DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)

Written In January 2014

And we’ve come to another anthology movie, but unlike Gotham Knight, all the shorts here have the same animation style and character designs… And it’s the same one from the last GL movie, First Flight. Also unlike Gotham Knight, the shorts are framed as flashbacks instead of just individual stories taking place back to back. So I’ll just give you all the full summary, then review each individual segment without summary, then review the whole thing. Sound good? Okay then, Mr. John Harrison, if you would please

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The sun of the Green Lantern homeworld, Oa, is becoming a gateway for Krona, an evil anti-matter alien tyrant that once sought to destroy all life. As precaution the Guardians of the Universe decide to evacuate Oa of all valuables, such as the Central Battery. While in line to charge their rings before the Battery is taken away, Green Lantern Corps rookie Arisia Rrab converses with Hal Jordan and expresses her self doubts as the newest Green Lantern. In response, Hal tells her the story of the first Green Lantern:

The First Lantern

Avra, a scribe to the Guardians, is chosen by the final of the first four power rings despite having no skill or aptitude as a warrior. Avra and the other three original Green Lanterns, G'Hu, Wachet, and Blu, are immediately tasked with stopping the Dominators, an aggressive species which is invading solar system after solar system. Blu is the first Green Lantern killed in battle, whereupon with defeat apparently at hand Avra uses his willpower and imagination as a writer to continue the fight: He creates the first construct from his ring, a sword, which is used to wreak havoc amongst the alien war armada. Following Avra’s lead the other two Lanterns, G'Ho and Wachet, also create their own distinct power ring constructs, and the battle is won. The power to shape constructs from the power rings becomes standard operating procedure, and Avra rises in prestige among the growing Green Lantern Corps. After his death, Avra’s ring is passed down and ultimately comes into the possession of Abin Sur, who is then succeeded by Hal Jordan.

Back in line at the Central Battery, Hal and Arisia meet Kilowog, the head drill sergeant of the Green Lantern Corps. He antagonizes Arisia as a rookie, reminding her that she still has to attend boot camp. Hal tells Arisia not to fear Kilowog, and recounts the story of Kilowog’s own trainer.

Kilowog

Sgt. Deegan trains the rookie Kilowog and others by removing their power rings and putting them in deadly settings such as a volcano about to erupt. Kilowog confronts Deegan and accuses him of employing a reckless training method and of having no value for the lives of his trainees. They briefly fight until Sgt. Deegan is called to deploy with his recruits when a nearby planet comes under attack by the Khunds, as they are the nearest Green Lanterns in the sector. Deegan purposefully drops Kilowog’s ring before departing with the other recruits, and Kilowog picks it up. In the battle Sgt. Deegan orders the rookies to protect the refugees as he deals with the invaders. As Kilowog catches up, Sgt. Deegan is mortally wounded. Kilowog destroys the army and goes to Deegan’s side. Deegan tells Kilowog he never would have let his rookies die and that he did what was best for their training. He passes his authority to Kilowog, who completes the mission.

Hal and Arisia arrive at a border patrol of the sun and await Krona’s return. Arisia and other Lanterns hear a Delphic prophecy from a Lantern named Laira who is levitating in the Lotus position(about which she remarks “That was strange.”), whereupon Hal shares Laira’s own story:

Laira

Once a princess, Laira is sent on her first solo mission to her homeworld to deal with charges that her people are attacking the Khunds unprovoked. Standing in her way, Laira quickly defeats her father’s mistress and her belittling brother. But when she faces her father she is saddened to learn that the recent war crimes were his own decision. He has been driven into rage by the loss of honor that Laira’s ring chose her and not him. Laira is ultimately able to defeat her father who admits she has truly earned her adulthood. He then commits ritual suicide to maintain his honor.

Back at the border patrol of Oa’s sun, every Lantern extant has been called to await Krona’s return, with the notable exception of Mogo. Hal explains who Mogo is and why he is not present:

Mogo Doesn’t Socialize

Bolphunga the Unrelenting seeks to fight and destroy all the most powerful warriors in the universe. He is told, however, by his latest opponent (a volcanic being whom he dismembers) that he will never defeat the Green Lantern Mogo. Bolphunga’s computer contains no data on Mogo save for his whereabouts on a mysterious green planet. Bolphunga spends weeks there tracking Mogo’s plethora of power signatures, but never finds the elusive Lantern. He then sets explosives all over the planet in order to flush Mogo out, but is horrified when the planet extinguishes all the bombs and Mogo is revealed to be the entire planet itself. He attempts to escape, but Mogo easily captures him.

