinestro (Victor Garber).
And only the newly minted Green Lantern Hal Jordan can stop him."Green Lantern: First Flight" is a great movie, let me just get that out of the way.
The voice acting is pretty much flawless from everyone involved, especially Christopher Meloni as Our Hero and cult actor Michael Madsen as tough-talking fellow Green Lantern corpsman Kilowog.
Kurtwood Smith, who I just loved as the main villain in my #6 movie of all time "RoboCop" (1987), is also quite impressive as interstellar gangster Kanjar Ro. There is also some light-hearted humor sprinkled in here and there, just to liven up the mood and remind us that we really shouldn't take all this stuff seriously.However much fun there is to be had here, though, you could complain about how the film just sort of jumps right into the action without really establishing just who is the daredevil that is test pilot Hal Jordan, or his attempts to win over the heart of his boss Carol Ferris, who is only in the film for the first five minutes and then we never hear from her again.
And lastly, why is so much of the action set in outer space, rather than on Earth?"Green Lantern: First Flight" is a great movie, though I wonder why Warner Bros.
Green Lanter: First Flight is the latest(as of writing this) direct to video animated feature from Warner Bros based on DC comics characters.
Along the way he meets a variety of unique characters including Sinestro, a senior Green Lantern enforcer with a hidden agenda.For an origin story, this movie comes across as very rushed.
How Hal Jordan got the Green Lantern ring is over and done with in the first 5 minutes.
By the next 5 minutes he is already in full control of his powers and being brought before the Green Lantern council of guardians and on his way to becoming a full fledged member.This show tries to cram too much into too short a time.
More time could have been devoted to letting the suspense and intrigue play out so that the whole "cop drama in space" feel can be fully appreciated.As the main character in his own origin movie, Hal Jordan is possibly the most under-developed character in the whole show.
Side characters like Kilowog and the Guardians are so much more interesting than Hal Jordan, punctuated by top notch acting all the way that lends to the believability and realism of the show.
I mean, yeah, I get it it's an origin story and we have to introduce all the alien green lanterns in the universe, but he is human.
After watching this, I find myself once again lamenting the 2011 live-action Green Lantern film.
To me, this is one of the better of the Warner/DC animated features.The thing is, from what I understand (not having read any of the comics) Green Lantern is a "space cop." What this film does right is that it focuses on those two things: being a cop...in space.
But that is forgivable, because time spent out elsewhere in the universe is much more exciting and makes more sense in the context of this telling of the origin-story.I was very impressed by the writing for Sinestro character.
But Sinestro's methods is questionable, brutal and suspiciously unethical in Jordan's mind.Comments: An animated action movie that follows every standard steps and rather regretfully doesn't add anything new.
As a major fan of Hal Jordan's Green Lantern since the mid 60s, it was good to finally see him arrive in his own feature (and this prior to the live action movie being green lighted - how appropriate!).And I thoroughly enjoyed this take on his origin, feeding into his training and then a variant version of Sinestro's "turning to the dark side." But somehow it never quite seemed to achieve the full potential inherent in the character.
I love this movie and Green Lantern is my favourite DC hero of all time and thanks to this movie I got to know Green Lantern/ Hal Jordan better then any cartoon or comic.
I was annoyed by the fact that it showed Hal Jordan become the Green Lantern in literally the first five minutes!
This is probably the main flaw with the live-action "Green Lantern" movie.
However, it seems like a pilot for a TV series (like Clone Wars was).I thought I saw a few references to old sci-fi icons in this one -- Cooch looked like that cucumber alien from It Conquered the World, and I think the spaceship the GLs ferried Hal Jordan to Oa the first time resembled the Phantom Cruiser from Space Ghost.I would have liked to see more of the actual weakness of the green ring to yellow, perhaps having it fizzle out somehow when it contacted that color.
I felt that I had no idea who Hal Jordon was before he was a Green Lantern, which could have been fixed by following the main character for a day or even a few hours of his life.
In short, he was not relatable."Green Lantern: First Flight" is just an okay film which should've been a great one.
What the live-action Green Lantern Movie should have been.
Somehow, this movie, in less time and lesser budget, showed a good Green Lantern story than the live-action one.
I'm not going to spoil anything here, but if I had to pick between Green Lantern: First Flight and the live-action Green Lantern I would pick Green Lantern: First Flight in a heartbeat.My only complaints are that while I know that the regular running time for DC Universe Original Animated Movies is 77 minutes, but I wish that this was longer or there would be a very strong indication that Hal Jordan's adventures would continue.
I have to say that, before watching this movie for the first time (Aproximately two years ago) all my knowledge about Green Lantern was from the two "Justice League" animated series.I'm not sure how faithful is this movie to the comic books, but I think that it was a decent origin story, which was entertaining to watch, even if at moments the plot felt a bit rushed.
I also liked the character development and the voice acting.The animation from this movie was pretty well done, with a very good design of characters and sceneries.
Hal Jordan, a pilot find himself in possession of a ring that allows him to create things with the power of his imagination and so he starts his training as part of the 'Green Lantern Corps'..But the 'Guardians of the Universe' doubt that a human can carry out the job while Hal's 'mentor', Sinestro has his own plans.I've always felt that 'Green Lantern' was a a little 'Green' to be a superhero...Someone who lacks the edge or great powers that make him stick out above all the others.This movie is satisfactory as any other, animation movie unlike 'Wonder Woman' which is in a league of it's own.
Animated, tells the story of how the Earthling became a Green Lantern member..