Hello, my friends. With the arrival of a new year, it’s time to shine some bright days upon these black nights. Not only that, but a new Emerald Knight will find himself alongside other figures as they deal with a crisis amongst the cosmos. On that note, I welcome you to another entry of…
We find ourselves back in the TomorrowVerse as noble figures from various worlds will find themselves dealing with an interplanetary clash as they try to get to the bottom of why this conflict has come about. As such, it’s time for us to delve into my many thoughts upon the movie known as…
Originally debuting on July 22, 2022, at the San Diego Comic-Con, it would ultimately get released on Blu-Ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray four days later. Just like with “Catwoman: Hunted”, it also came out on DVD, though only outside of North America. With Jeff Wamester in the director’s chair and John Semper & Ernie Altbacker in charge of writing the script, what kind of conflict awaits our featured corps man? Let’s charge up, blast off and find out.
Following the title card, we begin with a fierce shootout in the Middle East. A group of Marines are pinned down by a bullet barrage from some opposing terrorists, with one of them preparing to fire a bazooka on them. Suddenly, each one of those adversaries are systematically gunned down by John Stewart (voiced by the live-action Hawkman himself, Aldis Hodge). Just as he asks a teammate named “Jimbo” for some new targets, he soon discovers that he’s been killed in action. Suddenly, he’s approached by a pair of terrorists as John manages to shoot one of them. However, the other figure is able to disarm him with his knife before attempting to stab him. Stewart managed to block the fatal strike, though with his left hand.
Just then, it’s revealed that this was a traumatic flashback as John snaps out of it. A guy then tells him to move out of the doorway as Stewart snaps and pins him to the side. Thankfully, he quickly regains his senses and lets him go before he calmly walks off.
As he strolls through the seedy city streets, he soon comes across an alley where a rambling hobo is getting accosted by two goons just for being on their turf. From there, they douse him in gasoline and prepare to light him on fire. John steps in to intervene as a fight breaks out, to which Stewart has little trouble dealing with them.
After the homeless guy runs away, the two creeps arm themselves with a broken bottle and a pipe before they reengage him, but he’s mainly able to deal with them. Suddenly, a pair of police officers arrive to stop this fight as they fire their stun guns at John and successfully subdue him while the two thugs flee.
As Stewart is getting arrested, he gets patted down before they discover his Military ID card. Despite the male officer (who’s named Mike) saying that he can relate to him since he also did a tour in the Middle East, John doesn’t utter a word. The female cop then tells her partner that Stewart had won the Medal of Honor and has a lengthy Citation list of his military accomplishments. Not wanting to endure some backlash from both the press and social media, they ultimately let John go.
Meanwhile, a damaged spaceship is entering Earth’s atmosphere as a fatally wounded Guardian of the Universe named Ganthet (voiced by Jason J. Lewis) has located his targeted subject. Back with John, he returns home following some grocery shopping. As he’s about to head in, he spots the disabled spacecraft before it crash-lands into a nearby junkyard. He runs over to check it out before he heads inside the spaceship and finds the wounded Guardian.
After being carried to safety, the wounded being wakes up and tells Stewart that he’s finally found him. John is stunned that the alien figure knows him, but Ganthet is unable to inform him any further as he succumbs to his wounds and passes on. Suddenly, his body ignites and withers away until only his robes remain.
Just then, a glowing green ring emerges from the tattered clothes and approaches Stewart before telling him that because he has “singular will”, he’s now a member of the Green Lantern Corps. From there, it places itself onto John’s finger. John tries to pull the ring off to no avail before he notices a glowing light from beneath his shirt, to which the Power Ring (voiced by Sunil Malhotra) informs him that it’s his uniform. Stewart starts to freak out from this sudden turn of events, while the Power Ring tries to contact Oa to no avail. From there, it informs John to stop a series of hostile activities, yet Stewart tells him to “pound sand”. Suddenly, the ring forms a giant green hammer as it slams the ground while also tugging on John before the construct disappears.
Stewart unsuccessfully tries once again to pull the ring from his finger before he calms down and asks it for someone that he can talk to who could also help him. The Power Ring confirms that as it proceeds to lift John into the sky and cover him within some green light before taking him into space. Despite getting shocked by this sudden action, Stewart is ultimately taken to the Justice League Watchtower. Shortly after he enters the space station, he begins to look around.
Over within the main control room, Oliver Queen a.k.a. Green Arrow (voiced by Jimmi Simpson) tells his teammates that an incident over in Space Sector 814 is slowly growing out of hand and that it could potentially reach Earth. As such, they need as many able bodies as they can get to deal with this. However, J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. Martian Manhunter (voiced by Ike Amadi) says that both Superman and Wonder Woman won’t be able to return from their off-world missions for a week. Not only that, but Mari Jiwe McCabe a.k.a. Vixen (voiced by Keesha Sharp) informs him that they’re also unable to contact Batman. Suddenly, John accidentally strolls in as the Justice League mistakes him for an intruder.
From there, Vixen uses her Tantu Totem to gain the agile striking speed of a tiger and leaps in after him, yet Stewart manages to shield himself with a tough construct. Martian Manhunter simply phases through it and subdues him with a full nelson, yet John uses his ring to form a hand construct and pulls J’onn off of him.
Mari then uses her Tantu Totem to acquire the ramming strength of a rhinoceros as she charges into him with enough force to send him flying before J’onzz returns and subdues him again. Just as Stewart creates a knife with his ring, Oliver manages to shoot a non-lethal arrow and disorient him.