At Oa’s sun Hal and Arisia are attacked by Krona’s Shadow Demons and rescued by Sinestro. Sinestro then speaks of the prophecy that Oa will be destroyed and relates a story of Abin Sur and the Lantern view on destiny:

Abin Sur

Hal Jordan’s predecessor Abin Sur fights Atrocitus, an alien criminal speaking dark prophecies. Abin Sur is assisted by Sinestro in capturing the alien. Sinestro and Abin Sur then have a conversation relating to the warnings that Atrocitus spoke and Sinestro insists that he does not believe in destiny. Parting ways, Abin Sur takes the criminal to a prison planet where Atrocitus again speaks on Abin Sur’s imminent death. He also warns Abin that Sinestro will rise against the Green Lantern Corps and create his own lantern corps built on the power of fear. Abin Sur however refuses to believe his friend would betray his Green Lantern duties.

Emerald Knights

Krona finally arrives from the Oa Sun. All the Green Lanterns fight swarms of Shadow Demons as Krona, an enormous figure, rises from the sun. Many Green Lanterns are killed and all others fall back. It is Arisia who devises a plan: if Krona is made of anti-matter then an equal or greater amount of matter will destroy him on contact. The Green Lanterns fall behind the planet Oa and push it at Krona. Krona uses Shadow Demons to push back and the Corps finds itself stymied while taking casualties. However, Mogo the Living Planet arrives and uses its own mass and Lantern Power to assist his comrades. Oa and Krona are forced into the sun and both are annihilated. The prophecy of Oa’s destruction is fulfilled, but Krona is destroyed and the Corps is saved.

Mogo volunteers to be the Corps’ temporary base as they build a new Oa. Arisia is honored with an official entry into the Book of Oa for her heroic ingenuity, although she still has to report for Kilowog’s training.

The First Lantern

This one is written by Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, the same guys who wrote the Ryan Reynolds movie this whole thing was meant to promote, who are also the head writers and producers on CW’s Arrow, a show I adore! Which really leaves me to wonder, why did that movie suck? These are guys are clearly good writers, Ryan Reynolds is admittedly not an ill fit for Hal, the rest of the Lanterns were perfectly cast, the CG was pretty good, the director was Martin Campbell who directed two of the best James Bond movies in recent memory (Pierce Brosnan’s first outing, Goldeneye, and Daniel Craig’s first outing, Casino Royale), and the two Zorro movies starring Antonio Banderas are darn good fun in their own right. Well, we’re not here to debate at that piece of crap movie, we’re here to talk about this piece of crap movie. Except it’s not that crappy, especially not this first segment!

PROS:

• This story is simple and to the point.
• The story is a nice little play on the idea that the pen is mightier than sword, in that a mere scribe is able to do without fear what three great warriors were not able to even with their incredible strength.
• I’m of two minds about Hal being the one who now uses Avra’s ring, on the one hand I think it really shows why Hal is so special. But the other hand, I’ll address in the cons.
• I also like that a writer is able to create the first energy construct with the green lantern ring, especially when earlier in the fight, a comrade says to him to “Just use your imagination.”

CONS:

• I kinda don’t care for the fact that Avra even manages to create a construct, I think it would’ve been much more interesting for him to have just used bursts of energy blasts to defeat the bad guys (forgot what they were called).
• Bringing this back to Hal, I kinda take the fact that he has the very first Green Lantern’s ring as kind of a “fuck you!” to the other Green Lantern’s of Earth. Like Hal’s better than John, Kyle, Guy, and Alan because he has the first Lantern ever’s ring.

Overall, I’m gonna give this one a 4 out of 6! It’s pretty good, but not quite great. If you end renting this movie, I recommend you don’t skip this one.

Kilowag

Directed by Lauren Montgomery who directed the first GL movie here, and Wonder Woman and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and co-directed Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths with Sam Liu and Superman: Doomsday with Bruce Timm and Brandon Vietti, and has gone on to direct Batman: Year One and Justice League: Doom. Now if you’ve actually gone and read those reviews already or just did, then you’ll know I really like this lady. But, you know what’s even better? This story was written by none other than Peter Tomasi, the gentleman responsible in part for this beautiful image here, following the death of Damian Wayne.

I’m sorry about your heart. Anywho, what I’m saying is, this is a good team for this short, and the only thing that makes it better is

1. Kilowag, my favorite non-human Lantern, is the main focus of the story.
2. He’s voiced by punk rock legend, Henry Rollins.
3. It follows Kilowag at bootcamp being abused by an awesome drill sergeant.
4. Said Drill Sergeant is voiced by Wade Williams, who we all remember as Black Mask in Under The Red Hood.

Does the story live up to the hype I just gave it? Yes, yes it does!

