Blu-ray Review: Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)

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Although many individuals would be known as the official DC Comics Green Lantern throughout its history from its origins during the Golden Age of Comics in the 1940s up through its many evolutions, test pilot Hal Jordan was the one selected for this new Warner Premiere.

Having also been "reborn" in the line of comics, it's Jordan who was originally part of what's become considered the Silver Age of the comic movement,who is showcased in this superb seventy-seven minute feature length PG-13 production from Warner Brothers and DC Comics and voiced by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actor Christopher Meloni.

Despite being given a contemporary storyline from scripter Alan Burnett (who has taken home four Emmy Awards for his writing in the past), like the previous Warner Premiere that came before in the form of the brilliant Wonder Woman also from director Lauren Montgomery, we're offered an origin tale.

And considering some of the main ingredients that comprise the Green Lantern mythology circa Hal Jordan, even before I began digging for more information about the superhero, it wasn't too hard to guess the era in which he began gracing the pages of DC comic books. Debuting in the Fall of 1959, just before the dawn of the space race, Jordan's occupation as a test pilot made him the ideal candidate for the task of overcoming fear on a regular basis.

And similarly the series also played with other trends and issues facing society such as the rise in popularity of science fiction films filled with alien life and more importantly some in which the aliens were shockingly-- to ticket buying suburbanites-- portrayed as far more peaceful in comparison to the humans who were capable of dropping bombs on one another.

Set during the Cold War scare and following the devastation of Pearl Harbor and World War II as well as the McCarthy witch-hunts and communist red-scares-- all of these issues find their way into the Green Lantern series as, unlike the lone, existential Batman, Green Lantern is able to and cheerfully hopeful to conform and work with others whenever possible as part of the intergalactic police-like force.

Similar to the other first-class Warner Brothers graphic novel adaptations in the DC Universe Animated Series of films, every frame is dripping with the most beautifully vivid artwork and I was thrilled that this time around I had my first opportunity to witness one in Blu-ray, having felt that director Montgomery's Wonder Woman was one of the best animated direct-to-disc features of the year so far.

While I wasn't as overly engrossed with this particular storyline since-- following the Roman and Greek mythology tinged Woman, Green Lantern seems a bit weak-- the intricacy of the animation, the fast-paced cinematic storyboarded action sequences and thankfully straightforward origin story make this one approachable for newbies including this reviewer.

It begins as Jordan's metamorphosis does as well when his flight simulation goes wrong and he finds himself crashing in the desert where he comes upon the dying alien, Abin Sur. When the alien's unusually powerful green ring "chooses" Jordan, he's told by Sur that it's no accident and Jordan becomes the first human ever selected by the ring to become a member of the Green Lantern Corps.

However, finding the ring and saying you're a member isn't as easy as that or it'd be essentially the superhero version of finding a prize in a box of Cracker Jack so he's quickly put on trial by the superior Guardians of the Universe (who in my eyes resembled what would have happened if the Ewoks and Yoda had had a baby... except, you know one that was blue).

Although Jordan is no stranger to the idea of on-the-job probation since his uncle was a cop, he's amazed to hear how prejudiced the Guardians are about the human race, as they note that the humans are so crude, base, and untrustworthy that it's a wonder they've lasted this long.

Informing Hal that humans are beneath them-- he's stunned when the experienced Lantern Sinestro (voiced by Victor Garber) offers to mentor Hal for awhile to keep an eye on him. Additionally, this decision annoys the alien character voiced by Michael Madsen since technically he's supposed to be the new trainer of Lantern members who are assigned to patrol one of the 3,600 sectors of the universe.

Grateful for Sinestro's help, Hal soon has second thoughts when Garber relishes in the line delivery that he likes humans but as he suddenly switches tone, he chides Hal, "you are on sacred ground, Earth boy. I own your ass" before the night becomes an animated version of Training Day when he'll extract information from a witness by any means necessary.

Making the most out of its PG-13 rating-- although it is violent throughout, more in the display of blood and in one particular Gladiator like sequence where a Lantern finds themselves impaled, mostly this film milks that rating in the profanity department which sometimes fits the characters and other times just makes you laugh in spite of yourself since it feels a bit thrown in simply "because they could."

Plot-wise, Green Lantern never challenges as there's a twist you see coming a mile away, especially given the name of the character and it occurs slightly past the thirty minute mark. And after this moment takes place, the rest of the film seems to follow that same thread for forty seven more minutes as other characters slowly get a ticket to the same clue bus.

