Rating: PG
Starring:
Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan (voice)
Jason Isaacs as Sinestro (voice)
Elisabeth Moss as Arisia (voice)
Kelly Hu as Laira (voice)
Arnold Vosloo as Abin Sur (voice)
Steve Blum as Guardian of OA (voice)
Roddy Piper as Bolphunga (voice)
Henry Rollins as Kilowog (voice)
Wade Williams as Deegan (voice)
Bruce Thomas as Atrocitus (voice)
David Kaufman as Ruben (voice)
Sunil Malhotra as Ship (voice)
Directed by Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery, and Jay Oliva
Special Features:
Sneak Peek at upcoming DC Universe animated movie
Sneak Peek at All-Star Superman
Featurettes:
Only The Bravest: Tales Of The Green Lantern Corps
Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talent Of Geoff Johns
Feature Film Commentary with Dan DiDio and Geoff Johns
Pods:
From Comic Book to Screen: Abin Sur
From Comic Book to Screen: Laira Omoto
Bruce Timm’s Picks:
Excerpt from The Siege Of Starro! Part One from Batman: The Brave
And The Bold
Revenge of The Reach! from Batman: The Brave And The Bold
Digital Comic: Green Lantern
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.78:1)
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Sound
French and Spanish Language
French and Spanish Subtitles
Running Time: 84 Minutes
The Details:
The following is the official description of the film:
“With stories by acclaimed writers including Geoff Johns, Alan Burnett and Dave Gibbons, this DC Universe Animated Original Movie explores the rich mythology of the Green Lantern universe through six interlocking chapters. While awaiting a battle with Krona, an ancient enemy of the Guardians of the Universe, Earths Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Kilowog, Sinestro and other members of the Green Lantern Corps recount their greatest adventures to new recruit Arisia everything from tales of the first Lantern to the ominous events that led to the Corps Blackest Night! The power-packed voice cast includes Nathan Fillion, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Isaacs, Henry Rollins and Arnold Vosloo.”
“Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” is rated PG for sci-fi action violence throughout and for some language.
Mini-Review:
Leading up to the live-action “Green Lantern” movie is the release of this animated film starring the DC superhero. The central storyline features the Green Lantern Corps facing an ancient enemy and in the middle of preparations for battle, rookie Lantern Arisia finds herself in over her head. In order to encourage her, Hal Jordan and some of the other Lanterns tell Arisia stories about some of their greatest heroes. The first tale is about the first four Lanterns in history and how they learned to use their rings. The second shows Kilowog as a rookie undergoing a grueling basic training under the boot of a tough instructor. The third features Laira being put in a tough position when her role as a Lantern puts her in direct conflict with her family on her home planet. The fourth features the fiercest warrior in the galaxy attempting to do battle with a mysterious Green Lantern on a deserted planet. Rounding out the short stories is a team-up between Sinestro and Abin Sur, but their opponent has a dire prediction for the future of the Green Lantern Corps… and the universe.
I started watching “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” with my young sons. In the opening scene, a female Lantern is literally dismembered by an alien force. It’s pretty graphic as her severed hand floats in space, then the ring leaves the lifeless finger and takes off. I thought, “This is a PG film?” Despite the shocking intro, it evened out as was more kid appropriate for the rest of the film (despite a little language).
The animation isn’t particularly special, but the action scenes are quite spectacular. You keep hearing Green Lantern be compared to “Star Wars,” but the epic space battles in this film actually live up to the hype. The Lanterns destroy spaceships in impressive ways, the explosions are cool, and it makes the movie worthwhile. Everything leads up to a major battle with a Galactus / Unicron sized villain that is a real showstopper.
A lot of people are going to walk out of the live-action Green Lantern movie and want to see more of the characters. This movie delivers that. With short animated stories highlighting Kilowog, Abin Sur, and Sinestro, they’ll get what they’re looking for. But they’ll get an added bonus by meeting some other new Lanterns, too. “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” features a wide variety of crazy looking aliens that are quite imaginative.
The cast of this film is pretty cool. You have fan-favorite Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. He’s not the central character of the film, so you don’t hear much of him. But his voice matches Hal Jordan well. Jason Isaacs is a great choice as Sinestro. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a choice for the live-action Sinestro. Roddy Piper is also funny as Bolphunga, the alien warrior eager to prove himself against a Green Lantern. Unfortunately Henry Rollins doesn’t seem like a great match for the voice of Kilowog, especially when compared to Michael Clarke Duncan. And though I like Elisabeth Moss, her voice is a tad weak as Arisia.
Overall “Green Lantern: Emerald Knights” is worth checking out. It should please comic fans as well as fans of the live-action movie. But like many of DC’s animated films, they seem to have trouble deciding whether to make it appropriate for kids or older fans. They haven’t hit the right mix yet though this is close.
The Blu-ray has a good selection of bonus features. “Only The Bravest: Tales Of The Green Lantern Corps” features DC writers, DC publishers, psychologists, and historians talking about the key aspects of the Lantern universe. They discuss the force of will, bravery, knights, and a lot more. “Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talent Of Geoff Johns” talks about the recent comic storylines that Johns has written. Unless you read DC Comics, this featurette won’t mean a lot to you because they talk about all of the crazy twists and turns that the character of Hal Jordan has taken. He’s been good, he’s been bad, he’s been dead, he’s been The Spectre, etc. etc. etc. You begin to understand why DC is rebooting their comics lines after watching this. Also included among the bonus features are featurettes on the characters of Abin Sur and Laira Omoto, a digital Green Lantern comic, and some episodes of “Batman: The Brave And The Bold.” Also of note is a sneak preview of the upcoming animated “Batman: Year One” film featuring Eliza Dushku and Katee Sackhoff.