PROS:

• Wade Williams is perfection in this role! I adore him and his character! It kinda makes forget that he was a complete douchenozzle in Prison Break, but that’s not important.
• Henry Rollins does great work as Kilowag in this short, I’m not a huge fan of his as a voice actor, I think he kind of falls into that trap of not being distinct enough, but he was really good as both the hardass and the nice guy in this movie.
• The action is terrific throughout this short!
• The dynamic between Kilowag and Drill Sgt. Deegan is so perfect! When Kilowag calls him out, you can tell Deegan’s trying to control himself because he knows this guy is just a rookie who doesn’t understand what he’s trying to do. And Kilowag doesn’t even care that he’s being an ass to him specifically, he cares that he seems so cold about the recruits, like he doesn’t even care if they live or die. And when Deegan kicks Kilowag’s ass, it’s not only delightful because Kilowag is getting beat by a guy only a third his size, but you really believe it when Deegan says that what is most important is that these rookies do their job to the best of their ability, because the innocent people out there who are counting on just that. And when Deegan says this again and explains that he would never let them actually come to serious harm after Kilowag just defended him while dying, you really hear that he respects this big guy so MUCH! That son of a bitch Tomasi had to make it even worse though with Deegan drawing the green lantern symbol on Kilowag’s chest with his blood as his last act. That final scene just left my heart in pieces, I was just sitting there like
  
  You’re an asshole Tomasi! Thank you!
• Kilowag immediately goes hardass on the other recruits, I get the feeling that it was partially out of anger because “Those assholes just killed Deegan!” but partially out of respect for him because, this guy pushed us to the limit because he believe in us, so I’ll continue pushing all of us because that’s what he’d do

.CONS:

• I don’t have any, this short was perfect!

6 out of 6! Easily! I’ll admit I’m overselling it with that ranking, but it’s for Deegan!

(PS, the voice actor is still very much alive, I just really loved this character, alright?)

Laira

This one was directed by a guy named Jay Oliva, I think DC are starting to like him because he just directed 3 of the last 4 four animated movies they released, and he’s directing JL: War…

This short doesn’t inspire much hope in me either, in fact, it left me with dread. I’ll explain why now.

PROS:

• Kelly Hu, who played Lady Deathstrike in X2: X-Men United, China White in Arrow, and voiced Black Mask’s secretary in Under The Red Hood, does good work as the titular character of this short. You really feel for her conflict as she is forced into conflict with her own family.
• An actor I really love, Tony Amendola, who I know best from playing Bra'tac in Stargate SG-1, another mentor figure, does a really good job as Laira’s father. A man who did what he felt he had to for his family and his people, but in the process lost his way, and in the end seeks a way to honorable amend his mistakes. Nice work Mr. Amendola, good to hear from you!
• You know that giant floating head you occasionally see pop up in Green Lantern related stuff?
  
  This guy right here? Well apparently his name is Galius Zed, and and he makes a quick appearance in this short while the enemies of Laira’s planet are being attacked, and he shows himself to be quite the badass! This is a pro for no other reason than it made appreciate a character I otherwise don’t normally think about.
• The action here is particularly good, I think we may have DC Animation’s Michael Bay in the form of Jay Olivia. An incompetent storryteller, but a hell of a fight director!

CONS:

• The conflict here is poorly explained.
• Laira really isn’t shown any true development here, since she acts as cold in this short as she does throughout the rest of the movie.
• Kentor’s (Laira’s father) ritual suicide is really random, and doesn’t make any real sense.
• It doesn’t work when he puts it on, but it really bugs me that Kentor could take off Laira’s ring and wear it all. It made more sense in First Flight wear the Lantern had to remove the ring themselves in order to use it.
• The douchebag older brother, I don’t get the point of him.
• Also, the “whore” wife, why is she here? Why do we need to see members of Laira’s family who seem to hate her?

All in all, I thought this short was okay, but it really had wasted potential behind it. It would’ve been cool to see Laira be a little bit looser as a Lantern but forcing herself to become colder and more hardassed because of having to face her family and then witnessing them take their own life. So that being said, I’m gonna have to just give this a 1.75 out of 6. Your move Jay!

I’ll believe that when I see it, but that’s not the Jay I was talking about. Next!

Mogo Doesn’t Socialize

Huhn… Well then… Good move Jay!

I’m still not buying it, and that’s still not what I’m talking about! Onto the pros and cons!

PROS:

• A return to simple story telling!
• There’s a green lantern that is entire living planet! That is fucking awesome! Although it does beg the question, where does he put his ring?
• Apparently WWE alumni, Roddy Piper, voices the thug "warrior,“ Bolphunga in this short… I don’t watch wrestling but I think he does a good job playing up this cocky tough guy in over his head.
• The comedy in this short is great! I love how angry Bolphunga gets when he can’t find Mogo, and how freaking terrified he is when he finds it’s the entire planet!

