Lanterns may be more interested in solving a mystery than saving the world, but its strong cast and intriguing setup make this trip into the DC universe well worth taking.
by Nav Qateel
I’ve been a fan of superhero movies ever since, as a thirteen-year-old, seeing the tagline “you’ll believe a man can fly” for Christopher Reeve’s seminal Superman, way back in nineteen-seventy-eight. Of course, technology has come a long way since then, allowing audiences to “ooh” and “ah” at special effects that make it look like people really can fly. This allows filmmakers to pay better attention to the writing, which isn’t always the case, admittedly, but most definitely is with HBO’s new show Lanterns.
From Damon Lindelof, the showrunner behind series like Lost and Watchmen, comes a show based on comic book favorite Green Lantern, from the DC Comics stable. If you’re wondering why it’s titled Lanterns rather than Green Lantern, as I was, it turns out Lindelof felt that the word “green” in front of “lantern” was weird, which I was initially worried about because having people creating shows who don’t like the IP they’re developing doesn’t usually bode well for the final product. One just has to look at Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson’s treatment of the lore. I actually love Johnson’s other work.
The current Green Lantern and superhero, Hal Jordan, is training up his eventual replacement, John Stewart, so that he can one day put on the ring that gives him his power. Usually, the owner of the ring dies and the ring chooses the next Green Lantern, but the powers that be have decided to have a military man they have control over become the next superhero of Earth. This is touched upon early on, and as the show progresses, I’m sure we’ll learn more.
While Hal is training John, involving Hal jumping out of a moving car that’s heading right over a ridge but leaving the ring on the dash, John survives the crash and Hal’s backup appears out of the ring and gives John a message to pass on to the actual Hal. After an angry John passes on the mysterious message to Hal, Hal shoots up into the sky and heads for a small town where several people have just been murdered. Hal and John meet up with the local sheriff, played by Kelly MacDonald (Trainspotting), and so begins an intriguing murder mystery that points to beings not of this Earth being involved in whatever is happening in the small town.
Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan was a good casting choice, as the TV show veteran plays the superhero like a man who’s phoning it in after enjoying the fame but is now simply going through the motions. To the public, he’s all smiles and selfies, but to anyone working with him, he’s a bit of an asshole. On the other hand, Aaron Pierre as John Stewart is a crisp, by-the-book Army man who’s all about the job and is clearly a company man. How this will play out as the show progresses may alter his outlook, but based on how badly he wants to become the next Green Lantern, it’s hard to see him changing that much. We get to see some of Stewart’s backstory thanks to flashbacks of his tough soldier father shooting apples off his head while he’s a child. Unusual training, to be sure.
As Jordan is training Stewart, he always appears to be abrasive and reluctant to impart knowledge, which actually feels forced and odd, but this was my only minor complaint about the writing. The two actors work well off each other, as does the entire cast. I enjoyed seeing Kelly MacDonald playing the sheriff, a solid actor in anything she’s in. Garret Dillahunt plays William Macon, a very wealthy man and interesting character who trains and surrounds himself with a militia.
The ring that gives Hal Jordan his power isn’t used a great deal in the opening episode, but enough to give us an idea of just what it’s capable of doing. Hopefully, this sparing use of the ring isn’t carried on through all eight episodes after learning that Lindelof isn’t exactly a fan of superheroes, but we’ll have to wait and see. So far, Lanterns is an excellent detective show with incidental Green Lantern involvement, so hardcore DC fans might be a bit disappointed, but most people will love what they see.
A highly entertaining show.
Nav’s Score: 9/10
