Rating: ***
In a case of go with what works, Warner
Bros has taken a page from the marketing playbook for The Dark Knight in
promoting its latest superhero effort Green Lantern. Prior to the
release of Dark Knight, Warner Animation released an anthology called Batman:
Gotham Knight, which featured a variety of short stories from different
creators and artists. Gotham Knight became the second highest grossing
film of the DC Animated Universe series of films, and The Dark Knight went
on to be the second highest grossing film of all time. Coincidence? Probably.
Still, the idea is served even better in
the context of the Green Lantern Corps, the interstellar group of peacekeepers
with power rings that harness the green energy of will power to which human Hal
Jordan is recruited into in Green Lantern. Although the producers
this time kept things in house rather than reaching out to the best and
brightest of Japan anime, Emerald Knights still features an impressive line-up
of behind the scenes talent. Alan Burnett, Dave Gibbons, Michael Green, Marc
Guggenheim and Geoff Johns all contribute to the film, and if you don’t
recognize those names, let me just say Batman: The Animated Series,
Watchmen, Heroes, No Ordinary Family and the man that catapulted Green
Lantern to the top of the current comic book sales charts.
From what I know about the Green Lantern
movie, Emerald Knights gets into the back story of many of the
film’s main players. One segment focuses on how the Corps drill instructor
Kilowog (voiced by Henry Rollins) handled the pressure from his own drill
instructor Deegan (Wade Williams). Another segment shows the relationship
between Sinestro (Jason Isaacs) and Abin Sur (Arnold Vosloo), who’s the Green
Lantern that passes his power ring on to Hal Jordan
(here voiced by Nathan Fillion).
The stories are framed around an ancient
evil threatening Oa, the homeworld of the Guardians of the Universe, and
masters of the Corps. The planet is evacuated, and as the Green Lanterns await the
battle to come, Jordan tells a rookie named Arisia (Elisabeth Moss) stories of the Corps that
are either known well or hardly known at all. Several well known GL comic
stories are adapted including "Mogo Doesn't Socialize" by Alan Moore
and Gibbons about a planet-sized Green Lantern and "What Price
Honor?" about Laira’s mission to her homeworld Jade and her battle with
her own father.
The animation meets the usual high
standards of the DCAU, and the film’s format works surprisingly well as its own
story and not just as a loose framework on which to hang the various short
stories on. The story moves fairly briskly, and the universe of the Green
Lanterns is easily and brilliantly realized through animation. It may make you
wonder how they’ll be able to do the same live action. But the target audience
for this film will probably skewer more to the Green Lantern fan than the
average viewer, but curiosity seekers need not worry, because if you’re looking
for more Green Lantern, there can be no finer addition to the canon.
Speaking of the geek-attenuated, it is
interesting that Nathan Fillion was cast as Hal Jordan.
Fillion was the fan favourite for the part in Martin Campbell’s film, and was
even featured in a very popular fan-made, trailer mash. I’m not sure if Fillion
was hired because of this fact, or whether it was his overall familiarity with
the DCAU (he voiced Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman film), but whatever
the reason I guess fans now get to have their cake and eat it too. Speaking of
the fans, you’ll want to check out the preview for the next DCAU film, an
adaptation of Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One featuring the voices of
Ben McKenzie (The OC) as Bruce Wayne, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
as James Gordon and Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse) as Selina Kyle.
