Nathan Fillion – Hal Jordan
Elisabeth Moss – Arisia Raab
Jason Issacs – Sinestro
Arnold Vosloo – Abin Sur
Henry Rollins – Kilowog
Roddy Piper – Bolphunga The Unrelenting
A few years ago on the eve of the release of The Dark Knight DC released an animated anthology series about Batman that was similar in format to that of the Animatrix was for the movie The Matrix. Fast forward to this year and DC has now done the same for the recently released Green Lantern movie.Elisabeth Moss – Arisia Raab
Jason Issacs – Sinestro
Arnold Vosloo – Abin Sur
Henry Rollins – Kilowog
Roddy Piper – Bolphunga The Unrelenting
The first thing I should bring up is if you saw Green Lantern: First Flight then you will recognize the animation designs because they decided to use the same style from that movie with Emerald Knights. This in no means makes this a sequel which will clear up some confusion considering this had one Lantern who was a veteran in First Flight now being a rookie in this one. I like this style and think that should another GL animated movie be made that they stick with this style because it is a slick style.
There is a story in this that links the other stories together. Former Guardian Krona has been detected leaving the anti-matter universe through the sun near Green Lantern Corps home planet Oa. It is decided that all members of the Green Lantern Corps head to that sun to await the arrival of Krona.. During this Green Lantern Hal Jordan is explaining the Corps to new recruit Arisia Raab.
The first story he tells her is about the first Lantern. Not the first one to get a ring but the first one to make constructs and really learn the full use of the Rings themselves. This was an interesting story to watch because this was one I haven’t already read in comic form but it was a great and sensible way to kick off the series of stories.
The second story Hal tells Arisia is about GLC drill instructor Kilowog. It is about his time training with the Green Lantern Corps under previous drill instructor Sgt. Deegan who is basically the GLC equivilant to Gunnary Sgt. Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. This is the first case of where I already know how this story ends because I had already read it in comics. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t good just that I knew what was coming which took away from the surprise factor. There was one bad thing about it which I will touch on when I talk about the cast.
The next story is about the character Liara. For those of you unfamiliar with the Green Lantern mythos she is basically their equivilant to the character Psylocke in X-Men even down to her uniform in comics. This is a story that wasn’t fresh in my memory so I was able to look at this in a similar way that I looked at the first of the stories told here.
After this story we are told about the story of Mogo who is a Green Lantern that is a living planet and how warrior Bolphunga, who is trying to kill the mightiest warriors in the galaxy to prove he is unbeatable, wanted to fight this Green Lantern who at the time he was unaware was an actual planet. The story mostly involves Bolphunga trying to find this lantern but it is still effective in establishing the story of Mogo.
The last story Hal tells Arisia is about his predecessor Abin Sur. Well actually Sinestro tells her the story but this is a story that I was familiar with but it was told in a different way. It is based on the story originally written by Alan Moore and then re-done during the 2000s by Geoff Johns where Abin Sur is told of a prophecy about the end of the Green Lantern Corps. In the comics it involves “The Blackest Night”(just a foreshadowing of the future in Moore’s story and a lead in to an event in Johns’ version) but this time it involves Sinestro rising with his own corps against the GLC which imo kinda foreshadows a Sinestro Corps War. This ended up being one of my favorite stories of the anthology because they took a story that was told numerous times and made it different enough where it didn’t feel like same old same old.
The segment that links this ends with the corps battling Krona and this is a nice battle to watch unfold. I won’t spoil the ending but it is a funny ending. It was a great way to tie everything together though so it works wonderfully here.
As for the voice acting Nathan Fillion(from Firefly and Castle) does a top notch job as Hal Jordan. If he weren’t already 40 he’d have been an excellent choice to play the character in the movie. Elisabeth Moss(Mad Men and Get Him to the Greek) does an equally excellent job as Arisia. Another good voice acting example here is Jason Issacs(Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies) as Sinestro is very fitting for the character and Arnold Vosloo(The Mummy 1 and 2 and GI Joe) does a decent job as Abin Sur.. On the flip side Henry Rollins(should I even say what he has done?) is not good as Kilowog. Not saying he has a bad voice for this kinda work but his voice does not fit the character of Kilowog at all. He would do a better job voicing a jarhead marine than that of Kilowog. Roddy Piper(WWF and They Live) does an okay job as Bolphunga but nothing to really shout home about.
Overall I would give it a 4 out of a 5 because it was really good but not much I didn’t already know. This is more meant for people new to Green Lantern but I still enjoyed a lot about it.
Written By: Mike Falcone
Twitter: @BrainstuFalcone
