Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is the latest DCU animated movie to be released on DVD. The DCU animated movies have been quite good for the most part, so will Emerald Knights be able to live up to the high expectations I have for it. Well we are about to find out.
The movie is a collection of six small stories, five of which are stringed together while the other is going on. The main story is that a being called Krona who was once banished to the Anti-Matter Universe by the Guardians is about to return and try to destroy Oa, the Green Lantern headquarters. So the Green Lanterns gather to set up a perimeter and monitor their sun because that is where Krona will come from. While they are waiting Hal Jordan recounts some stories of the Green Lantern Corps to their newest recruit Arisia Rrab. It seemed a little out of place to have story time while everyone is bracing for what is expected to be one of the Green Lantern Corps’ biggest battles ever. I think it would have worked a lot better if they had shown Arisia as a more frightened and overwhelmed recruit so that Hal could tell her the stories in order to explain through examples that the Green Lanterns always rise to the challenge and overcome whatever fear may be plaguing them. However it just sort of played out as “Hey did you hear the one about ____” which just weekend the main story because it seemed like they weren’t taking it as seriously as they should have. The five stories that are told however aren’t actually that bad. The first is the story of the first Green Lantern and how he overcame his fears and defeated a seemingly indestructible army. The second story is about Kilowog’s training from Sgt. Deegan which shows where he learned his harsh training style. The next story is about Laira and how in her first solo mission she had to fight her own family who had begun leading a murderous campaign against all who once opposed their world. This was my favourite of Hal’s stories because it had cool action as well as an emotional aspect to it thanks to Laira and her father. The fourth story is about a Lantern named Mogo. This story is the least serious of the bunch since for a large portion of the story Bolphunga (the bad guy) is just running around a forest looking for Mogo without any luck. The final side story is about Abin Sur, the Lantern that previously held Hal’s ring. In it Abin Sur is attacked by someone named Atrocitus who can apparently talk to Destiny itself and who then tells Abin about what will happen in the future. Then after all of the tales are told Krona appears and engages in a climactic battle with the core.
The acting in the movie is decent nothing exceptional to get excited about. Hal Jordan is voiced by Nathan Fillion who does a good job as Hal but doesn’t have any real standout moments. Elisabeth Moss fits quite well as Arisia Rrab but like just about everyone in this film doesn’t get to show any range thanks to the unimpressive writing and fact that the story is told in a bunch of smaller pieces. The performances by Kelly Hu as Laira and Tony Amendola as Kentor Omoto (Laira’s father) are in my opinion the best in the film. They both make you feel for their characters despite the fact that they are only in for one section of the film and they are on opposite sides. The action in the film is a little better than the acting but not by much. It is always cool to see the Green Lanterns use their rings but it’s all over so quickly it lacks suspense and/or tension. The end does have a big battle however which was actually pretty cool.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights isn’t a bad movie, it just lacks substance and fails to live up to the expectations set forth by the previous Green Lantern animated film; First Flight. The performances and action scenes are fine but you should only see this movie if you are a fan of Green Lantern. For everyone else checkout First Flight because that movie can actually turn you into a fan.
Score: 2/5
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