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spiderdreamer-blog · 5 years

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Green Lantern: First Flight

Another installment in the long line of DC DTV animated films, this came out in 2009 as one of the early waves, and still holds a lot of interest today for me, though I’m hard pressed to say it’s a favorite. For Green Lantern: First Flight is quite a good film, but it’s held back a little from being great and the frustrating thing is you can see exactly why and how to fix it (especially since said problems WOULD be fixed in later projects with both these characters and from some of these same creators). It’s still a pretty good rockin’ space opera/Green Lantern story, though, and the details remain what save it in a lot of cases.

First, what remains exemplary about the film all these years later is its presentation. Director Lauren Montgomery has a good eye for character design that’s a bit more willowy, anime-esque (gotta love a full-on magical girl transformation sequence), and expressive, as well as going totally bugfuck with a lot of the alien designs. In particular, Sinestro benefits from a lot of expressive, but tightly controlled grandstanding; a scene where he rants while zapping garbage is aided by each blast punctuated by precise words. And Montgomery’s skills at helping stage creative action beats are first rate (these would serve her well on future DC film projects as well as series like Korra and Voltron); highlights include a chase through a “hive of scum and villainy” cityscape and a final brawl that progresses and devolves as each party gains and loses advantages. This is all boosted by absolutely terrific animation by Telecom/TMS, whose work on DC projects going all the way back to Batman: The Animated Series is almost always first-rate; it’s always a thrill in particular to see their brand of billowing explosions and smoke effects, and one mook’s death is marvelously nasty thanks to the extra attention to detail.

The aural end is quite lovely too, Robert Kral providing a robust space opera score (I particularly like his heroic Green Lantern theme), and legendary voice director Andrea Romano shepherding another talented cast through the fields. Victor Garber, long a beloved character actor, does probably my favorite take on Sinestro ever, giving him a buried vicious, impatient quality that nevertheless completely buys into his own bullshit; he’s never scarier than when he’s just on the verge of freaking out and then tamps it back down right quick, and Garber hits every note in the symphony. Tricia Helfer gives Boodikka a nicely tough but sensitive quality, and then turns that on its head for a late-game heel turn (to its credit, the script doesn’t bother trying to hide Sinestro’s turn that hard and is pretty upfront about that from the get-go, thus leaving her as the real surprise). Michael Madsen does his Gravel Pit Voice Michael Madsen thing as Kilowog, and while he’s far from my favorite take on the role (that’s either the mighty Kevin Michael Richardson, Dennis Haysbert, or Henry Rollins), he does well with the material here, giving nice bits of understated humor to scenes like him apologizing to Hal for being rude earlier.

There’s a lot of fun ringers in the supporting cast too, from Juliet Landau as an unfortunate alien bartender to Kurtwood Smith’s businesslike portrayal of Kanjar Ro, all performing their roles with aplomb (my favorite might be VA legend Rob Paulsen pulling out a strange-as-hell wheezy cameo as the alien Weaponers). You may have noticed, though, that I’ve left our leading man out of the picture, and I sadly have to report that’s because Law and Order SVU’s Christopher Meloni is the one real weak link here as Hal Jordan. This is not to say precisely that he’s bad. He is clearly putting in effort rather than coasting, and has some good humourously underplayed deliveries like his reaction to the aforementioned apology or assessing Sinestro’s character in a half-complimetary way, but he’s almost a little TOO underplayed. His stronger emotional reactions don’t land like they should, and I kept thinking of how other actors who’ve played Hal like Josh Keaton or Nathan Fillion would deliver them, which is never a good sign.

But then, the blame should not precisely fall entirely on Meloni’s shoulders; you work with what you’re given, after all, and the big problem with the film overall is Hal Jordan himself. Again, much like Meloni’s performance, he’s not a bad lead. He’s heroic and charming, and even gets some moments of ingenuity and moral fiber, such as when he figures out Sinestro’s big plan through the available evidence, or an early moment where he stops him from continuing a needlessly brutal interrogation. What the issue becomes is that we never get anything more than that. There’s almost no context as to why Hal might enjoy being a Lantern, a hero, outside of one quick line about admiring an uncle who was a cop, and much of his emotional reactions are either stoic or mild bewilderment. And it’s not that I necessarily need a Big Tragic Backstory here, but this can often be a problem with Hal since he’s this Iconic Mascot. Where I tend to like Hal, additionally, is in settings where he’s working off more of an ensemble like in the Justice League animated films or Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Here, he plays off Sinestro for much of it and only belatedly befriends people like Kilowog, so that feeling is lost as well.

The actual plot itself is nice and twisty, feeling like a police procedural with clues and tracking down leads (the filmmakers even said at the time that the primary pitch was “Training Day In Space”). It ties in the kickoff death of Abin Sur, which can often feel perfunctory, into the major plot, and Sinestro is a clever antagonist indeed, adapting quickly to situations in order to make sure he’s on top (Kanjar Ro learns this the hard way) and even getting a small moment of almost-grace (”I start alone, I end alone”) before fully Committing To Evil. The Guardians are a little less outright dickish here than in some versions, but it’s hard not to feel a tad frustrated with the little gnomes/half-agree with Sinestro at a few points at their ineffective dawdling. In general, a lot of the microdetails like that work even with the Problem of Hal looming over things.

Overall, I’d slot First Flight as a comfortably B-level DC animated film. While it’s not an outright classic along the lines of Return of the Joker or Under the Red Hood, neither does it bore. And one could say it serves nicely as an introduction to the larger Green Lantern mythology while being an entertaining ride. I just wish it was a little more brave and bold in places.

#dc animation #green lantern #movies #reviews #analysis

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