Just as Queen holds John up with a regular arrow, Vixen then notices his new outfit as they recognize him as a Green Lantern, since the Watchtower’s security alarm didn’t go off. However, Stewart says that he’s trying to remove the Power Ring from his finger. Mari then mentions that the Guardians of the Universe haven’t informed them about the new Green Lantern, to which Queen says that those same figures haven’t gotten in touch with them within the past year. Martian Manhunter then asks the Power Ring who its previous owner was, to which it tells them that it was Hal Jordan. Fearing that Hal is possibly dead, Oliver demands to know how John acquired his friend’s ring. After Stewart introduces himself, he explains the situation to them. From there, J’onn wonders why a Guardian of the Universe would make his way to Earth and hand over a Power Ring in the first place. Oliver refuses to believe John’s story, but Vixen says that her Tatum Totem is similar to the Power Ring in that they wouldn’t wind up with anyone who was unworthy. Thinking that this is somehow connected to the hostile activity out in deep space, she then says that they should check it out for themselves. However, J’onzz says that they can’t leave Earth unguarded. Not to mention, he has to stay behind to operate the Watchtower since Flash is also away on a mission. Queen offers to go check out the crashed spaceship and fly it to Oa if it still works, since he wants to learn what’s happened to Hal. However, he doesn’t want to take John with him. Stewart then asks them if they can help remove the Power Ring from his finger to which Martian Manhunter explains that he’s witnessed other Green Lanterns remove their own rings by themselves and that the possible reason that he’s unable to do so is that it was reprogrammed. As such, the Guardians of the Universe could help him instead, to which John tells Green Arrow that he’s going to Oa with him.
Later, John helps Oliver reach the crash site before they discover that the spaceship has completely repaired itself. They then proceed to enter its cockpit before Queen (thanks to his informative past with Jordan) turns the entire computer system on. Green Arrow then says that he could possibly fly the spacecraft to Oa, but they would need the proper coordinates. As such, he tells Stewart to have his ring put the planet’s location into the spaceship’s navigational system and fly them there. Thankfully, the Power Ring is able to access the spacecraft and proceeds to blast them off towards their destination.
During their warp speed travels, the ring proceeds to inform John about the Green Lantern Corps’ history. The Guardians were one of the universe’s first intelligent lifeforms and they discovered that lesser species would be “prone to chaos & violence”. As such, they created an intergalactic police force in order to maintain order amongst the stars. Also, each Green Lantern was chosen from the numerous alien races for having three common traits: “Intelligence, Willpower and Fearlessness”. Just then, they arrive at Oa as Oliver warns Stewart that the Guardians aren’t too fond of humans before they prepare to head out.
Once they land, they soon discover that the Corps’ base has been decimated and that all of their Green Lanterns have been killed in battle. Queen then realizes that this is why the Justice League hasn’t heard from the Guardians of the Universe as he and John proceed to investigate their surroundings. Just as they reach a particularly fallen Green Lantern, Stewart suddenly has a brief flashback to his time in the Middle East where he stood over his fallen Marines. Fortunately, he manages to regain his senses as he discovers a central building.
Our two men then head inside as it turns out to be a museum that commemorates past Green Lanterns, yet it’s also in similar tatters. They then approach a certain statue as Green Arrow recognizes him as Sinestro, to which he informs John that this guy trained Hal into becoming the Corps’ “greatest Green Lantern” before he descended into a villainous fiend. Stewart then says that he’s heard of Jordan, yet there had to have been other Green Lanterns who’ve achieved similar success. Soon enough, he discovers Hal’s damaged statue as the adjacent informative box claims Jordan as “the greatest Green Lantern in the universe”. Shortly afterwards, Oliver finds a Power Battery and tells John that he’ll need it in order to recharge his ring, despite the fact that he’s trying to remove it. From there, Queen heads out to investigate on his own.
Stewart then proceeds to look around before he notices the Power Ring moving around on his finger. As such, he’s finally able to remove it. Suddenly, a winged figure flies in and attacks him. He manages to dodge in time and tries to use his Power Ring, forgetting that he just removed it. Fortunately, it’s lying within reach as he reclaims it, puts it back on and forms a shield. However, she’s able to easily smash through it with her mace. He then forms a brick wall to protect himself, but she’s slowly able to smash her way through the construct.
Fortunately, Green Arrow is able to distract her with some arrows as she redirects her effort towards him. Just then, John forms a Military Humvee construct and smashes it into her, ultimately pinning to a wall. With it physically straining her, the Power Ring reminds Stewart (while he briefly flashes back to his near-fatal Middle Eastern moment) that lethal force is unauthorized. Oliver notices that their adversary is about to lose her life as a result of John’s action as he tells him to stop. Fortunately, Stewart complies and lets her breathe.
She then says that he should’ve finished her off, especially since she believes that they were part of the “Rannian Attack”. However, John says that they’re trying to find out who caused this destruction upon Oa. After some proper introductions, to which our men learn that she’s a Thanagarian warrior named Shayera Hol a.k.a. Hawkgirl (voiced by Jamie Gray Hyder), Queen calls for a truce in order for them to properly explain their situations to each other.
Over within a technological hub, Shayera shows off the last piece of Oan security footage before the system was disabled, which showed a Rannian spaceship landing on the surface. She assumes that it contained a kill squad from said planet instead of their diplomats, but Stewart isn’t entirely sure of said claim. Green Arrow agrees with him, since the footage didn’t show the occupants of said spacecraft. Hol then says that her spaceship was decimated in battle and that she came to Oa in order to acquire aid from the Guardians of the Universe in her home planet’s war against Rann, but she was also too late. John then tells her that she should be absolutely sure that she’s targeting the right subjects for her vengeance quest, to which Hawkgirl proceeds to explain the cause of the whole Rann-Thanagar conflict.
Following “years of bloody war”, both sides finally managed to agree on a fine level of peace. To help solidify this unionship, they worked on a joint project that would be overseen by Thanagar’s Banth Dar (voiced by Mara Junot) and Rann’s Sardath (voiced by Simon Templeman). In particular, they formed the Zeta Beam in order to bridge both worlds and benefit their economies. With Hal Jordan (voiced by Nolan North) in attendance to witness this momentous occasion, Banth Dar proceeds to activate the Zeta Beam as it successfully teleports a spaceship from Thanagar to Rann.