Although to his credit, Burnett tries to get some unique mileage out of it by introducing the "yellow element" that weakens the Green Lantern Corps, which seemed like an interesting play on the colors involved to make green with blue as the superiors and yellow as the weakness.

However, one structural flaw involved the rushed explanations of key items including the Energi-Rod and a few plot twists that circled back to the Abin Sur arrival on Earth which made me wish that more time had been spent showing these events and less time just inserting "oh, by the way" monologues since, when it comes to comics, the visual presentation should be the driving force behind the telling of the story.

In this sense, at times it reminded me of a joke someone has just learned and is still practicing-- forgetting vital information needed for the punchline to work and then halfway through, realizing it as they burst out with "wait a minute, wait a minute, the guy was wearing clown shoes" before hoping we can just magically let all this flow ourselves.

Overall, it's successful and it does flow but every so often, the film plays as though important seeds of information were dropped into the script way too late and it may have helped to have known your Lantern beforehand just to have had the source there to assist in sheeding a bit more light on details while you experienced the First Flight.

Still, the work is one of beautiful clarity that proves once more that animation is best appreciated on Blu-ray disc along with enhanced TrueHD sound (and Dolby Digital options) and the film itself is delivered in full 1080 pixel widescreen that fills your screen although some of the special features did resort to a standard definition level.

Also offering fans the option of a PC digital download (unfortunately one that's not compatible with Apple or iPod devices, however), the Blu-ray boats more than four hours of extras including extensive behind-the-scenes featurettes. Likewise it serves up five bonus cartoons selected by the DC animation legend and film's producer Bruce Timm, an interview with New York Times best-selling writer Geoff Johns who analyzes the mythology of the series he's helping to rebirth, a Blu-ray exclusive focusing on the importance of ring symbolism in literature, glimpses at three other DC Universe titles, and additional tidbits.

However, fans including this reviewer whose favorite DC Comics character (or just plain superhero for that matter) happens to be Batman will want to jump directly to an exclusive sneak peek at the next title in the DC Universe line-- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies which looks unbelievably impressive.

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DVD Review: Wonder Woman -- 2 Disc Special Edition (2009)

The First Female Comic Book Superhero
Shows 'Em How It's Done
In This Impressive Warner Premiere

On Blu-ray, DVD & On-Demand
3/3/09

"Don't Laugh at the Comics," was the title of the Family Circle magazine interview article with noted Harvard psychologist and inventor of the lie detector, William Moulton Marston that really started it all.

Published in October of 1940 and penned by his former student Olive Byrne-- the article which championed the potential educational impact that comic books could have on children in a capacity more than just providing a vicarious escape from the Great Depression-- found a kindred spirit among the man who would go onto create DC Comics, Max Gaines.

Soon after, Gaines employed Marston to become the printer's "educational consultant," and shortly following his arrival, Marston-- inspired by both Byrne and his wife Elizabeth, decided that the world needed a brand new superhero. And in coming up with one, his mission was to counteract the hyper masculine counterparts of DC typified by Superman, Batman, and the Green Lantern (soon to star in the next Warner Premiere DVD) so the polygraph creator said that he wanted to invent a character "who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love."

His wife's reply-- according to Boston University's Fall 2001 alumni magazine was a simple "fine," added with a society altering request when she said, "but make her a woman."



And the rest, as they say is Amazon history. For as soon as she made her debut in DC's All Star Comics #8 in December of 1941 (and ironically in sync with the beginning of our involvement in World War II when women found themselves in the workforce), the beautiful, headstrong heroinebecame not only the first female superhero in the history of American comics but one that's still beloved to this day.

Perhaps part of its success is in creator Marston's staunch and unwavering attitude to stick to his original purpose in using it as he wrote "psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe rule the world." In an era frought with gender double standards, Martson made his mission for Wonder Woman clear, writing in 1943's American Scholar:

"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

However, and while proportionally in ratio of men to women while DC Comics was always more prone to be "more progressive for women," as is revealed in the first disc's extra Wonder Woman: The Amazon Princess, as Disc 2's in-depth documentary Wonder Woman: A Subversive Dream reveals, censors and conservatives tried to crush what they felt was her overt sexuality and sensuality creating a Comics Code Authority that had to approve everything which the interviewees felt may have exacerbated Marston's polio.

