Green Lantern takes 'First Flight' on DVD

It’s Green Lantern’s turn to take the cosmic spotlight.

“Green Lantern: First Flight” is set for release July 28 by Warner Home Video on DVD, Blu-ray and OnDemand. It’s the latest in a series of DC Universe animated features.

For screenwriter Alan Burnett, who has worked on several Batman animated TV series and was story editor for another straight-to-DVD feature, “Batman: Gotham Knight,” this project gave him the chance to escape the gritty streets of Gotham City and pen an interstellar adventure.

Burnett’s pitch: a twist on “Training Day,” the 2001 film that starred Ethan Hawke as a rookie cop partnered with a brutal veteran detective played by Denzel Washington.

In “Green Lantern: First Flight,” Hal “Green Lantern” Jordan is the rookie, Sinestro is his harsh mentor, and the Green Lantern Corps fills the role of the Los Angeles Police Department.

“It’s such a huge world, a huge universe that the Green Lanterns move in, and their powers are such that they almost seem magical, and there are many varied aliens galore, so you sort of have to ground it to something,” Burnett says. “And when you come down to it, they’re a police force.”

The movie, rated PG-13, features the voices of Christopher Meloni (“Law & Order: SVU”) as Hal and Victor Garber (“Alias,” “Eli Stone”) as Sinestro.

Hal is the star as he embarks on his first big adventure. “I think people will naturally be looking through his eyes throughout the whole story,” Burnett says.

But in may ways, he adds, it’s just as much Sinestro’s story. “Both of them have about the same amount of screen time, and both are sort of cut from the same cloth, in that they don’t take that well to authority,” he says.

The two, though, soon find themselves on opposite sides; the story synopsis on the movie’s Web site says Sinestro “is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, tradition and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps.” But Sinestro is not a one-note villain.

“He sees himself as a savior of sorts,” Burnett says. “But in order to do what he wants to do, he has to obtain absolute power. And you know what happens when you obtain absolute power.”

As for the title character, “I see Hal as a friendlier Batman, in a way,” Burnett says. “I actually, in my mind, thought of a young Steve McQueen. He’s a guy of few words, but he watches and takes everything in.”

Also look for appearances by the Guardians of the Universe — the little blue guys that founded the Green Lantern Corps — and many members of the Corps, including fan favorite Kilowog (voiced by Michael Madsen) and Boodikka (the voice of Tricia Helfer of “Battlestar Galactica”).

“It has a cast of dozens and dozens of Green Lanterns, many of which the fans will know who they are, even if they don’t have any dialogue,” Burnett said.

MORE ONLINE: www.warnervideo.com/greenlanterndvd