Suddenly, the Zeta Beam station’s controls have been compromised as it suddenly redirects itself and fires onto Thanagar, causing major damage and the loss of some lives. Over on the station, Banth Dar is unable to regain control over the Zeta Beam since she and her fellow comrades are locked out of the system. Sardath then contacts Jordan as he tells him that something has gone wrong upon the station and that he must prevent it from firing again. Hal tries to use his ring in order to plug the Zeta Beam up with his green light of willpower. Unfortunately, it’s too much for him to contain as he gets consumed by the massive energy force. From there, Shayera explains that the Zeta Beam ultimately teleported Thanagar to Rann, which disrupted both planets’ ecosystems. She then says that Hal and millions of her own people died on that day, while Sardath (who’s been branded as a war criminal) slipped away.
Despite her explanation, Stewart thinks that the whole incident was accidentally caused, especially since Oa’s security footage of a Rannian spaceship didn’t prove much. Oliver also agrees with him and decides that they should talk with the Rannians and get their side of the tale. Despite Hol telling them that the nearest outpost is several light years away, John says that they have their own spaceship and that she can go with them if she agrees to not attack them, to which she ultimately complies.
As they warp speed towards the outpost, Queen finds Stewart spending some time with his Power Ring as it turns out to be a training exercise for Green Lanterns. Green Arrow is perplexed as to why he’s still wearing it, even though he’s now able to remove it, to which John says that he still needs to access the spaceship in order to get them to their destinations. Just then, the Power Ring informs him that it’s low on power. Oliver says that he’ll need to recharge his ring as Stewart retrieves his Power Battery. From there, Queen instructs him on the proper repowering process before John sticks his hand into the battery and speaks the Green Lantern oath. Despite finding the oath to be hokey, Stewart is surprised to discover that the whole process has worked.
Soon enough, the group reaches the outpost as they find more of her fellow Thanagarians brutally slaughtered. Suddenly, they hear a loud thunderous noise as a Zeta Beam pops up and heads right towards them. Fortunately, they manage to get out of its way before it drops off an individual before dissipating.
Ultimately, it’s revealed to be Adam Strange (voiced by Brian Bloom). After he notices Hawkgirl amongst the group, the two of them immediately fight each other. Eventually, he turns his attention towards John who’s able to protect himself and Oliver from Adam’s ray gun with a shield construct. However, this distraction allows Shayera to hit him with her mace, causing him to get disarmed and also lose his jetpack. She then pins him down and prepares to finish him off, but Stewart manages to contain her within a green sphere while Queen uses a bolo arrow to subdue Strange.
With the situation under control, Stewart then asks Strange about the Zeta Beam. However, he refuses to answer. Hol then mentions her accusation of his fellow Rannians murdering the Guardians of the Universe, but Adam is shocked to hear about the Guardians’ demise. From there, he explains that the Zeta Beam is somehow attracted to him, and it constantly teleports him to various parts of the galaxy with little control on his part. Hawkgirl says that it doesn’t change the fact that the Rannians murdered everyone on Oa, but Strange says that it can’t be true since Rann serves as an ally to the Guardians of the Universe and that the Green Lanterns are heroes to his people. He then says that if he can reach High Command, he’ll be able to prove his point. Shayera doesn’t initially believe him to truly be Adam Strange, yet he says that despite his disheveled look, he’s still the genuine article and that he’s been displaced ever since the Zeta Beam initially took him from his home world. Green Arrow then asks him how he wound up here, to which Adam says that the Zeta Beam had randomly brought him to this particular point. Ultimately, John decides to give him a chance as he frees Strange before they all take their leave towards Rann.
During the journey, Stewart continues to pass some time by doing more mental activities with his Power Ring. Suddenly, the group comes across a vicious space battle that’s seen the loss of several Rannians & Thanagarians. John then asks for a reminder of what caused the two worlds to go to war against each other in the first place, to which Hol says that the Rannians (under a falsely peaceful experiment) teleported their home world towards Thanagar in order to conquer it. Strange rebuts by saying that Rann’s capital city was decimated first by her people, to which Hawkgirl says that it was from a past war that ended with a peaceful gesture during his absence, until their alliance fell apart via the recent Zeta Beam incident. While Oliver wants them to flee before either side notices them and attacks, Adam spots a badly damaged derelict that’s getting slowly pulled into a red dwarf star. He says that he wants to access its main computer via his DNA scan, but its defense system targets their spaceship before they receive an incoming message.
They pick up the transmission from the wounded captain of the somewhat-crippled spacecraft as Kantus (also voiced by Jason J. Lewis) doesn’t believe that he’s seeing Strange in front of him. After a quick scan however, he’s amazed to discover that Adam is still alive. Kantus then assumes that Hawkgirl is his prisoner, but Strange tells him that they’re trying to solve a mystery that involves both of their worlds and that they need his help via his spaceship’s computer system. Kantus manages to provide them access, to which John has his Power Ring acquire all relevant information pertaining to the Rann-Thanagar War. When Stewart says that he wants to know why Rann attacked Oa, Kantus says that his people didn’t commit this assault. Shayera doesn’t believe his claim, but Kantus says that it won’t matter since her people will eventually get wiped out. He explains that Rann’s best scientist is developing a weapon that will obliterate Thanagar and finally end this war. Strange realizes that Sardath is the one building this endgame device before he asks where they can find him. However, Kantus says that he’s not amongst a small group of key people who knows his location.
With his damaged battle cruiser about to get completely destroyed by the red dwarf, Stewart learns from his Power Ring that Kantus can save himself if he reroutes the spaceship’s power towards the engines. John gives the order as the crippled spacecraft manages to pull free from the red dwarf’s gravitational pull. However, they soon learn that Kantus has no intention of flying back to Rann. Instead, he pulls a kamikaze move and crashes his spaceship into a Thanagarian spacecraft as both vessels get decimated in a fiery explosion. With nothing left for them to do here, our main group proceeds to warp speed out of the battle zone.
