Green Lantern: Beware of My Strength Review
We may have been waiting for John Stewart's Green Lantern for a long time, but honestly this isn't it, DC. Green Lantern: Beware My Power feels like the kind of comic that surprises casual readers, relies on pre-existing knowledge to appreciate, and builds on elements of mystery that aren't really surprising. What's really odd is that it's the sequel to the Adam Strange animated short on the Apokolips War Blu-ray as well as the John Stewart film. Not that this one doesn't try to explain the Rann-Thanagar war and the Zeta rays again, but it would be helpful to have a look at the short ones you might not have known about until now.
What is very strange is that in theory, short is in another continuity. Apokolips War reboots the timeline, and DC animation moves from Superman: Man of Tomorrow onwards in the new one. One in which it is not clear what has and has not happened. The Justice League Watchtower Satellite exists, but Hawkgirl Shayera Hol is a new character no one has ever heard of. John Stewart thought meeting aliens with green magic rings was weird, but he heard about Hal Jordan's Green Lantern. It's like the creative team of every film picks and chooses, with no real consistency.
About an hour into the film, Stewart utters the line, "We still have a long way to go." Considering he had to be a substitute for the audience, it shouldn't be his first time coming into contact with him. Stewart (voiced by Black Adam's Hawkman, Aldis Hodge) started Beware My Power as a regular, albeit multiple, medal-winning, former Marine regular. But when a dying Guardian crashes into his backyard and gives him the real Hal Jordan power ring, Stewart is plunged into the middle of an alien conflict.
Give him credit, or give him inconsistent writing - Stewart adapted to the myth of the Rann-Thanagar war fairly quickly. Working alongside Adam Strange, Hawkgirl, and Green Arrow to figure out how it started, Stewart must then try to end it before the results lead to genocide. The plot involves a bit of a mysterious villain element. But anyone who knew anything about the Green Lantern had to guess who it was.
In an attempt to cram a few disparate stories together, this film unfortunately ignores one of the traits that makes John more interesting than Hal. The way he builds his construction from within, for example, or his ability to control different energies. He is the code when he should be our successor. We want him to ask the right questions and feel weird. In contrast, Jimmi Simpson's quick glance at the Green Arrow gets the job done. He also goes on about how Hal Jordan is his best friend, which we have to take for granted because they don't have the history we've seen in this timeline.
To give credit, money and any work that the filmmaker didn't put in the story, obviously put into the animation. The order of the inner space is really impressive. A battlefield full of floating corpses looks absolutely terrifying, and a series of asteroid dodging looks epic. While the animation could, in theory, show anything at any time, it played out like a big special effects movie without much of a script.
The dialogue also feels awkward, as if mixed with inappropriate pauses. Some animated films let voice actors shoot in one room, but Beware My Strength definitely doesn't. There's a scene towards the end where Stewart awkwardly entertains another character, and it feels so disconnected it's considered ridiculous.
Viewers who may already consider themselves to be devotees of Rann and Thanagar may be delighted to see the planets on screen in any form. The rest are probably just wondering why the John Stewart film doesn't seem to really center on John Stewart in the end.
