by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

In brightest day, in blackest night, no Green Lantern animated movie shall escape my sight! Okay, that’s not how the oath really goes, but Green Lantern returns for a new animated adventure in Green Lantern: Beware My Power, now available on 4K Ultra, Blu-ray, Digital. It’s been a long time since we have gotten a standalone Green Lantern animated film, with the last installments being Green Lantern: First Flight in 2009 and Green Lantern: Emerald Knights in 2011. What lies in store for our Emerald Heroes in this new adventure?

In this latest DC Universe Movie, viewers are introduced to John Stewart, a highly decorated former Marine who is trying to re-establish a sense of normalcy after leaving his unit. While attempting to move on from his past, he encounters an alien spacecraft that is surprisingly searching for him specifically! Why does a Guardian of the Universe want to bestow the last Green Lantern ring to him? What happened to its former bearer, Hal Jordan, and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps? And what does the Rann/Thanagarian War have to do with the missing Lanterns? John quickly finds himself in the middle of a larger universe as he and his new allies race to find the answers.

Green Lantern: Beware My Power stars Aldis Hodge (Black Adam) as John Stewart/Green Lantern, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Green Arrow, Ike Amadi (Superman: Man of Tomorrow) as Martian Manhunter, Brian Bloom (The A-Team) as Adam Strange, Jamie Gray Hyder (True Blood) as Hawkgirl, Mara Junot (Call of Duty) as Lyssa Drak & Banth Dar, Jason J. Lewis (Justice League Action) as Ganthet & Captain Kantus, Keesha Sharp (Empire, Lethal Weapon) as Vixen, Simon Templeman (Uncharted franchise) as Sardath & Console Voice, Rick D. Wasserman (Batman: The Killing Joke) as Sinestro, Sunil Malhotra (The Legend of Korra) as Power Ring and Rannian Commander, and additional voices provided by Nolan North (Young Justice). Hodge’s performance as John Stewart was perfectly balanced as the Marine-turned-Green Lantern. The intensity of the character’s past was balanced well with his strength of will, and I think he is a solid addition to the recently rebooted DC Universe Film series. Simpson’s Green Arrow was my personal highlight of the film, as he delivered a pitch-perfect performance as Oliver Queen. Ollie’s drive to find his missing friend was extremely true to character, and the fact that he didn’t skip a beat to fly out into space to find Hal speaks to how well the writers understood his relationship with his best friend. Hyder and Bloom played off each other well as Hawkgirl and Adam Strange, adding a new layer of conflict and desire to resolve the ongoing Rann/Thanagarian War.

The film was directed by Jeff Wamester (Justice Society: World War II), and was co-written by John Semper (Static Shock) and Ernie Altbacker (Justice League Dark: Apokolips War). Sam Register served as Executive Producer, Jim Krieg (Justice League vs. The Fatal Five) as producer, and Butch Lukic (Batman: The Long Halloween) as supervising producer.

As a whole, the creative team made a lot of weird choices for this film. It has been nearly a decade since we’ve had a GL movie, and instead of focusing on a character driven story, they decided to cram five different stories into one. John receives a version of Kyle Rayner’s origin (why?), and Parallax and Sinestro are practically character assassinated in this film. It was hard to keep track of, and truly care about, everything going on in the film, which is very sad as there were some fantastic concepts if they hadn’t been rushed. From a vistuals standpoint, the Rann/Thanagarian War comes across beautifully with an interstellar backdrop. The resigned Rann uniforms are distinct while avoiding the pulp-fiction inspired original space-man style outfits from the comics. Hawkgirl, Green Arrow, Vixen, and Hal also received classic designs that fit in perfectly with the rest of the new animated universe, but John and Sinestro got hit the hardest with some baffling choices. John has had a number of classic designs over the years, especially his sleek DCAU outfit or his recent design from the current Justice League comic. Why they would go with this odd triangular full body design is beyond me. Equally as weird is the selection to have Sinestro’s iconic logo be different on his uniform than on his own ring. Hell, even Lyssa Drak’s Sinestro Corps logo was accurate on her uniform. The most disappointing choice from a visual perspective was what they ended up doing with Parallax. Instead of a design remotely reminiscent of his iconic costume, the creative team went with an all black suit with some green cracks in it. 

Special Features

John Stewart: The Power and the Glory (New Featurette) – This documentary examines his adventures on the printed page, the animated screen, popular culture and beyond, featuring all-new interviews with the creators, writers, artists, and performers who helped shape John’s legendary stories, including Aldis Hodge, the voice of John Stewart in Green Lantern: Beware My Power.

Overall
I will be the first to admit that I am a huge Green Lantern fan, but I feel like Green Lantern: Beware My Power missed the mark on so many aspects of the GL Universe and the interesting characters. I am sad to say it ranks extremely low on my list for DC Universe Film series releases, and I am doubtful that we will get another standalone Green Lantern animated release anytime soon.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Green Lantern: Beware My Power 1.5 out of 5 Green Lantern rings. 

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