Review of Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) by Michael B — 01 Aug 2009

Let me start by saying that I am one of the biggest Green Lantern fans on the planet. Mara made a Green Lantern cake for my birthday and it was the coolest thing ever. With that out of the way, let me tell you why I can only give this 3 stars. While the story was good, I thought it took too many liberties with the Green Lantern mythos.

***The following is a rant from a Green Lantern comic fanboy***.

I didn't think they would delve into the emotional spectrum sense it is an origin story but they could have at least mentioned that Green Lanterns must be able to overcome great fear. I guess it didn't matter since in the movie, the Guardians (who all have names...*!#@$%) handpick the Lanterns instead of the rings themselves. They changed Abin Sur's killer from Atrocitus (superbamf) to some random squid guy that they created. Also, the rings can kill which annoyed me since lethal force has only recently been enabled. (see Sinestro Corps War). It also took some liberties with the Lanterns themselves, having Boodikka join Sinestro and killing off Salaak. And when did the Yellow Power Battery turn into the Death Star? (although it did look pretty cool.).

On the plus side, the story (aside from topics previously discussed) was pretty good. The voice casting was for the most part good. I'm not sure if I prefer Michael Madsen's version of Killowag over Denis Haysburt (Justice League) but it still good. Christopher Meloni was impressive with Hal Jordan and Victor Gurber played Sinestro very well aside from a few scenes where I could have sworn I heard his voice crack. The action was awesome. Obviously there were going to be a slew of green laser beams, but every once in a while a Lantern would get creative (boxing glove, chair, weird wind tunnel fan thingy..) Oh and did I mention that Hal Jordan THREW TWO MOONS at the Death Star/Power Battery AT THE SAME TIME!!

So while this was fun to watch, I can't give it anything higher than 3 stars for messing with the origin story of my all time favorite superhero. If you liked the movie and want to know more about Green Lantern, pick up Secret Origin, the Sinestro Corps Wars and really any Green Lantern comic written by Geoff Johns.