I felt "Green Lantern: First Flight" had a lot of promise. The trailer looked and felt right, leaving me hopeful. Since blindly buying this film, however, many of my hopes have been dashed.
First off, the animation and character design was superb. Hal Jordan and company looked great. I liked how Sinestro's appearance was more grounded and less "gaze upon my forehead". Kilowog's design enabled him to look jovial and, in the next frame, highly menacing. Visually, the Guardians stood apart from each other (with different facial types, receding hair lines, etc). The rest of the Corp also had minor revisions to their design that further emphasized their extraterrestrial nature from past incarnations. But, when these characters moved, this is when it became how visually lush this production was. There are only two words that come to mind for describing it—fluid and seamless.
The action scenes were very well directed, gripping, and pulled no punches. They always said it in "Justice League", but this is the first time I've ever really seen anything to make me see the power ring as a devastating weapon. Kanjar Ro gets a greenish hole punched through his middle by Sinestro. Later, Sinestro uses the ring to briefly reanimate Ro by reconnecting his neural pathways. Boodikka and Kilowog get into a fight and proceed to tear up a rather spacious and sturdy environment. The scene culminates in a character dying in a very graphic and almost R-rated manner. Then there's the fight between Jordan and Sinestro. It starts off as a really cool, bi-color outer space dogfight. But, before long, devolves into a brutal, no holds barred slugfest. I could almost feel the pain coming off each landed blow. However, there's a problem with "GL: FF". And this would have to be Hal Jordan and, by extension, the script.
When we're introduced to the lead, he's in a flight simulator. Then it gets pulled from its housing and dragged miles through the air to a crashed spaceship. When Hal is faced with this and the alien Abin Sur, he doesn't even raise an eyebrow. Most people would probably freak out just a little bit. When Hal is charged with being a Green Lantern, he doesn't seem to really care. Even when he's faced with Kilowog, Tomar Re, and Boodikka, the weight of his predicament never seems to register with him. Then, of all things, without any training, Jordan is operating his ring at expert levels. The script should've handled this better and made the lead more human. But, beholden to a truncated time limit, it glossed over some highly needed plot points. However, it's not all the script's fault.
I was surprised with Christopher Meloni, who is a really solid actor. I've seen him on the big screen and in "SVU". Yet, in this, he fell kind of flat. The scene which really displayed this is when it was being decided if he would be a Green Lantern. The Guardians were just ripping on him "...and then there's the smell " Hal's defense of himself and the human race against these humorous and scathing charges just came off as halfhearted. Half of the time Meloni's delivery felt this way, like it was more of an afterthought. This really stuck out since every other actor, especially Garber and Madsen, brought their A-game—if they didn't, damned if I could tell.
In my review of "Wonder Woman", I said these films need a longer running time. Well most of what was wrong with "GL: FF" probably could've been fixed with another ten to fifteen minutes of length. This way Hal would've had the time to be appropriately unnerved by the vast and dangerous world he was abruptly pulled into. It wouldn't have hurt to see him spend a minute or two on Earth, trying to figure out how he was going to handle the immense responsibility dropped in his lap. We also could've seen him properly earn his skills in a training montage (clichéd, but effective). These changes would've enabled me to better empathize with his story. But as it stands, Hal was more of a cipher for the nobler aspects of humanity than an actual human. In short, he was not relatable.
"Green Lantern: First Flight" is just an okay film which should've been a great one. It looks beautiful. It has truly outstanding action. Sadly, it's dragged down into mediocrity by an extremely abridged story and a lackluster lead character. It's definitely one to rent first and, assuming you're not too disappointed, buy later.
On another note, to the producers (should one of them ever read this), it's time. These DTV films are pulling in some respectable cash, so more money should be poured into them. I'm not talking about doubling or tripling the budget, just a little bit more cash. This could increase the running time, enable more satisfying story lines, and help create the kind of production that makes the mainstream, which is normally dismissive of animation, finally take notice of your work. At any rate, I hope "Batman/Superman: Enemies of the State" is handled better than "GL: FF" was. And I really hope the DTV after that (Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad) finally sees a change for the better in how these films are structured.
