Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

After loving the sublime Batman: Under the Red Hood earlier in the year, I decided to give another DC straight-to-DVD animated film a watch and I'm glad I did.

The plot is told as pretty much a frame story of episodic flashbacks of the Green Lantern's past. All I found interesting and easily accessible for a newbie, like myself. There were a few giggles at some of the silliness in the GL universe but that's inherent in the conceit itself, anyway.

The voice acting was mostly strong, the animation had some spectacularly awe-inspiring scenes, the score too was good and it importantly had heart to back up all the spectacle.

Overall, possibly the best superhero film this year in terms of consistency and I like this brave team that's sort of like an intergalactic police force-7/10.

Emerald Knights has a story it does, but it makes up a small percentage of the film as most of it is short tales being regaled to the newest member of the Lantern Corps.

Some are good, some are meh, but the whole thing felt very incomplete due to this.

With fantastic voice talent including Nathan Fillion, Henry Rollins & Kelly Hu the effort/budget clearly went into this but alike the original Green Lantern offering I simply don't get the appeal.

Weird aliens, bizzare powers and lore that keeps shifting.

What bugs me about all these animated movies is that they aren't connected and have no consistency. Characters who died are back, events that happened never took place etc etc and that's very evident here. They really need to make an animated universe and stick with it.

Emerald Knights isn't terrible, I'm just not the demographic.

The Good:

Opening sequence was brutal

Kelly Hu & Henry Rollins

The Bad:

Contradicts the lore in places

Spread rather thin

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The guardians are smurfs

A movie full of many references that support the universe or setting of the Green Lanterns, being quite entertaining with great moments and admirable characters. "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is the sum of several short films of different stories that come together and add weight for fans of the Lanterns. A feature film that is not a sequel to "Green Lantern: First Flight" and that might help you disconnect a bit, yet it still has its merits and deserves a chance.

Directors Lauren Montgomery, Jay Oliva, and Christopher Berkeley did a simple yet quite memorable job, adding a very sustainable meaning to the vast universe that these characters inhabit within DC Comics, thus providing a very pleasant experience for viewers and fans. A movie that has a well-crafted narrative and speaks for itself with each scene; moreover, it places our favorite lantern as a mentor to Arisia Rrab from the perspective of a storyteller of great tales.

"Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" features memorable animation, with a significant improvement over its predecessor and a high level of detail in the drawings, line work, and fluidity of movement. Thus achieving a result that is more than satisfactory and worthy of admiration. The color tones among the characters' costumes, their armor, spaceships, and the environments of different planets look amazing. The soundtrack complements the moments of action and reflection very well.

The movie encompasses exceptional reflective messages, leaving a significant contribution for the little ones at home and even for those who revisit these animated films. The way they address themes such as teamwork, justice, inequality, revenge, remorse, sacrifice, good deeds, wars, heroism, personal growth, cunning, relationships with family, legacy, innocence, leaps of faith, willpower, positivity, respect, and reward is phenomenal.

Kilowog seems like an amazing character to me; what he brings to the movie, his perspective on things, and that little bit of comedy is truly memorable. On the other hand, Laira is a great Green Lantern, showcasing scenes of incredible battles and how she even fights against her own family for true justice and peace for her people. It would be very interesting to see Laira in a showdown against Wonder Woman.

I'm a MASSIVE Green Lantern fan. This is a small release that will introduce a lot of the mythology to newcomers before the release of the main live action film. It's really a series of individual stories being told. This means that each one varies in quality. Most are a lot of fun, especially "Mogo Doesn't Socialize". The most distracting thing about this film is that it uses the same character designs from First Flight, but has new voices and a new continuity. This can be overlooked fairly quickly. What's harder to overlook is some of the disappointing vocal work. Fillion, a fan favorite, isn't given enough to do and Jason Isaacs puts in next to zero effort. Rollins is also not gruff enough as Killowog. Vosloo and Rowdy Roddy Piper do excellent stuff. It's a great introduction to such a vast universe, and will preview what a Green Lantern franchise is capable of.

The six Green Lantern stories in a single animation film. Kilowog and Mogo are the coolest. Thanks to HBO Asia for giving us this.