Green Lantern: Emerald Knights opens on the Green Lantern Corps' home planet of Oa. One of their own has been killed by creatures under the control of Krona, a huge entity which is living inside of a sun. As the troops are rallied, Earth's Green Lantern, Hal Jordan (voiced by Nathan Fillion), is joined by his protege, Arisia (voiced by Elisabeth Moss). She is nervous about going into battle, so Hal tells her the story of Avra (voiced by Mitchell Whitfield), a meek individual who was chosen to be one of the first Green Lanterns. He then tells her about Deegan (voiced by Wade Williams), the toughest drill sergeant in the Corps, the being who helped mold Kilowog (voiced by Henry Rollins ). Once Hal and Arisia reach the sun where Krona is living, she hears the story of Laira Otomo (voiced by Kelly Hu), a female Lantern who has a dark past. Following this, Ra learns about Mogo, one of the most powerful Green Lanterns. When Hal goes on patrol, Sinestro (voiced by Jason Isaacs) tells Ra about Abin Sur (voiced by Arnold Vosloo), Hal's predecessor. At long last, the battle with Krona begins.

I realize that Green Lantern: Emerald Knights can be viewed as a free-standing entity, but with the impending release of Green Lantern, it's hard to not think of it as a marketing tool. However, if this was intended to help with promoting the multi-million dollar theatrical film, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights was an odd choice. Logic says that something like this should be an origin story, but that was already done in Green Lantern: First Flight, which came out nearly two years ago.

So, instead, we get this odd anthology. Instead of being one story, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights has a framing device which allows the movie to bring us five stories involving the Green Lantern Corps. These tales introduce us to the various members of the Green Lanterns and show us not only the diversity of the group, but their different approaches. The stories introduce us to the history of the Lanterns and we see how the rings choose different individuals.

The problem here is that this probably won't appeal to anyone who isn't already a die-hard Green Lantern fan. For those folks, it will be exciting to see these stories, which have previously appeared in various comics, come to life, and to see some (I'm presuming) obscure characters presented in an animated movie. For the uninitiated, this may be a good way to learn that Green Lantern often deals more with alien worlds than just standard super hero fare, but if you aren't already somewhat familiar with what's going on here, you may not be interested. It also doesn't help that things drag here at times. Even when a big fight is happening, things never get very exciting.

As someone who's always wanted to see more comic books adapted directly to the screen, I should be impressed with Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. But, while I admire its intentions, I found the movie to be a bit too inaccessible for the casual fan.

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights still doesn't explain why all of the Green Lanterns have different uniforms on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look excellent, most notably greens (duh!) and reds. The image is never overly dark or bright. The picture is nicely detailed and I didn't see any flaws from the animation. The Disc offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is a very impressive track which offers notable audio effects, even at low volume. The surround sound effects are very detailed and really add to the action sequences. These effects are nicely separated from the front channels. The stereo effects assert themselves as well, as do to the subwoofer effects.

The Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY featuring comic writer Geoff Johns and DC publisher Dan Didio. "Only the Bravest: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" (32 minutes) is an odd little documentary which takes a very academic look at bravery and how it relates to the Green Lantern stories. Through comic book creators and psychologists, we hear a discussion of real-life heroes who exhibited bravery and how these ideals play out in the comics. "Why Green Lantern Matters: The Talents of Geoff Johns" (18 minutes) contains an interviews with Johns and writer Grant Morrison, as they discuss how the Hal Jordan character was brought back to life and revitalized in the comics. "From Comic Book to Screen: Abin Sur" (3 minutes) gives us a background and biography of the character, as does "Beautiful...But Deadly - From Comic Book to Screen: Laira Omoto" (4 minutes). We get a "Virtual Comic Book", allowing us to read Green Lantern's adventures (assuming that you can see the print). Finally, there are bonus episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold which feature Green Lantern.