First off, the animation and character design was superb. Hal Jordan and company looked great. I liked how Sinestro's appearance was more grounded and less "gaze upon my forehead". Kilowog's design enabled him to look jovial and, in the next frame, highly menacing. Visually, the Guardians stood apart from each other (with different facial types, receding hair lines, etc). The rest of the Corp also had minor revisions to their design that further emphasized their extraterrestrial nature from past incarnations. But, when these characters moved, this is when it became how visually lush this production was. There are only two words that come to mind for describing it—fluid and seamless.
The action scenes were very well directed, gripping, and pulled no punches. They always said it in "Justice League", but this is the first time I've ever really seen anything to make me see the power ring as a devastating weapon. Kanjar Ro gets a greenish hole punched through his middle by Sinestro. Later, Sinestro uses the ring to briefly reanimate Ro by reconnecting his neural pathways. Boodikka and Kilowog get into a fight and proceed to tear up a rather spacious and sturdy environment. The scene culminates in a character dying in a very graphic and almost R-rated manner. Then there's the fight between Jordan and Sinestro. It starts off as a really cool, bi-color outer space dogfight. But, before long, devolves into a brutal, no holds barred slugfest. I could almost feel the pain coming off each landed blow. However, there's a problem with "GL: FF". And this would have to be Hal Jordan and, by extension, the script.
When we're introduced to the lead, he's in a flight simulator. Then it gets pulled from its housing and dragged miles through the air to a crashed spaceship. When Hal is faced with this and the alien Abin Sur, he doesn't even raise an eyebrow. Most people would probably freak out just a little bit. When Hal is charged with being a Green Lantern, he doesn't seem to really care. Even when he's faced with Kilowog, Tomar Re, and Boodikka, the weight of his predicament never seems to register with him. Then, of all things, without any training, Jordan is operating his ring at expert levels. The script should've handled this better and made the lead more human. But, beholden to a truncated time limit, it glossed over some highly needed plot points. However, it's not all the script's fault.
I was surprised with Christopher Meloni, who is a really solid actor. I've seen him on the big screen and in "SVU". Yet, in this, he fell kind of flat. The scene which really displayed this is when it was being decided if he would be a Green Lantern. The Guardians were just ripping on him "...and then there's the smell " Hal's defense of himself and the human race against these humorous and scathing charges just came off as halfhearted. Half of the time Meloni's delivery felt this way, like it was more of an afterthought. This really stuck out since every other actor, especially Garber and Madsen, brought their A-game—if they didn't, damned if I could tell.
In my review of "Wonder Woman", I said these films need a longer running time. Well most of what was wrong with "GL: FF" probably could've been fixed with another ten to fifteen minutes of length. This way Hal would've had the time to be appropriately unnerved by the vast and dangerous world he was abruptly pulled into. It wouldn't have hurt to see him spend a minute or two on Earth, trying to figure out how he was going to handle the immense responsibility dropped in his lap. We also could've seen him properly earn his skills in a training montage (clichéd, but effective). These changes would've enabled me to better empathize with his story. But as it stands, Hal was more of a cipher for the nobler aspects of humanity than an actual human. In short, he was not relatable.
"Green Lantern: First Flight" is just an okay film which should've been a great one. It looks beautiful. It has truly outstanding action. Sadly, it's dragged down into mediocrity by an extremely abridged story and a lackluster lead character. It's definitely one to rent first and, assuming you're not too disappointed, buy later.
On another note, to the producers (should one of them ever read this), it's time. These DTV films are pulling in some respectable cash, so more money should be poured into them. I'm not talking about doubling or tripling the budget, just a little bit more cash. This could increase the running time, enable more satisfying story lines, and help create the kind of production that makes the mainstream, which is normally dismissive of animation, finally take notice of your work. At any rate, I hope "Batman/Superman: Enemies of the State" is handled better than "GL: FF" was. And I really hope the DTV after that (Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad) finally sees a change for the better in how these films are structured.