Later, Stewart & Queen discover Shayera and Adam working together. Strange explains that when the Zeta Beam teleported Thanagar into Rann’s atmosphere, both worlds ended up suffering from “catastrophic climate disasters”. With this being the main cause of the reignited war, Adam says that Sardath has repurposed the Zeta Beam into a planet-destroying weapon. While they’re still unaware of where Sardath is located, they did find an interesting discovery concerning the attack on Oa. While the spaceship that attacked the planet had a Rannian design, they looked over the drive signature that it left behind and discovered that it was similar to a Thanagarian-looking spacecraft that attacked the peace talks over at the United Galactic Council Headquarters several years ago. Not only that, that same drive signature popped up at the site of several unprovoked attacks. John then realizes that someone is impersonating both sides in order to fuel this conflict. Hol then explains that she & Adam calculated the direction that the drive signatures left behind following the surprises assaults and that after some triangulations, the enemy spaceship ultimately fled towards a singular sector. As such, Adam says that they must head there in order for them to get their answers.
Later, they arrive in the asteroid-filled space sector as their spaceship scans the surrounding area. While they don’t pick up any anything unusual at first, they soon find themselves under attack by a barrage of missiles coming from a seemingly innocent asteroid. As such, our main group is forced to take evasive action as they ultimately dodge every last projectile. Hawkgirl manages to access their spacecraft’s main weapon in order to give them cover before Stewart believes that the opposing weaponry is trying “to protect something or somebody”. Oliver soon discovers that one of the asteroids is actually a shielded structure as they proceed to fly into it.
After discovering a hidden base, they soon land and head out to investigate. Suddenly, they get ambushed by a group of Yellow Lanterns as Lyssa Drak (also voiced by Mara Junot) leads the charge for the group. A massive brawl breaks out before they make quick work over her and the lizard-looking creature. Suddenly, more Yellow Lanterns approach them as the fight resumes. Soon enough, Lyssa and the lizard being rejoin the battle.
Eventually, Stewart finds himself up against an alien creature with a hypnotic third eye. He manages to entrap John within his menacing stare before he prepares to slay him with his sword. Thankfully, Stewart snaps out of it before he defeats his foe by smashing him between two solid constructs. John then forms a sharp pike and prepares to stab him, with even Shayera wanting him to deliver the deathblow. Thankfully, he decides to spare his enemy.
Unfortunately, he’s then held up at gunpoint by Sinestro (voiced by Rick D. Wasserman) who then orders the rest of our heroes to drop their weapons. With no other choice, they’re forced to comply before Sinestro forces Stewart back towards his comrades. After revealing that he discreetly took John’s Power Ring from him, Sinestro proceeds to knock them out in a flash of bright light.
Later, Stewart wakes up as he discovers that he and his comrades are within a cage. Not only that, but the bars are highly electrified. The group is then met upon by Sinestro as Green Arrow reminds John that his own Power Ring is weak against the color yellow, to which Stewart says that the ring informed him of that detail and that he’s already familiar with his own personal struggle against the color barrier. Hol then asks Sinestro why he’s not finishing them off, to which he says that he may find some use for them before he takes his leave.
Just as Strange says that they could dig their way to freedom, another occupant says that he’s already gotten started as it’s revealed to be Hal Jordan. With Green Arrow surprised to see his friend again, he then introduces him to his teammates before mentioning that John is the current wielder of his Power Ring after a Guardian of the Universe traveled to Earth in order to give it to him. Stewart then informs Hal that all of Oa’s occupants have been decimated as Jordan assumes that Sinestro was behind the attack, to which Hawkgirl adds her group’s assumption that he disguised his spaceship as a Rannian vessel before attacking the planet. Jordan then mentions that Sinestro sabotaged Sardath’s massive experiment, thus reigniting the Rann-Thanagar War. As for how he wound up imprisoned while his Power Ring ultimately made its way to John, he explains how it all went down.
Hal was tasked with looking over Sardath’s experiment, but unbeknownst to everyone on board, Sinestro managed to sneak his way onto the base and discreetly sabotage the whole operation. After Jordan was unable to contain the Zeta Beam, he was flung onto the ravaged Thanagarian landscape before the whole planet got transported towards Rann’s atmosphere. He was then met upon by Sinestro who looked to relieve him of his Power Ring, yet Hal managed to use his last conscious moment to send it away before he passes out. From there, he remembers waking up within this cell and that he’s been here ever since. As for how the Power Ring wound up with Stewart, the Guardians of the Universe reacquired it before they decided to reassign it to its current owner.
From there, the group starts to figure out how they’re going to escape. While Jordan looks forward to stopping Sinestro, Oliver tells him of a bigger crisis that’s about to occur on Rann as Sardath is going to use his Doomsday Weapon to obliterate Thanagar, with Adam adding onto the fact that the planet will be decimated by the same weaponized Zeta Beam and that it’ll be operated from a private location that only the Rannian High Command is aware of. Suddenly, they discover that Sinestro was overhearing their conversation via a holographic projection of himself. Hal says that he’ll never get Rann’s Doomsday Weapon, due to their highly advanced defense system. However, Sinestro decides to go after it anyway before his holographic form vanishes.
With the Yellow Lanterns now getting ready to launch an assault upon Rann, John asks Jordan about how he was already in the middle of his escape plan. Hal elaborates by mentioning that he was digging and that he’s come across some warm rocks, meaning that the conduits that helps power their cell door is possibly on the other side of it. However, they’re behind another foot of tough rock. Fortunately, Hawkgirl has an Nth Metal knife hidden within her boot. With it, Jordan is able to dig through to the conduits before he slices through them, disabling their cell door and allowing them to escape.
As they make their way back to their spaceship, they’re briefly forced to hide as Sinestro approaches Lyssa Drak & Lord Damyn and tells them to prep their spacecraft for their devious venture to Rann. Not only that, but he also wants their space vessel to look like a Thanagarian cruiser. Lyssa assures him that their teammates are prepping their vehicle at this moment before they go prepare for their surprise assault.
Afterwards, our heroes manage to reach the main hangar before they come across a titanic four-armed member of the Yellow Lanterns who’s in possession of Shayera’s mace. From there, Hal sneaks over to the being and kicks the fiend’s knee before he acquires Hol’s mace. From there, he smashes the foe’s other knee before he swings the mace into its face. As the group rejoins him, they notice that Jordan had just killed the creature as Oliver tells him that he’s acting weirdly indifferent towards killing someone else. Hal says that it came to him after being tortured for months, in addition to millions of Rannian lives that’re on the line.
