Review of Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) by Colin C — 11 Aug 2009

Well, all I can say is the gauntlet has been thrown down for director Martin Campbell and Ryan Reynolds.

GL:First Flight is the first movie (animated or not) devoted completely to the origin of The Green Lantern. Now for me, I always thought GL was super cool with his ring. But, because of the later comics, 'Justice League' and 'Superman: The Animated Series,' I always thought Hal Jordan was kinda tired. Sort of like Barry Allen for the Flash.

John Stewart and Kyle Raynor were always cooler Lanterns. I only knew Hal Jordan from 'Superfriends.' And, like the other heroes, he came off as stiff and corny.

Hal is not corny here. In fact, he is uber cool.. all in green.

This is a fast-paced, action-driven picture. It gives us no time to breathe from the opening credits to the closing ones. We are introduced to Hal in the first few minutes and then-WHAM!-Hal is introduced to Abin Sur, who gives him the ring.

Although the first half gives us little in the way of character development for Hal. It's the second half where things kick into gear. What Bruce Timm and company have done is create a 'Training Day' scenario where Hal is teamed up with current GL leader, Sinestro.

Sinestro is as bad ass as they come. And he's showing Hal the ropes. Or is he setting him up?

When Sinestro goes rogue, that's when the film really gets going and we see the heart that Hal has. Which is HUGE.

The animation is a lot of fun and fluid. Andrea Romano's voice direction is superb as usual. No complaints.

Right now, this ranks right up there with 'Spider-man,' 'Ironman' or, yes, 'The Dark Knight.'.

I need more GL. Really!

Four Big Ball Point Pens! So says zee Geek.