GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT (2009, Blu-ray released July 28, 2009 – MSRP $29.99)
I couldn’t help but think of Law and Order: SVU while watching Green Lantern: First Flight. And not just because the lead character is voiced by Chris Meloni, one of the cops on the hit NBC show. But because the take on the character and the group he belongs to is such that we’re meant to perceive them as being an intergalactic police force, patrolling the cosmos and protecting life from galaxy to galaxy. Cool concept. And it works.
Green Lantern: First Flight comes to us as the newest DC Comics/Warner direct-to-video animated feature. And it’s another in their long line of success stories, following hot on the heels of Wonder Woman and the anime-styled anthology Batman: Gotham Knight. With the understanding that these projects suffer from massive time and budget restraints, the quality that producer Bruce Timm and his teams are able to achieve is simply astounding. Yet still, writer Alan Burnett faced impossible odds, having to shoe-horn poor, old Hal Jordan’s origin story into the first ten minutes of the film – ten minutes comprised of a five minute opening titles sequence (Hey guys, how ’bout we drop that from the runtime next time in favour of a little more story?) The upcoming live-action Green Lantern film, directed by Martin Campbell and starring Ryan Reynolds will no doubt make two hours out of that same story material, glossed over here. But while things feel a bit rushed out of the gate, Burnett is soon allowed to settle into a nice rhythm with his script, exploring the relationship of Hal as rookie space-cop in the Green Lantern Corps, being trained to use his new-found magical-ring powers by seasoned vet of the force, Sinestro (Victor Garber). This is Training Day in space!
We get a few scenes that are meant to give us that “cop show” vibe before the story thrusts us into superhero-epic territory, where the film ultimately feels more at home (Was it just me, or did it feel like they were always trying too hard to remind us that the Green Lanterns are cops?) There’s a grand, exciting and extremely well animated climax sequence that’s worth the price of the disc alone. This is the kind of action you hope to see in a Green Lantern film! Martin Campbell has a lot to live up to now.
I have to give credit to the design team on this film. Wow. Incredible work. Green Lantern: First Flight looks wholly original, with designs more inspired by anime than by North American comics. And man, do they work in this context. In fact, the Japanese influence can perhaps be felt a touch too strongly in one particular instance. It was pointed out to me by nerd-blogger extraordinaire, Rob at Topless Robot, that Green Lantern’s initial transformation into the superhero we know and love is almost identical to that of Sailor Moon. Compare the two and see for yourself!
The first five minutes of Green Lantern: First Flight:
And a Sailor Moon transformation:
Pretty similar, huh?! Nevertheless, the animation comes off well, with the character designs rarely falling too off model and the more nuanced and intricate movement being saved for the action sequences. Well done.
The Blu-ray looks great, as well. I can’t get enough of 2-D animation in high-def. From Disney classics to Persepolis, I think I could just spend every day watching nothing but old school animation on my PS3. And the audio is no sloutch here either. All in all, a great presentation!
My only real complaint with the Green Lantern: First Flight Blu-ray is directed at the bonus features. While this disc may be packed with extras (including five episodes of Justice League and a Duck Dodgers cartoon!) it doesn’t offer a single glimpse behind the curtain. I want to know how this thing was made! We aren’t even offered a commentary track this time. At least the Wonder Woman disc gave us that. And what about that early promo featurette? You know the one, showing us Meloni and Garber in the studio, recording their lines. Where is that little piece of film? Urgh…After watching all the little docs that they do offer us, I feel like it’s all just a promotion for writer Geoff Johns and his upcoming comic books stories. A shame that Timm, director Lauren Montgomery, Burnett and the team had to be short-changed to shill some comics. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the upcoming Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Blu-ray disc will see fit to show us how the Warner animation magic is made!
I like that extra with the duck and that squirrel Ch’p.