After they get inside their spaceship’s cockpit, Stewart suddenly realizes that they need to get the Power Ring back due to the fact that they’re about to embark onto a massive battle. Jordan tells him that he can use his willpower in order to summon it back to him, with Queen also noting that it can also gather the rest of their weapons and equipment. Because the ring now exclusively takes orders from John, Hal tells him to close his eyes and will it back to him. From there, Stewart closes his eyes and reaches out his hand. Ultimately, his willpower has the Power Ring fly up, gathers Adam & Green Arrow’s gear and soars through the hallways back to them. It flies past Sinestro, Lyssa & Damyn and by the time they try to react to it, the ring has returned with the rest of the accompanying gear to John’s group as they manage to fly out and retreat. Oliver then asks the ring if they have enough fuel to jump into warp speed, to which it tells them that it’s “inconclusive”. From there, they proceed to engage.
Unfortunately, their spaceship isn’t able to stay in warp speed for too long due to the degrading integrity of their spacecraft’s hull. As such, they slow down to regular speed. However, they still have a lot of distance to cover. As such, they’ll now have to go as fast as possible without the use of their hyperdrive.
By the time that they reach Rann, they’re too late as Sinestro and his comrades are attempting to break past the planet’s defense system with their Thanagarian-looking spaceship. As such, Strange contacts the Rannian High Command as he tells Rannian Commander Jorson (also voiced by Sunil Malhotra) that he’s returned. Following a quick scan, Jorson is amazed to hear him once again. Adam then requests for an opening in their shield so that he and his group can get in and explain himself, to which Jorson tells him that they’ll only have a small amount of time to enter before it closes up. With the coordinates sent to their spaceship, they proceed to head towards their targeted destination. Unfortunately, Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns manage to locate them as they proceed to open fire upon our heroes. Fortunately, the group is able to evade their missiles and get inside before the shield closes up behind them.
Ultimately, they reach the Rannian High Command as Strange informs them about a devious plot being carried out “by a band of rogue agents” in order to fuel the ongoing Rann-Thanagar War. Stewart even tells them that the spaceship that’s firing upon them is disguised as a Thanagarian spacecraft, to which Jorson admits that they neglected to properly check it. Adam then says that they’re aware of the planet-destroying weapon that Sardath intends to use upon Thanagar and that they must contact him in order to prevent this genocidal act. From there, Strange is able to communicate with Sardath as he tells him to not unleash his Zeta Beam-powered weapon upon Thanagar. Sardath rebuts by saying that it’ll end up saving their own people from Thanagarian harm and that Adam is a major reason for its creation. He explains that it was Strange’s “unique biology” that helped him isolate his “metagene”.
Since the Zeta Beam was somehow constantly drawn to Strange via the “unique metagene” that he was born with, it helped him make a major breakthrough. Over time, he gained some control over where the Zeta Beams went before he could personally amplify it himself. Now, he’ll be able to send a Zeta Beam that’s powerful enough to teleport Thanagar into a supernova. Adam once again begs him to not go through with his plan, but Sardath reminds him that the Thanagarians are to blame for killing Alanna. Strange then tells him that if his wife was still alive, then she would be shaming her father for putting more effort into this blood-filled path instead of trying to find Adam’s daughter Aleea. Strange then says that if he’s able to reach the secure location, then he can prove that neither Rann or Thanagar ignited this frugal war. While Sardath is unwilling to share his top secret location, he does offer to use the Zeta Beam in order to teleport Adam and his group over to him.
Ultimately, our main figures gets beamed over to the privately-located station as Strange tells Sardath that his initial Zeta Beam experiment was sabotaged and led to the current war. Suddenly, the alarm goes off as they discover that Sinestro and his group have somehow followed them here. As such, they head out to prepare for battle. Despite the defense system constantly firing away, the space craft is able to shield itself from the constant barrage as Sinestro and his Yellow Lanterns proceed to head over towards the station.
With our main group and several Rannian soldiers prepared for their arrival, Sinestro’s group flies in as a massive scuffle ensues. John proceeds to engage Sinestro, but is unable to land any significant hits. Green Arrow soon finds himself upon against the lizard-esque being, while Hawkgirl goes up against Lyssa. As for Adam, he takes on the mind-controlling alien.
Meanwhile, Hal is getting pursued by the shaft-shifting terror of Lord Damyn. The being is able to evade Jordan’s laser fire before he grabs the former Green Lantern by his neck. However, Jordan ruthlessly blasts Damyn through the chest before executing him with a few more shots.
Afterwards, Oliver is shocked to see his friend having just mercilessly slayed an adversary like that. Hal says that they can’t get soft now, to which their conversation gets interrupted by the lizard-esque foe. Jordan then uses this opportunity to slip away into a nearby hallway.
Shortly after Stewart notices this, he continues to get bombarded by Sinestro’s constant strikes. John continues to get overpowered by his enemy as Sinestro once again managed to swipe Stewart’s Power Ring away from him before tossing it away. From there, he prepares to murder the sole remaining Green Lantern. John uses his willpower to summon his ring back to him, ultimately flying right through Sinestro and returning to his hand in a bloodied mess. As the mortally-wounded fiend collapses to the ground, Sinestro warns Stewart that his master will kill him and his whole group. From there, he succumbs to his wound and passes on.
Afterwards, John notices another Yellow Lantern retreating into a nearby hallway as he pursues the figure. Ultimately, he forms some bolos and wraps them around the fiend’s legs before knocking him out with a single punch. From there, Stewart notices several Rannian soldiers that were shot and killed from behind. As such, he creates a military gun and heads in to investigate.
Back with Shayera, she ultimately defeats Lyssa with a strong hit from her mace. Meanwhile, Queen evades the lizard-esque foe before taking him down with a constraining cable arrow and a smoke bomb arrow. As for Strange, he does briefly find himself trapped within the hypnotic eye’s levitating grasp. Thankfully, his laser gun provides enough of a distraction for him to deliver some key strikes before he throws his foe towards a nearby wall. From there, he shoots a metal construct as it pins his enemy down for the count. With the Yellow Lanterns defeated, they head out in order to prevent Sardath from using the powerful Zeta Beam on Thanagar.
