Green Lantern: First Flight

Rating: ****
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Starring: Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer, Michael Madsen, John Larroquette

Green Lantern: First Flight is the latest in DC comics’ direct-to-DVD films based on their popular superheroes, and while it has its flaws, it is one of their best animation efforts to date.

First Flight tells the story of Hal Jordan (Christopher Meloni), a hot-shot test pilot working for Ferris Aircraft. Did you read that last sentence? Good. Because you just the entire back-story as it is presented in the film. Actually, you got more. They left out the “Ferris Aircraft” part. Perfunctory doesn’t begin to explain how minimal the setup is. It’s more like “perfunct” or maybe just “per.”

The lack of character development actually serves the story in two ways: First, Jordan is one of a whole host of DC heroes who started out with virtually no personality in the first

place. During the ’60s, while Stan Lee was churning out heroes with rage (Hulk), angst (Spider-Man) and cosmic wonder (The Silver Surfer) for Marvel; DC was creating hero after hero with interchangeable personalities who only differed in powers and costumes. While many of those heroes have had complexity added to them after the fact, it never seemed to quite take with Jordan.

The second reason that the abbreviated back-story works well for the movie, is that it leaves more room for the story the filmmakers really wanted to tell: the induction of Jordan into the galactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps, and his subsequent discovery of corruption and treachery in its midst. Space opera at its finest.

For those not aware of the Green Lantern mythos, Jordan is chosen by the dying alien Abin Sur to be his replacement in the Green Lantern Corps. Given a powerful ring fueled by sheer willpower, Jordan finds himself able to fly, project force-fields and survive the rigors of outer space. After receiving the ring, Jordan quickly finds himself on Oa, the home world of the blue-skinned Guardians of the Universe. The rookie Jordan is soon paired with the most experienced and decorated Green Lantern in the corps, Sinestro – played with relish by a scenery-chomping Victor Garber.

This is when the movie reveals its true colors. It is a police procedural – the perfect vehicle for someone like Law & Order vet Meloni. The relatively flat character of Jordan serves as a fabulous backdrop to showcase the real star of the show: the increasingly violent and arrogant character of Sinestro. Think The Bad Lieutenant in space, or better yet, Training Day.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where the story is headed, but like any good procedural the devil – and the enjoyment — is in the details. This most recent of DC’s direct-to-video efforts may be the most polished yet, and it makes you wonder when DC might stop trying to make new franchises and start thinking about making a few sequels.

Tags: action, animation, christopher meloni, science fiction, super hero