Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Review
The DC Universe animated movies that go direct to DVD and BluRay are easily the best Superhero movies being produced right now. Batman: Under the Red Hood, All Star Superman, Justice League: New Frontier, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and Green Lantern: First Flight are all well superior to any live action comic book movie being released in theaters. With the live action Green Lantern movie due in theaters this summer, it’s no surprise that DC has done a second Green Lantern animated movie, and it’s just as good as anything they’ve put out lately.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights tells five connected stories from the Corps. Where First Flight focused on Hal’s origin and introduction to the Lanterns, this one has Hal telling stories of different Lanterns to Arisia while in the background the Corps are preparing to deal with a threat from Krona.
The first story tells the tale of how Avra became the first Lantern to create a will-based construct to become a hero and it shows how Hal’s ring was passed all the way down from Avra. The second story is awesome and shows the origin of Kilowog, back when he was just a Poozer himself. Following that is one focused on Laira and another on Mogo. The fifth story is a Lantern fan’s dream. Written by Geoff Johns it focuses on Abin Sur, Sinestro, and Atrocitus! It’s quite awesome and probably the best one of the five.
As expected, they’ve crammed some great extras on the disc. There’s a featurette about Geoff Johns, commentary on the movie itself by Johns and Dan Didio, a featurettes about Abin Sur and Laira, and one about the Corps. There’s also a Green Lantern comic, two bonus cartoons, and previews for Batman: Year One and All Star Superman.
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is a different type of Green Lantern movie than what First Flight was and it complements that one well. While First Flight introduces you to the world of Green Lantern, Emerald Knights is like a primer for the larger universe of the Green Lantern Corps. It’s highly recommended.