They ultimately reach the central console as they discover Hal who tells them that Sardath won’t be firing his Zeta Beam and that he’ll hand over the main CPU, which contains the core components of his Zeta technology. Sardath explains that all of the available information had been downloaded into a storage unit and that the only other place that has the exact knowledge is within his mind. Suddenly, Jordan executes him as our heroes are stunned by this turn of events.
Just as Hal is about to gun them down as well, John arrives and shoots the firearm out of his hand before he also unloads some shots upon the former Green Lantern. However, Jordan is unphased by all of that as Green Arrow wants to know what’s going on. Stewart says that Hal wasn’t Sinestro’s prisoner and that it was Jordan who had the newly-deceased Yellow Lantern under his command. Hal then says that Sinestro was responsible for helping him reach his deceitful purpose as he reveals that he’s taken the Power Rings from the several fallen Green Lanterns. After he shifts into his ultimate form, he proceeds to explain what happened.
After Jordan sent his original Power Ring away, Sinestro then unleashed a devious parasite from within him known as Parallax as it enters Hal’s body and manages to take complete control. Sinestro had hoped to use this entity in order make Jordan completely subservient to him, when it actually did the exact opposite.
After they teamed up to annihilate the entire Green Lantern Corps on Oa, he realized how numb he had become after the numerous wars and conflicts he was involved in. As such, he decides to do something about it as he uses his willpower to acquire all of the Power Rings from the fallen Green Lanterns. Sinestro then realized that he wasn’t in control anymore and tried to escape, but Hal captured him and kept him around as his “main acolyte”. Now that he has the Zeta Beam technology, Jordan will finally be able to accomplish his ultimate end goal of wiping away the old universe and create a new one under his god-like will.
John tries to take the data storage unit away, but Hal easily smacks him down. From there, he proceeds to effortlessly beat up the rest of our main heroes before he reacquires the storage unit.
Stewart manages to recover as he finds his comrades lying beaten before Hawkgirl tells him to go after Jordan. Over at the Zeta Beam station, Jordan redirects the main cannon towards both Rann and Thanagar. Just as John arrives, Hal says that he’s going to destroy both planets before he tells Stewart to stand by his side and help him create “a new and better galaxy”. However, John is more than willing to take him down as the climactic fight commences.
Both figures proceed to swap various constructs against each other, but it’s the Parallax-infected Jordan who ultimatly delivers the initial hits. Just as Stewart is about to be crushed, his fellow comrades manage to arrive in time as Green Arrow tries to tell his former friend that this isn’t like him, to which Hal says that he’s done fighting a never-ending struggle as a Green Lantern and is now ready to impose his will as a God. Oliver uses a series of arrows to subdue Jordan, but he easily breaks out. John then tells him to prevent the Zeta Beam from firing while he keeps their former friend distracted.
From there, Stewart re-engages the Parallax-infected Hal within a fierce struggle. From there, their fight proceeds to exponentially escalate. Meanwhile, Adam is unable to log into the system in order to prevent the Zeta Beam from firing upon the two worlds. Shayera wonders if John could use his ring to stop it, but Strange says that even a billion Power Rings would barely put a dent onto the Zeta force. While Adam says that he could redirect it, it turns out that he’s going to sacrifice himself to do so as he proceeds to head out.
Back with Stewart, he continues to duke it out with the Parallax-infected Jordan. Following a clash of axe constructs, Hal soon finds out that even in his god-like form, he was able to get hurt enough in order to bleed. John then says that he now understands why the Green Lantern oath truly means something as he proceeds to deliver meaningful blows while speaking it.
From there, he finally unveils his full uniform and uses his willpower to take the Power Rings away from Jordan. Stewart then says that he knows why he fights and that despite its cost, he’s able to be okay with it. From there, he pins Hal to the wall and slowly drives a constructed knife into his chest. Fortunately, he dissipates it before knocking the former Green Lantern out with a punch to his face.
Afterwards, Shayera tells him that they weren’t able to prevent the Zeta Beam from potentially firing. Suddenly, Jordan gets up and uses the one Power Ring that he was able to keep to form a knife as he pins John down and stabs his hand. Just as he’s about to force the constructed blade into Stewart’s chest, an arrow was able to pierce Jordan’s body and kill him as John discovers that Green Arrow had just taken the kill shot.
From there, the station proceeds to fire a Zeta Beam towards Rann & Thanagar as our heroes are unable to stop it. Just then, they spot Adam Strange flying in as he soars in front of the shot and takes the hit, teleporting him away while saving both worlds from utter destruction. Afterwards, Hol admires him for his bravery. Stewart then thanks Queen for saving him, to which Oliver says that he’s unsure how he’ll keep going after being forced to put his best friend down. Green Lantern then tells him that they’re all forced to do things that they don’t want to do, but they can’t be too hard on themselves when it’s ultimately “for the right reasons”.
Later, they arrive back on Earth as John sends the various Power Rings out into space in order for them to find new Green Lanterns and ultimately rebuild the Corps. Hawkgirl then says that she hopes to see him again sometime soon as she also silently thanks Oliver as well before she enters the spaceship and flies off. And so, the movie ends with Stewart and Queen deciding to go get something to eat in order for them to toast towards their absent comrades as well as “a few new ones”.
