Brightest Day…
Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is an animated movie directed by Bruce Timm that exists primarily to tell six famous Green Lantern universe stories that took place in the comic books. These stories were written by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter J. Tomasi, Eddie Berganza, Alan Burnett, Todd Casey, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim. TV stars Nathan Fillion (as Hal Jordan) and Elisabeth Moss (Arisia) lend their voices for the project.
The film has a central plot that involves a forthcoming battle with Krona, an ancient enemy of the Guardians who is using a world of anti-matter to resurrect himself to wreck havoc. After the Guardians brief the Lanterns on the situation, they all prepare for an encounter with Krona and his demons. The Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Sinestro, Abin Sur, Kilowog (Henry Rollins), Deegan, Mogo, Laira Omoto (Kelly Hu), Arisia (a new Lantern), and others are all featured.
The six Lantern universe stories are told by Hal to Arisia, who has only been chosen by the ring for three days and is already facing her first battle. The first story told is about the first Lantern, and how a simple scribe was chosen as one of the first four Lanterns. This was a story of triumph and will, one that helps Arisia overcome self doubt. My favorite story was about Kilowog and Deegan. Kilowog, the current rookie Lantern trainer, was trained by Deegan, a gruff drill sergeant type who pushed Kilowog and his three companions to the limit in training in order to get them ready for battle. It’s a touching story and it introduced me to Kilowog who has become my favorite Lantern. Another story focuses on Laira Omoto and her battle with the Golden Dragon. Sent on a solo mission, she encounters her father who she must battle.
All six stories are interesting and serve to introduce newcomers such as myself to the universe of Green Lantern. Key characters in said universe are given the spotlight in either an origin tale or a significant event in Green Lantern lore, such as the Blackest Night which was recently a long-running story arc in comics. I thought the stories were mixed well and told in a concise and interesting manner. There is a good mixture of action and character-building dialogue, too. The animation from one to the next is consistently great, with the coolest scene being when Omato defeats Ree’Yu and brings her and crashing down to the surface.
Green On Blu
This Blu-ray release contains more than cool box art and a very good animated film. There are a bunch of extra features, too. Additionally, a second disc contains the movie on DVD and Digital Copy. The image and sound quality of the feature on Blu-ray is crisp and outstanding. The universe of the Green Lantern gives rise to a variety of creatures, worlds, colors, and so on, the conglomeration of which is a visual treat in HD. Voice acting is great with Nathan Fillion of Firefly and Castle fame taking the lead role as Hal Jordan. You can experience Emerald Knights in a variety of languages and several languages are also subtitled.
The extra features included in this release are:
-Only the Bravest: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps (HD, 31.5m) – An interesting look regarding the idea of bravery in the world of Green Lantern and of our own.
-Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talent of Geoff Johns (HD, 18m) – Johns has been a driving force behind much of the Lantern’s success lately. He talks about the significance of the Green Lantern and its integration on today’s culture.
-Batman: Year One Sneak Peek (HD, 11m) – Later this summer, a new DC Animated feature will be released known as Batman: Year One, based on the popular Frank Miller tales of Batman. This feature takes a look at the upcoming movie.
-All-Star Superman Sneak Peek (HD, 11m) – Another upcoming DC feature is examined.
-Two episodes of Batman: The Brave And the Bold.
-From Comic Book To Screen: Abin Sur (HD, 3m) – A brief look at how Abin Sur.
-Audio Commentary featuring Dan DiDio of DC Comics and writer Geoff Johns.
-Beautiful…But Deadly – From Comic Book To Screen: Laira Omoto (HD, 4m) – A brief look at the popular Lantern.
-Virtual Comic – An excerpt from a Green Lantern Corps issues known as “Airborne.”
-Trailers (aka Ads) – Two thirty second spots for DC Comics’ online offering and mattycollector.com. These aren’t trailers, they’re ads.
I think this may be the most impressive DC/WB Blu-ray release I’ve seen to date. Let’s get to the summary…