CONS:

• This isn’t really a con within the short, but Mogo’s existence within this universe kind of leads to a problem I’ll end having in another one later, but I’m not gonna hold it against this particular part of the movie.

All in all, this one was kind of fun, but I’m still keeping my guard up about you Jay!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice? I don’t think so!

Anywho, I liked this short, but I still don’t trust you Jay Olivia, I’ll give you a solid 4 out of 6 for it, but I’m willing to bet this is writer (and Alan Moore artist) Dave Gibbons’s doing than yours.

Abin Sur

What I find neat about this one, is while the last four stories were told from Hal’s point of view, this one we’re told by Sinestro, played delightfully by the returning Jason Issacs. Wait a minute…

What did they just jack the supporting cast from Under The Red Hood for these shorts?

PROS:

• Well again, Jason does great work as Sinestro, although feels a bit odd hearing his voice coming from a design that fit Victor Garber’s like a glove.
• I have no idea who this Arnold Vosloo fellow is, but he does very good work here as Abin Sur! I really like him as this character, in fact I generally like the character period, what with her persistence on waiting until the last minute to recharge his power ring.
• Apparently the actor who voices Atrocitus, Bruce Thomas, is the forgotten Batman, having played the Caped Crusader in both the unaired pilot for WB’s Birds of Prey and the actual pilot for that show, along with a number of GM’s OnStar commercials that featured the Dark Knight, which ran from 2000 to 2002. Wait, does that make those commercials canon with the Birds of Prey show? Anywho, I have no idea what to make of that, but I think he does a good job in this short. He comes off as clearly sinister and angry, but actually rather intelligent. I give him a pass!
• The actual story of this short is take it or leave it, but the final scene with Atrocitus telling Abin Sur that his death is imminent and that one day Sinestro, his best friend, will betray his oath of loyalty to the core, and form the Yellow Lanterns is great stuff!, especially when we the audience know this is true, but Abin Sur doesn’t buy it. He has total faith in his friend and doesn’t believe he’d ever do wrong against the core.

CONS:

• I really have no complaints about this short, I just wish more of it was as good as it’s ending.

This story was apparently written by Geoff Johns which explains this story felt so "Take it or leave it” for most part, but am left with a shining bright spot. I’m gonna go ahead and give Abin Sur a 4.25 out of 6. It’s slightly better than above average, but it’s still not the best these shorts have to offer.

Emerald Knights

And we’re back in Lauren’s wheelhouse! And this time we have Batman: TAS writer/producer Alan Burnett behind the wheel for this script, with his copilot being Todd Casey, who has written for episodes of Batman: The Brave and The Bold and the recent reboot of the Thundercats series. I gotta say, they all do pretty good work here, minus a very glaring Deus Ex Machina which I’ll get into in the cons, but first let’s get to the stuff I liked!

PROS:

• The idea of just letting Krona have Oa is a surprisingly smart one, given that everyone’s evacuated and if they do give it to him, it’ll kill him!
• It’s a pretty nice touch putting Asiria’s name in the Oa book of heroes.
• Asiria herself is voiced very nicely by Elizabeth Moss.
• It makes sense that Mogo would allow everyone to use himself as a base of operations while they look for a new Oa.
• The final joke with Asira being told she still has to report to Kilowag for training is fun.
• I was gonna call bullcrap on the movie for throwing a planet at a sun because a creature made of antimatter is in there and the only thing that can destroy is the same amount of actual matter in terms of mass. I was gonna call bullcrap on that, but then I found out that the Earth itself, while tiny in actual size ratio, is extremely massive compared to the sun. So I commend the short for actually being able to stand up to the bullcrap test!

CONS:

• Having a living planet on your side is a HUGE Deus Ex Machina for me, I don’t think it detracts from the actual movie, but I really wish it wasn’t there.

I’m gonna give Emerald Knights, the short, a 4.5 out of 6! Again, only above average, but still pretty good! Nice work everybody!

Now to review the whole damn movie!

PROS:

• Nathan Fillion is perfectly cast as Hal Jordan in this movie! Although it’s still weird to see his voice coming from the same design as Christopher Meloni’s Hal.
• The voice acting is pretty good all around!
• The action is great.
• The story ideas are never without potential.
• The threat itself is a tad bit generic, but gets the job done.
• Each segment has nothing to truly get angry over.
• The movie introduces you to a lot of cool characters you hadn’t gotten to know last time.
• No one who gets to talk is left without a moment to shine.

CONS:

• It bugs me that they used the same designs from the last GL movie.

Ultimately, I’d say there’s more to enjoy about this movie than there is to not enjoy, but I wouldn’t say you need to see it. I’ll let it pass and say it’s above average with a 4.5 out of 6 overall!