Now that this conflict from beyond the stars has been dealt with, let’s get into my character analysis. First up, we have our central Green Lantern in John Stewart. Following his time with the Marines, he initially drifts through life without much purpose and is somewhat-haunted by his chaotically-hectic final mission. Even when Ganthet fatefully comes across him and gives him his Power Ring, it’s a role that John doesn’t initially want to take on, especially since this sudden turn of events has shaken him out of his semi-apathetic and uncertain-filled status quo. Ultimately, Stewart finds himself on a investigative journey that sees him making new allies while also learning to embrace the new role that’s been thrusted upon him, thus giving him a new role to play. On paper, this makes for a nice origin, where an unlikely figure finds him or herself thrusted into the heroic spotlight, despite never asking or wanting the title in the first place, yet thankfully learns something vitally important about themselves en route to becoming the gallant being that they’ll ultimately become. However, John’s personal growth towards becoming this universe’s Emerald Knight does get somewhat lost within the shuffle of the whole Rann-Thanagar conflict and the ultimate end goal from the tale’s true antagonist. Despite serving as the central protagonist, his efforts at working alongside other notable heroes does somewhat hinder the character arc that he’s supposed to be on and it becomes more of a team movie instead of having this venture being mostly about him. Not to mention, the few times that we flashback to his time serving in the Marines (particularly the Middle Eastern mission) doesn’t provide much of a personal hurdle that he has to overcome by the end of this particular journey. Sure, the traumatic events of said mission could’ve given him some PTSD and it’s what’s placed him into his drifter-esque funk at the start of this story, but it’s ultimately dropped once we get inside of the wrecked hall of honored Green Lanterns and is never remotely brought up again, thus losing an opportunity to have it run narratively parallel with his current adventure. Despite the lackluster development, Aldis Hodge still turned in a nice performance. His line delivery felt confident throughout and while it could’ve been a bit more energetic at times (especially when John Stewart is speaking the Greek Lantern oath while pummeling the Parallax-infected Hal Jordan), it feels like he can take this performance and build upon it in further projects within this continuity. I can see him growing far-more comfortable within the role moving forward, but what he gives us here felt like a fairly-good start.
Next up, it’s time for us to take aim at the Emerald Archer himself: Green Arrow. What starts off as a personal journey for him to find out about Hal’s true fate despite a distant crisis slowly growing across the vastness of space, ultimately sees him developing a new friendship as he shares some veteran experience with John along the way. Alongside the occasional witty statement, he serves as a peacemaker within the group when Shayera & Adam initially joins the group while maintaining a level-headedness throughout, even when he ultimately learns about the horrid turn of events that have befallen Jordan. There’s not much in terms of major personal growth for Oliver to go through here, since that seems relegated towards developing a respective connection with our titular hero whom he doesn’t initially want to work with. It would’ve been nice if there was some argument/disagreement between the two figures, thus allowing them to compare and contrast their own ways of approaching this growingly tense situation. After all, aside from the initial unwillingness to bring our main hero along, Queen agrees with his valid points concerning the notion that both sides of the Rann-Thanagar conflict are being manipulated against each other for someone else’s purpose. Aside from all of that, he’s the one who initially notices Hal’s sudden willingness to kill their foes before he eventually makes the hard choice to take the infected Jordan down for good in order to save his fellow Earthbound comrade. In terms of performance, Jimmi Simpson sounded very comfortable within the role and delivered some good range to his part. He was a confident comic relief who knew to keep his jokey nature in check and to only bring that side out when the scene would need a little spicing up. He made the character enticingly good, and it makes me interested to see where he’ll be allowed to progress with the character should he be able to return.
Moving on, we have our Thanagarian warrior woman with Hawkgirl. Because she and her people have been entrenched within their lengthy conflict with Rann, she’s quick to assume that the Rannians are behind a few key attacks within some peaceful ceasefires. When she meets both the-eventual Green Lantern and the ever-present Green Arrow, she’s forced to realize that both sides are being manipulated into continuing their war against each other. Once Adam comes into the picture and joins the group, she and Strange ultimately realize the true key players who’re behind their respective sides being forced to once again clash within this bloody conflict. As such, her character arc sees her gaining some appreciation towards the Rannians through Adam as well as gaining a connection towards the human race human through both John & Oliver. With this film taking place fairly early on within this universe’s line of movies, the latter could potentially set her up into joining the Justice League sometime down the line. For now, she serves as a key expansion for the TomorrowVerse by helping to bring in more cosmic stuff to this world beyond the initial things that were introduced in “Superman: Man Of Tomorrow”, while also solidifying a connection with Strange’s short film. As for Shayera Hol herself, Jamie Gray Hyder turns in a strong performance, delivering a stern toughness, an initial stubborness and a developed sympathy towards others. For what would ultimately be her very first movie role, she uses her experience from her past TV parts and video game voice-over work to provide a professional grade display within the familiar wings, thus allowing her character to shine just enough.
We now reach our displaced adopted son of Rann as we delve into Adam Strange. When we were originally introduced to him, his home world got ravaged by the Thanagarians, his wife was killed during the destruction and his baby girl went missing. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Zeta Beam dropped him off on a mining colony where he ultimately fell into a depressive funk. Fortunately, he managed to turn himself around when he regains his heroic self by helping the miners out against a swarm of subterranean alien bugs before the Zeta Beam returned to transport him away. By the time we catch up to him when he first shows up, he’s still in conflict with the Thanagarians before he learns about the Rannians being falsely accused of murdering the Guardians of the Universe and the entire Green Lantern Corps. From there, he joins our heroes and uses his connections to key Rannian figures in order to help pull back the curtains on the true fiendish figure behind the entire conflict. Combined with his prior adventure, his arc sees him trying to restore some semblance of an order-filled world. While he’s always had the desire to find and reunite with Aleea, this venture has him trying to prevent a high-level Rannian from committing unwarranted genocide in order to finally end the Rann-Thanagar War. Once both worlds are put in grave danger, and the group is locked out of the Zeta Beam system, he makes the ultimate call to sacrifice himself in order for both sides to finally achieve the unified peace that was stolen from them. If this is truly how the character meets his end, then he would’ve achieved some peaceful resemblance towards others who’re fully alive and for himself within the afterlife as he achieves some eternal rest. Despite having to take over for Charlie Weber, Brian Bloom gives a respectively good performance, providing a weary, yet energetically-effective delivery that help his performance shine as best as he can, ultimately guiding his character towards a nicely-done finish.