And indeed, he was so much a part of Wonder Woman that following his death, DC Comics was uncertain whether or not the character could continue but its popularity flourished as Wonder Woman survived its many incarnations as a sexier Avengers styled contemporary woman in the '60s to becoming the cover of Gloria Steinem's debut issue of Ms. with the tag-line of "Wonder Woman for President" up through its television series with Linda Carter and animated appearances in Warner Brothers and DC Comics' The Justice League. And so it's only fitting that she's now the star of her very own feature length film.

Additionally, since Hollywood just can't seem to get it together in the creation of a live action version of Wonder Woman after the duds of Catwoman and Elektra and recent rumors of Joss Whedon's version (allegedly to have starred his Buffy and Dollhouse heroine Eliza Dushku) now fallen through the cracks-- I'm delighted to report that this stellar quality animated version featuring Oscar nominated vocal talents and stunning artistic quality not only surpasses WB's pre-Dark Knight anime work Batman: Gotham Knight and Lionsgate's Marvel offering Hulk Vs. but is a work that honestly could've played theatrically on its own.

Reuniting Waitress cast members Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, the film takes a beneficial "origins" approach to its character with a mesmerizing (and surprisingly violent) near-prologue which sets the stage of the battle against the war god Ares (Alfred Molina) by Queen Hippolyta (voiced by Sideways star Virgina Madsen) and her fellow powerful "sisters" including Artemis (Rosario Dawson), Persephone (Vicki Lewis), and Alexa (Tara Strong) for their emancipation following years of slavery.

When Zeus and Hera prevent Hippolyta from killing their son Ares, they opt instead to make him their prisoner and give the women the utopian peaceful island of Themyscira-- a mystical civilization where the Amazon sisterhood can live in beauty and harmony away from the evil of the outside male-dominated, violent world.

Once there and unable to bear children, Hippolyta is able to create a daughter out of love and clay with the help from the Gods and she grows into the over-sheltered Princess Diana (Keri Russell) who-- tired of never getting more heroic opportunities and dangerous assignments like Artemis-- decides once and for all to prove her mother wrong.

When American Air Force fighter pilot Steve Trevor (Fillion) crash lands in Themyscira, Hippolyta decides that a competition will be held to determine which of the Amazon sisters should serve as the most capable emissary to return him back to the outside world of America, Diana dons a helmet as a disguise and accepts the gladiator challenge which, naturally she wins.

Bestowed with the indestructible bracelets and American flag modeled uniform to show respect for the United States, she and Steve journey to New York City where within minutes-- Diana instills girl power in a young child left out of playing with boys and chides a flirtatious office worker for going into the damsel in distress routine to try and attract men.

Feminist and proud, the gamely Diana quickly proves that she isn't susceptible to Steve's attempt to get her drunk on tequila (which he refers to as his version of the Lasso of Truth) or willing to back down from muggers as she routinely saves the lad in distress instead of the other way around. And while the animators and screenwriter Michael Jelenic thankfully and rather humorously give her a purple dress to conceal her skimpy Betty Grable style pin-up attire so that he won't be picked "up for solicitation" by acknowledging the rather revealing outfit-- luckily that's as far as they go in modernizing the comic or the woman.

No, throughout the seventy-four minute animated work directed by Lauren Montgomery, who is also working on the upcoming Green Lantern:First Flight, following her direction of 2007's Superman: Doomsday and work as a storyboard artist on Justice League and the recent Hulk Vs., Wonder Woman remains incredibly faithful to the original comic-- so much so that it's an equal treasure for ardent enthusiasts of the superhero as well as those just casually checking it out.

Additionally, with its superlative quality as again the best straight-to-disc animated superhero work I've seen over the past year with crisp animation that came alive when the DVD was up-converted in my Blu-ray player filling the widescreen television-- it ends on a note that helps establish the Wonder Woman Diana was to become in a way that makes it possible for more films to follow.

While of course, one worries about a studio cashing in too much on a successful and creatively sensational product but if the same team is employed and the same care is taken that's evident in both the finished work as well as all of the heavily researched documentaries that make the two-disc version far superior (complete with a Digital Download for Windows Media PC compatible devices), then I'd say long live Wonder Woman and moreover, why why not involve them in a live-action version if it ever gets off the ground.

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