{"id":1562,"date":"2009-08-13T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2009-08-13T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=1562"},"modified":"2010-08-02T01:14:35","modified_gmt":"2010-08-02T05:14:35","slug":"review-green-lantern-first-flight-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/13\/review-green-lantern-first-flight-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Green Lantern First Flight DVD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I finally picked up the DC Universe animated original movie Green Lantern First Flight<\/em><\/strong> on DVD.\u00a0 While the trailers I’d seen looked pretty good, I just wasn’t feeling passionate about watching the film.\u00a0 My apathy is centered on the lead character, Hal Jordan.\u00a0 While I really like everything surrounding the Green Lantern concept and universe, I find Hal Jordan himself to be one of the most boring characters in DC Comics.\u00a0 I grew up reading Hal stories, but never really felt energized by the lead character until Kyle Rayner came along.\u00a0 So it was with some reluctance that I finally sat down to watch this DVD.<\/p>\n

With my general feelings about Hal Jordan behind us, I gotta say this movie was great!\u00a0 Don’t be fooled, this was a science fiction movie, not a comic book movie.\u00a0 I’m using the term “movie” intentionally here, even though one could simply describe the film as a “cartoon”.\u00a0 I categorize this as a “movie” due to the epic story and the real journey that played out across the 77 minutes of the film.<\/p>\n

The basic framework of the story should come as no surprise.\u00a0 Pilot Hal Jordan is given a mysteriously powerful ring from a dying alien which transforms him into the Green Lantern.\u00a0 Hal discovers he’s one of an elite force of protectors who patrol the universe under the leadership of the Guardians of the Universe.\u00a0 The antagonist of the story is Sinestro, formerly the greatest of the Green Lanterns, now a rogue wearing an enormously powerful yellow ring.\u00a0 Again, no surprises here.\u00a0 Beyond that, the story doesn’t stick to the established Hal Jordan origins shown in Emerald Dawn<\/em> or the more recent Secret Origin<\/em>.\u00a0 It delves into some good science fiction concepts and explores the almost-reasonable motivation behind Sinestro’s betrayal.\u00a0 Hal gets a chance to shine as the rookie Green Lantern and demonstrates why he’ll become the greatest of all Green Lanterns.<\/p>\n

In addition to solid storytelling, this film is full of action-packed battles, science fiction imagery, and great animation.\u00a0 The combat scenes are exciting and you can’t help getting caught up in them.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see if the upcoming live action Green Lantern movie with Ryan Reynolds can match the action scenes from this animated version.\u00a0 Lots of cameos by favorite characters from the Green Lantern universe: Kilowog, Tomar Re, Kanjar Ro, Ganthet, Boodikka, Carol Ferris, Arisia, Ch’p, and more. The voice acting was fine; no complaints, but no stand-out performances either.\u00a0 While the film is rated PG-13, the only thing to watch out for with the kiddies is some intense combat\/gore and a little bit of language.\u00a0 Nothing that an advanced 10 year old couldn’t handle.<\/p>\n

The only disappointing thing in the movie was the lack of character development for Hal Jordan himself.\u00a0 I promise I’m not being biased here against Hal.\u00a0 While Hal did lots of cool things in the movie, you never really got a sense of who Hal was or where he came from.\u00a0 Without really noticing much difference, you could have interchanged Hal Jordan for Kyle Rayner, or John Stewart, or Alan Scott, or even Charlie Vickers (anyone remember him besides me)?\u00a0 It didn’t detract from the film tremendously, it just made it harder to connect with the character.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t seen it, below is the official trailer for the movie.<\/p>\n

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For more on the movie, visit the official website by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I picked up the Target exclusive two-disc special edition DVD, which includes a free digital download copy of the film.\u00a0 I love the whole digital download concept!\u00a0 This is such a great enhancement for DVDs nowadays.\u00a0 Additional special features include:<\/p>\n