You Know, I Really Trust that Sinestro Guy

It’s interesting to see Lanterns take off (see: the series premiere review) because DC has, for the longest time, wanted to try and get Green LanternMade up of aliens from sectors scross space, the Green Lantern Corp. defends the universe against threats with the power of the Green Light of Willpower. to be a hero general audiences love. Generally speaking the big four heroes do well – SupermanThe first big superhero from DC Comics, Superman has survived any number of pretenders to the throne, besting not only other comic titans but even Wolrd War II to remain one of only three comics to continue publishing since the 1940s., BatmanOne of the longest running, consistently in-print superheroes ever (matched only by Superman and Wonder Woman), Batman has been a force in entertainment for nearly as long as there's been an entertainment industry. It only makes sense, then that he is also the most regularly adapted, and consistently successful, superhero to grace the Silver Screen., and Wonder WomanLong considered the third pillar of the DC Comics "Trinity", Wonder Woman was one of the first female superheroes ever created. Running for as long as Batman or Superman (and without breaks despite a comic downturn in the 60s that killed superhero comics for about a decade), Wondie has the honor to be one of the longest serving, and most prolific, superheroes ever. for DC, and SpidermanSure, DC Comics has Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but among the most popular superheroes stands a guy from Marvel Comics, a younger hero dressed in red and blue who shoots webs and sticks to walls. Introduced in the 1960s, Spider-Man has been a constant presence in comics and more, featured in movies regularly since his big screen debut in 2002. for Marvel – but other heroes seem to need some kind of cohesive, solid cinematic universe to play for audiences. Even if you’re a moderately well known hero, like SupergirlIntroduced in 1959 as a female counterpart for Superman, the Last Daughter of Krypton would go onto have a long career in the DC Universe, thriving, dying, coming back, all the eventually become an even more powerful superhero than even her famous cousin., you can still see your big screen adventure stumble because you aren’t big enough for the general populace.

But repeatedly DC has tried to get more eyes on Green Lantern. The success of the Geoff Johns Rebirth run certainly got comic readers to pay attention, but then you look at 2011’s Green Lantern, which was meant to be a cinematic universe starter until audiences stayed away from the film, and you get the sense that what DC wants isn’t what general audiences want. So they keep trucking, putting out various Green Lantern works in hopes that, sooner or later, they can elevate the hero to the same level as the rest of their Trinity of heroes.

Green Lantern: First Flight was another attempt at getting audiences familiar with the hero. Animated in a style similar to the DCAU (which had the likes of Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League Unlimited), this was a new pitch for Hal Jordan, showing his earliest days with the power ring in a rebooted version of his continuity. It had all the basics fans could want – the hero, the Corps, the Guardians, and Sinestro – in a tight little package. And it did okay, getting decent reviews from critics and selling fairly well on DVD. Whether or not it really was a solid showcase for the hero is another matter.

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan (voiced by Christopher Meloni) working as a test pilot for Ferris Air. During a simulation training, Hal is snatched up by green light and carried off towards the crashed ship of Abin Sur (Richard McGonagle), a member of the Green Lantern Corps who lays dying. With his last words he gives his green ring to Hal, making him the next Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Soon after, other members of the Corps show up, and they’re none too happy to see a human wearing the ring of their departed friend.

The Guardians of the Universe aren’t happy about it, either. No human has ever worn the ring before, and the Guardians think that humans are too impulsive, weak, and unpredictable to make good Green Lanterns. But Sinestro (Victor Garber), the Green Lantern of Sector 1417, thinks otherwise. He vouches for the human and takes Hal under his wing. The Guardians, respecting Sinestro, agree to this arrangement, allowing Sinestro to take Hal on a training mission. But what Hal sees out in the galaxy, and what he learns about Sinestro, could very well shake the Corps to its very foundation.

There are parts of Green Lantern: First Flight that I like. The story neatly distills certain aspects of Green Lantern lore down into digestible ideas. Hal and Sinestro became friends back in the comics, and Sinestro was Hal’s training officer, giving them a strong bond. The film nicely sets up many of the Corps’ members well, giving us a variety of the members, each with their own personalities. And it illustrates well why Sinestro doubts the leadership of the Guardians, and why he thinks the Corps itself needs the change. These are all strong plot points the film handles quite well.

Unfortunately the rest of the film is far too rushed to tell the story it wants to tell, losing sight of many parts of the story that it needed to focus on. Chief among those is Hal, our main character who, for much of the film, feels like more of an afterthought. The film is far more interested in setting up Sinestro’s story, leading to his double cross of the Corps (I guess I should add spoilers here, but Sinestro has been evil practically since his introduction in 1961), and it fails to really build up Hal the same way. Hell, we spend so little time with Hal that we never really get a good sense of his personality or how he’d act as one of the space cops in the Corps.

Beyond that, the film really wants to establish the idea of the Sinestro Corps, the yellow-light slinging opposing force to the Green Lantern Corps. This is the kind of story that has to get built over many hours of film, or years of continuity, but the film lumps from introducing Hal to the Green Lantern ring, to dumping him into the Corps, to giving him Sinestro, to then Sinestro going evil and becoming powered by the yellow light, all in a span of 77 minutes. That’s not just a breakneck pace, it’s absolutely criminal for the amount of story it has to try and tell.

Because of that nothing really lands. The film builds to a climax where Sinestro gets his yellow ring, and massive yellow power battery, but it doesn’t feel earned. Then, when Hal naturally manages to beat Sinestro (it is Hal’s movie), it seemingly ties off the whole idea of the Sinestro Corps before it even begins. There’s no discussion of how Sinestro is powered by fear, no thought of him expanding his Corps. The whole concept is wasted on a fifteen minute climax and then the villain is defeated and the story is over. That is not how you adapt this comic arc.

At the time DC made this film they hadn’t yet gotten into doing multi-part films, but that’s what this film really needed. It either needed to be a pre-planned two-parter or trilogy to really tell this story well, or we needed an origin story that was really focused on Hal and his dynamic with Sinestro, that then hinted at a story of Sinestro going evil that could have been covered in a sequel, had the film sold well enough. And it did, making over $8 Mil in direct-to-video sales, which wasn’t bad at all for the time. This film could have warranted a sequel, if all the good story that had been set up here hadn’t been immediately squandered.

Instead we got this one off, that wastes good source material on a boring adaptation. The whole plot is rushed, and our main character, Hal, never comes into focus. I like Green Lantern, they’re one of my favorite heroes, but even as a fan I have to admit that Green Lantern: First Flight fails to live up to the legacy of the character. It’s a half-baked story that could have been so much better if it had been given the room to breathe.