Green Lantern: First Flight

Of all the superheroes, the Hal Jordan Green Lantern is the most like Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun. Yet, Hollywood crashed and burned with the deservedly maligned 2011 Ryan Reynolds movie. As usual, DC animation far outshines their live-action colleague-rivals. The 2011 animated series was even better depicting Jordan’s ability to fly by the seat of his pants, as both a test pilot and a “maverick” member of the Lantern Corps. However, his first adventure after succeeding Abin Sur as our sector’s Green Lantern, which happened on this very day according to the DC calendar, gets a briskly energetic animated treatment in Lauren Montgomery’s Green Lantern: First Flight.

Jordan was minding his business testing experimental aircraft for his boss and Hepburn-and-Tracy-esque girlfriend Carrol Ferris when the Green Power of Abin Sur’s ring whisked him away to the dying Green Lantern’s fatal crash site. Soon, a Lantern honor guard comes looking for their comrade’s body and his successor, but they are shocked to discover he is a human earthling.

Jordan quickly learns there is a deep-seated prejudice against humans on Oa, the home of the Guardians of the Universe, who oversee the Lantern Corps. Perhaps the Trisolarans of The Three-Body Problem told them about the Cultural Revolution. Yet, there is no denying the ring chose Jordan, which theoretically is an ironclad testimonial to his virtue.

Consequently, the prestigious Lantern Sinestro offers to take the green Green Lantern under his wing, as he investigates Abin Sur’s murder. Of course, fans know Sinestro is an infamous Lantern turncoat and everyone else could probably guess as much, since his name sounds like “sinister.” Indeed, Sinestro quickly alarms Jordan’s “spider sense,” so to speak. However, none of the other Lanterns want to hear his reservations, because Jordan is only human—particularly not the hulking Kilowog, who has canine and hog-like features.

In general, Jordan is a roguishly relatable superhero and Kilowog is one of the most appealing characters who still largely flies under the radar of non-comics fans. First Flight does a nice job conveying their personality strengths and quirks, but it really excels portraying Sinestro’s devious cunning and duplicity. There is a lot of cataclysmic cosmic wrath in the climatic battle, involving an evil scheme to employ yellow power to nullify the Lanterns’ green, but the film really showcases the characters and the inner dynamics of the Lantern Corps.

Family Law (Pilot), on CW

Maybe a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, but what is he, if he hires his toxic, alcoholic daughter? Abigail Bianchi is actually the third of Harry Svensson’s three grown children (all from different mothers) that he hired at his family law firm. She is not happy to be there, but it is her only option after a drunken vomiting courtroom incident. Even in Canada, the courts frown on such behavior, but each case offers more dramedy-redemption in writer-creator Susin Nielsen’s Family Law, which premieres Sunday on the CW.

In the pilot episode, “Sins of the Father,” Bianchi does not know her entitled half-siblings very well and neither of them is happy to have her join the firm. Before the regurgitation incident, Bianchi was a hot shot litigator, so she feels like family law is beneath her. Only the transgender receptionist is happy to see her.

Currently, Bianchi is separated from her unfaithful husband, who still has custody of the kids, because she is such a dumpster fire. Their little boy always looks forward to her visits, but their teen daughter is openly siding with dad and against her. At least she has the boozy support of her Ab-Fab mother Joanne Kowalski, Svensson’s first wife. Perhaps understandably, some of Bianchi’s baggage comes out during her first case for the firm, involving years of unpaid child support from a father, who answered an online ad for a no-strings-attached sperm donor.

Honestly, most of the legal plotlines of the pilot episode feel like they could have been brainstorming notes discarded from the writers’ room when L.A. Law was cancelled in the mid-1990s. It is basically the same formula. The pilot gives us one primary case, addressing a mildly controversial issue, while also following a slightly comical secondary case (this time around it is a doggie custody battle).

Family Law might not be stylistically innovative, but that is no great sin. The problem is the complete and utter lack of characters any sane viewer would want to spend time with. Bianchi is abrasively annoying, Svensson is insufferably arrogant, and the step-siblings combine the worst of both. Even Lauren Holly generates more eye-rolls than laughs as the diva-ish Kowalski.

I’ll Follow You Down: Canadian Time Travel

As a family of academics, it is not surprising the Whytes are prone to depression and dysfunctional insecurities. At least they have a good reason. While still a young boy, Erol’s father mysteriously vanishes while attending a theoretical physics conference. His absence continues to haunt Erol and his mother, but the son might be able to fix his broken family by reconstructing his father’s time travel research in Richie Mehta’s I’ll Follow You Down (trailer here), which opens this Friday in the Tri-State Area.

Gabe Whyte’s luggage remained in his Princeton hotel room, but no trace could be found of the Toronto scholar. His wife Marika never really recovered from the loss. Arguably though, some good came out of the misfortune, from Erol’s perspective. While his mother was away searching for his father, the young boy forged a deep bond with Grace, his childhood sweetheart. In fact, they are poised to get married after their undergrad studies, until his mother finally succumbs to her depression.

As he mourns his mother, Whyte starts to reconsider his Grandpa Sal’s crazy claims. The good professor is convinced Gabe developed a method of time travel, journeying through a wormhole to have a discussion with Einstein, presumably meeting with misadventure somewhere along the way. However, it will take more than a garden variety genius like Prof. Gramps to replicate his work. Only an exceptional mind like Erol’s is equal to the task. The upside for his family will be profound if Whyte can save his father, but what will happen to his relationship with Grace?

Follow definitely has its cerebral side, which is a good thing, but it is also unusually emotionally mature for science fiction. Instead of speculating about the Butterfly Effect and how it might alter macro history and technology, Mehta focuses on how it could transform the Whyte family. As a result, it is not nearly as intricately constructed and gleefully mind-blowing as Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes or Hugh Sullivan’s The Infinite Man, but its time shifting business still holds together pretty well.

As a misfit genius, The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment makes a convincing misfit. The genius part requires a bit more willful suspension of disbelief. He more or less keeps his head above water, but it is far certain whether Follow will herald a major career comeback. Wisely, he is surrounding by a quality supporting cast with serious genre cred. Alias’s Victor Garber is on familiar turf as the decent mentoring grandfather, but he is still a reassuring presence. Rufus Sewell makes intelligence charismatic as the temporally misplaced Whyte, while The X-Files’ Gillian Anderson is surprisingly compelling as miserable mother Marika.

Like Infinite Man and Darren Paul Fisher’s Frequencies, Follow is the sort of cleverly conceived science fiction that does not require extensive special effects. A dose of Einstein (not a character) beats an explosion any day. Recommended with enthusiasm for time travel fans, I’ll Follow You Down opens this Friday (6/6) at the AMC Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, via Well Go USA.