In Review: Green Lantern: Beware My Power

Synopsis: In Beware My Power a recently discharged Marine sniper John Stewart is at a crossroads in his life, one which is only complicated by receiving an extraterrestrial ring that grants him the powers of the Green Lantern of Earth.

The Story

This is a new origin story for John Stewart who succeeds Hal Jordan as Earth’s Green Lantern. When an EO spacecraft crashlands near his home. Former Martina Sniper John Stewart suddenly finds himself the bearer of one of the green lantern rings. As one thing leads to another he suddenly finds himself wrapped up in a mystery when he meets The Green Arrow and they both go to EO to find that the planet and all of its Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps have been destroyed. As they take a ship to investigate the source of the attack they learn about a war between the planets Rann and Thanagar, which has kicked off again after what had been a period of peace between the two worlds.

As they start to get to the bottom of things. They meet up with Hawkgirl and Adam Strange who help them solve the mystery of who is pulling the strings.

Voice Acting

Aldis Hodge does a great job of voicing John Stewart and is particularly good when expressing the character’s reluctance to hold onto the ring. Likewise, Jimmi Simpson does pretty well as Green Arrow and the sincerity of the banter between the two characters really shines through. A character that I have not really seen in a DC animated movie before is Adam Strange and Brian Bloom does a respectable job of voicing this mysterious cult hero from the planet Rann. I really enjoyed the initial conflict that plays out between Strange and Jamie Gray Hyder’s Hawkgirl.

For me, this movie belongs to Rick D. Wasserman’s Sinestro who really stirs the pot when he comes on the scene. And the plot twist involving Nolan North’s Hal Jordan is brilliantly played out by both these actors. 

Overall

Green Lantern: Beware My Power is an entirely original film and is not taken from any of the comic books. The story plays out as both an origin story for John Stewart as well as a conspiracy storyline that keeps you guessing right to the end.

The story makes brilliant use of both Hawkgirl and Adam Strange who start out as antagonists toward one another, but slowly gain respect for each other as it becomes apparent that neither Rann or Thanagar is to blame for the destruction of the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians. Likewise, I really enjoyed seeing the friendship between Green Arrow and John Stewart’s rookie Green Lantern build. This works particularly well when you take the plot twist with regard to Hal Jordan into account.

Overall. This is well worth 90 minutes of your time.