GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT (2009)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological*

Green Lantern got his first feature-length cartoon about two years before graduating to the "big time" of a live-action movie. Though sometimes the cartoon movie is better than the one with human actors, FIRST FLIGHT and the 2011 film are about even in terms of mythicity, despite taking opposite approaches to the comic book character. As my review makes clear, the 2011 movie follows the heavy psychologizing of the comic book in the 2000s. FLIGHT, though, seems closer to the Silver Age incarnation of the character.

Indeed, even the comic book of the sixties takes more time to get Earthman Hal Jordan accustomed to his new role as a superhero whose ring can conjure up almost any force or weapon through the use of its malleable green energy. The movie spends about ten minutes establishing Jordan's profession as test pilot, and hinting at a romantic relationship with his boss Carol Danvers. Then Jordan's flung into a cosmic adventure by a dying alien who bestows his power ring upon Jordan, informing the Earthman that he's now a "Green Lantern," one of many such crusaders spread throughout the galaxies. Not once does Jordan even contemplate whether or not he wants to take on this new responsibility, and when other members of the Green Lantern show up, questioning the validity of their dead comrade's bequest, Jordan is not slow to claim this new destiny. He departs Earth so quickly that he doesn't even do anything to account for his absence to his employer.

Almost certainly the writers pursued this course because they wanted to introduce, as quickly as possible, the very involved mythology of the Green Lantern Corps and their perceptors The Guardians of the Universe. These immortal beings created the crusaders' power rings and the power-giving lanterns for which they're all named, and for centuries the Corps has kept order in the endless inhabited galaxies. In the original comics, the green power of the rings is vulnerable to the color yellow, but in the interest of creating a major menace, here the Guardians are said to have isolated a "yellow element" from the Great Battery on their planet Oa. Now some unknown plotter seeks to acquire that yellow element in order to eliminate the Corps from the universe.

Jordan, in addition to taking about two seconds to affirm his desire to be a superhero, takes even less time reacting to his first contact with the five alien crusaders who take him to Oa to meet the Guardians. All five fall into distinct physical categories-- Big Hulk-Lantern "Kilowog," Hot Babe-Lantern "Boodikka," Parrot-Beak-Lantern "Tomar Re," Chipmunk-Lantern "Ch'p," and Lobster-Skin-Lantern "Sinestro." None of these alien presences throw Jordan for any kind of loop, nor does journeying to Oa and meeting the immortal Guardians. All that said, the writers do a decent job of keeping the various heroes distinct from one another, and even Sinestro-- whose repute as a major antagonist to Jordan is well known to comics followers-- seems just to be a somewhat gripey functionary devoted to doing his duty. The script follows a reboot of the Silver Age concept by having Sinestro be one of the aliens who trains Hal Jordan to be a cosmic cop, though events move so quickly that Jordan never really gets trained, except on-the-job. 

For a space-opera traversing numerous planets, FLIGHT actually succeeds as a police procedural, and the script even kept me from guessing the identity of a mole in the Corps. Still, even a complete stranger to the Green Lantern mythology is likely to guess that Sinestro is somehow behind the plot to capture the yellow element, if only because he's the least likable Lantern. In contrast, Jordan is the representative of Earth, so even without formal training he excels all the alien Lanterns in foiling Sinestro's schemes and saving the universe. 

Though characterization is skimpy, at least the interactions are not as facile as the psychologizing of the 2011 GREEN LANTERN, and the animated medium is very favorable to finding novel ways for the Green Lanterns to use their unique powers. Action-scenes are above average, and the only voice-actor who doesn't work well with his character is Michael Madsen, playing a raspy-voiced Kilowog. I find it amusing that FLIGHT uses as a side-character Arisia Rrab, who in the comics becomes Hal Jordan's "underage-but-not-really" girlfriend. Arisia also appeared in an episode of JUSTICE LEAGUE and in GREEN LANTERN:EMERALD KNIGHTS, both of which, like this DTV, make Arisia into just another Corpsman, with no reference either to her age or any romantic attachment to Hal Jordan.