Finally, let’s get to Parallax’ ultimate vessel as we talk about the fallen hero in Hal Jordan. He starts off as this universe’s featured Green Lantern (at least to Earth) before Sinestro’s meddling with the initial Zeta Beam incident leads to his ultimate fall from grace. The “Emerald Twilight” influence makes itself present here when Sinestro allows Parallax to take absolute possession over Hal in an attempt to take complete control over him. However, the role of puppeteer and puppet end up getting reversed when Parallax uses Jordan to become the far-more powerful figure amongst the two. Whether Hal planned with Sinestro to pretend to be imprisoned or if Sinestro did find a way to place Jordan within a specialized cell (with possibly some help from his fellow Yellow Lanterns) isn’t explained. It’s also a problem when Sinestro and his fellow Yellow Lanterns arrive at Sardath’s confidential location, since Hawkgirl immediately wonders how they found out where this station is at, yet Green Arrow immediately shoots that down due to the immediacy of the situation. However, it’s never addressed again. Maybe because Parallax is in control of Hal, his partnership with Sinestro is more of a reluctant one. It could be that there’s some undefined, underlying threat to Sinestro & his fellow yellow ring-bearers that Parallax has over them and our main villain has trained them extremely well to not express that. Unfortunately, that’s never discussed at any point, naturally or forced. The only true warning signs that telegraph Hal’s not-so regular behavior is when he takes the lives of two of Sinestro’s ring-bearing corpsmen. The first incident could be seen as Jordan accidentally taking the life out of being held captive for so long with a surprisingly strong swing of Hawkgirl’s mace, while the second could be seen as him being put into a kill-or-be-killed moment since Lord Damyn was attempting to choke him. Sure, the latter incident turns out to be the more aggressive red flag to Green Arrow that something is way off with his friend. However, the unionship of that antagonistic side doesn’t feel entirely defined. As for Jordan, I wonder how Parallax was able to influence and convince him that his original notion of endlessly combating various conflicts was ultimately for naught and is ultimately able to sway him towards a potentially permanent solution. Sure, Parallax is able to control other peoples’ minds within the comics, but our heroes (especially Green Arrow) still believe that they’re talking to Hal as if he’s truly become horribly misguided. By the end, Jordan’s villainous journey should’ve had another pass or two at working out its details. Despite the faults with his characterizations, Nolan North was still pretty decent in the role. He seems fairly subdued for the majority of his screentime, especially since he was captured and oppressed for so long. Once it’s revealed that he’s not entirely himself, he’s then able to begin flexing his range by starting off with some mild anger before Parallax’ full influence kicks in and he gets to talk in a god-like tone. For what he has to work with, he continued to handle things like a pro.
The story can be somewhat seen as a war movie, since John Stewart is constantly finding himself within various skirmishes. After all, he’s gone from fighting an overseas battle to a more personal urban struggle where he’s attempting to strive & survive within his lived-in & rundown city neighborhood to suddenly getting recruited into an intergalactic police force that sees him teaming up with other notable figures in order to bring a cosmic conflict to an end. Admittedly, it doesn’t traditionally fit into that genre since our main characters aren’t deep within the trenches of the featured war that’s going on here. Instead, they’re after the perpetrators of said hostility. For our main group, they’re engaged in their own investigative battle while this major conflict rages. During their journey, it does touch upon the main theme of needing to come together in order to properly prosper. Individually (with the exception of Green Arrow), they’re wrapped up within their own self-inclusive states that sees them either lingering through life without purpose, locked within a seemingly never-ending conflict or constantly struggling to return home. Oliver doesn’t necessarily fit into that category, since he’s been with the Justice League for a while and he only allows Stewart to come with him in order to properly begin the investigation. As our four main characters come across each other, their investigation helps both Hawkgirl & Adam realize the true figures behind their respective races’ intergalactic feud, which should lead to some truly unified peace between their people. As for Queen, he appreciates how much the new Green Lantern has grown throughout the course of the whole ordeal and even respects him as a new comrade. The entire narrative is fairly well-handled as it nicely juggles our main heroes’ personal progressions. While I would’ve like John Stewart to have stood out a bit more since this is supposed to be his story while his fellow teammates flourish & grow on their own and help him shine as well, it does provide a good foundation for him to potentially build upon moving forward. For the most part, the pacing is also good. The fight scenes get to flow at a nice clip, the story is allowed to unfold within a smooth rate and the audience is able process what’s going on at an effective tempo. As for the action scenes, they’re engaging and provide a physical thrill. They range from various difficult levels of mano-a-mano confrontations and a few spaceship scenes where our heroes have to fly around and avoid opposing missiles from Sinestro & his cohorts. Either way, they’re still enticing and ultimately a joy to watch. Finally, the animation continues to be top-notch. The entire team continues to deliver some quality work on this front with polished movements throughout, a balanced handle of both 2D & 3D models and a color palette that’s semi-muted, yet keeps a colorful spark over the course of the film. In the end, while some elements could’ve used another pass over to iron out, there’s enough good stuff going on here to keep its viewers engaged to the end.
Overall, this is a decent introduction to this Emerald Knight and a nice expansive venture amongst the stars. While John Stewart doesn’t shine as brightly as he should’ve been, the story could’ve used some more polish to become tighter & our villains’ connections with each other should’ve been more definitively defined, the characters are still nicely-handled, the action is a sight to behold, the pacing is well-oiled and the animation is just as professional as ever. Though the whole movie is only adequate at best, it’s still an entertaining sit-through and is still worth a recommended watch for those who’ve been following this particular universe or even as a standalone experience. Even though it’s ultimately not the most definitive Green Lantern film of all, it still shines enough for any bright day within the blackest of nights.
Next Time: While plenty of tales have been told about the World’s Finest, they’ve also grown over the years and have garnered offsprings of their own. As such, it’ll be up to their kin to save them and the entirety of Earth from a familiar mind-controlling creature of the stars. The youthful generation will have their chance to shine within a fully CGI-animated adventure as I share my thoughts on “Batman & Superman: Battle Of The Super Sons”.
John Stewart (created by Dennis O’Neil & Neal Adams), Green Arrow (created by Mort Weisinger & George Papp), Shayera Hol (created by Gardner Hol & Joe Kubert), Adam Strange (created by Julius Schwartz & Murphy Anderson) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
