I hate to sound like Harry Knowles but I’m afraid I’m going to have to risk it. I’m a Green Lantern fanatic and I have been for years. The first comic book hero I ever read was Batman and from there I was lured into the world of the Justice League and then to Green Lantern. There was something so alluring to me about a ring that could conjure up anything I could imagine in order to fight evil. I was also drawn to how Green Lantern was action, political intrigue, sci-fi, and adventure all wrapped up into one comic.

Being such a long-standing fan all the recent Green Lantern comic activity has made me quite happy. From the last decade run on the comic (both Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps) being so brilliant to the Blackest Night event series to the fact that DC Universe seems to be focusing in on Hal Jordan it’s all been gravy for me. While the rest of the geek community seems to be amped on the Ryan Reynolds live action Green Lantern movie I have been more focused on Green Lantern First Flight a straight to DVD animated film that delivers Green Lantern the way he needs to be delivered.

Without giving the entire plot away First Flight tells the origin story of Green Lantern but does it by letting us in on his first adventure. The filmmakers are smart and get the standard Hal Jordon origin story involving Abin Sur out of the way quickly. I’ll be honest it does take a bit to get used to Law & Order SVU star Christopher Meloni as the voice of Hal Jordon mainly because you keep visualizing Elliot Stabler. Once that passes he totally works as Jordon, even with the writers making him a bit more of a Top Gun pilot-as-rock-star than the comic version. Its after Abin Sur (voiced extremely well by Richard McGonagle) dies and gives Hal Jordon the Green Lantern ring that the movie really takes off.

From there the Green Lantern Corps show up, whisk Jordon to OA to stand before The Guardians who seriously doubt the willful new Green Lantern cadet is up to the challenge. Enter Sinestro who decides to enlist Jordon as his trainee and to help him find out who killed Abin Sur. As the film progresses First Flight takes a serious turn with Sinestro’s brutal way of doing things clashing with Jordon’s ideas of right and wrong. It’s not in an after school special kind of way either, the tension between them is palpable and really intense. By the end the action is ramped up considerably, the plot thickens and there are a lot of fallen Lanterns.

What made First Flight work for me were not only DC animated veteran Lauren Montogmery’s direction but also the care she and the other filmmakers put into casting, writing and plot. I was so impressed that this story didn’t end or center on how Jordon first got the ring. The writer’s dared to let us see the entirety of OA, the Corps, as well as allowing Sinestro and Jordon’s relationship go down a dark and fairly grown up path. Even with all of that the First Flight story never loses its humanity, something I wish more live action films would actually attempt. Don’t worry though, there’s enough action to make even those severely indifferent to story, character, prose happy.

Voice over wise First Flight is pretty much flawless and chock full of surprises. Victor Garver does a first rate job of making Sinestro dark but also maintaining the charm the character has always had. When I first heard (Reservoir Dog) Michael Madsen was voicing Kilowog I wasn’t amped but it turns out his gravely and slightly angry voice is perfect for the hard-edged Lantern.

Kurtwood Smith (That 70s Show, Robocop) was another surprising choice to play villain Kanjar Ro. I was even impressed with John Larroquette’s version of my favorite peripheral Green Lantern Tomar Re. Across the board the voice casting is spot on a fact that can be attributed to Andrea Romano. Romano has done most of the DC Animated casting work and she’s flawless at it. 

The animation is the same style used in the Superman Doomsday movie as well as a lot of the JLA cartoons. Some people have issues with it but for me it works for these films. I’m a bigger fan of the animation from Batman The Animated Series but it was still a massive kick to see Kilowog, Sinestro, and all the Green Lantern Corps come to life (including my favorite Tomar Re). I was also happy these characters had a bit more depth than they had been given on the JLA cartoon.

Extras wise there are some classic JLA episodes on here featuring Green Lantern as well as some first rate documentaries that delve deeply into what makes the Green Lantern mythos so powerful and the challenges to bringing those ideas to life.

The one thing that struck me while I was watching First Flight was how much I don’t believe Green Lantern will make a good live action movie for many of the same reasons Watchmen didn’t. At the same time I couldn’t help but think that a Watchmen animated movie done as well as First Flight would have kicked a lot of ass. On a whole comic book movies haven’t worked but both DC and Marvel have done great things with their animated films. I’m hoping the continued success of these movies will lead to Hollywood thinking twice before jumping into badly done live action films when the world of animation offers such a better path.