Green Lantern: Emerald Knights - Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD)

This is easily one of the better DC animated movies, a huge improvement on the mediocre Green Lantern: First Flight. Here we have an anthology, taking stories from six different Green Lanterns. The strength of this film is the exploration of the history of the Green Lantern Corps, giving you a taste of just how big and how diverse the corps is. Finally we have a sense of a truly inter-galactic and ancient police force, rather than a one man (Hal Jordan) army. Nathan Fillion lends his considerable talents as narrator and the animation is great, as we've come to expect from DC animation. If your a fan of these animated movies and are intrigued at the idea of a Green Lantern film focusing on the Corps rather than just Hal Jordan this ticks all the right boxes.

After not being too disappointed with First Flight, I decided to give Emerald Knights a go.... well, not really much to be said about it really, it starts off pretty well and I was lulled into a sense of excitement to see the rest of the movie, but boy was I let down!!

After the really cool beginning sequence, we are introduced to our main cast of characters and we hear the tales of a being so evil that every Green Lantern must leave Oa etc, afterwhich we get our first story, where we get to see the insights of the characters and the GL universe. Throughout the movie, we get small segments in the current situation, which interlink with each of the mini stories, though ultimately, the mini stories slow down the overall movie. Apart from a couple of the stories, the whole film is a bit of a bore and then when we finally get to the main villian of the story, the one they're all supposed to be really afraid of because he is so evil and so tough to beat.... it's over in a few minutes and in actuallity the perp is a bit of a push-over, hardly worth all the hype lavished on him, which did leave us wondering, what was the point!

Whilst the overall movie was a huge let-down, the animation did not. It is clean and the actions move fluently, the character designs are nicely done, not too square like recent incarnations, the colours are well chosen and nicely vivid, and the background designs are something to behold. If anything, the animation is the only thing that stopped us from returning the disc, as there was not really much else of interest.... more of a rent movie than one you should really buy, unless you have have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket! E-

There are all sorts of weird, wonderful creatures in the Green Lantern Corps, from the humanlike to the outright bizarre. And "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is a solid attempt to flesh out a few of those Green Lanterns -- it gives us a bunch of smaller stories that make us know and like the characters wrapped up in a tense, action-packed framework story.

The evil Krona and his antimatter demons have opened a portal in Oa's sun, and is probably going to destroy the Guardians' world. While the Green Lanterns prepare for battle, Hal Jordan chitchats with a rookie named Arisia Rrab about the history of the Green Lantern Corps, and the people she will be fighting alongside.

First he tells her about the first Green Lantern, a timid scribe named Avra who was one of the first four chosen by the Green rings. Sent into his first battle, Avra's selfless determination helps him unlock the power of his ring.

And then we're treated to the story of Kilowog, who was trained by the abrasive, hard-nosed Sgt. Deegan on many dangerous planets. But when Deegan and his rookies are called on to save a nearby planet, Kilowog discovers Deegan's true nature. And then we have Laira, the princess of a proud, aggressive planet, who must return home to fight her father's mistress, her brother, and finally the father she loves dearly.

After that, there's the story of how Sinestro and Abin Sur captured a criminal who claims to be on speaking terms with destiny -- and he attempts to warn Abin Sur of his friend's future treachery. And finally, "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" tells of a warrior who is determined to be the strongest in the universe, and hears that the Green Lantern Mogo is the most powerful ever. But when he lands on Mogo's planet, he finds that not all is as it seems.

"Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is a solid accompaniment to "Green Lantern: First Flight" -- for people (like myself) who haven't yet read the comic books, it gives some insights into characters like Kilowog, Mogo, Sinestro and the late Abin Sur. And while all the Green Lanterns spotlighted here are the best-hearted and strongest, it also shows that they have had their own struggles in the past.

Each of the stories is pretty self-contained and brief, but the writers do a good job of making you like the main characters. Well, Mogo is a little hard to warm up to, as awesome as he is, but the others become very "real" with only a short time to see them.

It also has a decent framing story, with a huge threat to the whole galaxy that apparently has popped up in only a few hours with little warning. But the final battle is a pretty awesome affair, with entire PLANETS being moved and a giant cartoon villain rising from the surface of the sun. The only problem with it is that there's a lack of tension, since apparently everybody is just hanging around listening to Hal Jordan talk himself hoarse.

"Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" is a good introduction to the Green Lanterns who AREN'T from Earth, especially if you're not a huge comic nerd. Also: Mogo rocks.