“Lanterns” is HBO’s latest detour into superhero territory and, while flawed, it still rises above many of its peers in the crowded genre.
Starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, the show is based on the same DC Comics source material as the infamous 2011 Ryan Reynolds movie, “Green Lantern.”
“Lanterns” gives the story a gritty makeover and dares to ask: “What if we took that terrible flick and made it pretty good?”
Premiering Sunday, Aug. 16, “Lanterns” is executive produced by DC bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran, and created by Chris Mundy, Tom King, and Damon Lindelof (who helmed HBO’s 2019 series “Watchmen”).
No need to beware, newcomers; knowledge of the source material — or the 2011 movie, for that matter — isn’t required.
“Lanterns” follows Hal Jordan (Chandler), who is a Green Lantern. They’re the “space cops” of the galaxy, as he explains, but he’s the only one on Earth, which makes him a celebrity.
Jordan has a devil-may-care attitude, and the aura of an aging cowboy. The “Friday Night Lights” actor plays him with such pizzazz, it makes “Lanterns” an engaging watch — even when the plot gets too busy for its own good, at times.
His trainee, John Stewart (Pierre), is more tightly wound, and, you guessed it, their personalities clash.
It’s a typical buddy-cop dynamic we’ve all seen a hundred times. That’s not necessarily a knock against the show; it’s a common trope because it works.
Kelly Macdonald, Laura Linney, Nathan Fillion and Jason Ritter round out the cast.
The plot unspools in several directions, with multiple timelines and flashbacks. The main story follows Jordan and Stewart as they visit a Nebraska town to investigate a case that might be an extraterrestrial threat.
This means that “Lanterns” feels like a blend of superhero shows with some “True Detective” and “Fargo” sprinkled in, too.
Airing on HBO lends it a whiff of prestige TV, but it frequently seems more like an elevated version of shows such as “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” or “Arrow.”
Although Lindelof is involved in both, “Lanterns” isn’t as excellent or sophisticated as “Watchmen.” His name might actually hurt it more than help it, if you go in to “Lanterns” expecting it to have the level of depth “Watchmen” had.
It isn’t as thematically rich, or as deft at balancing the comic-book antics with loftier ideas.
For instance, Jordan has a glowing green ring that gives him powers…and he can sometimes fly. It’s hard for “Lanterns” to avoid making that corny, even as it tries to make self-aware jokes about it. That part of the story doesn’t always click with the show’s efforts to also be a grounded crime drama.
Compared to “Watchmen” or another recent show — Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay,” which had a sharp command of blending its disparate genres of comedy and horror — “Lanterns” sometimes has a shakier grip on mixing its ingredients.
The result leaves the audience unbalanced, but admittedly never bored.
The real question is: In our current era of superhero fatigue, is it worth tuning in?
Truth be told, “Lanterns” would have made a bigger impact if it came out five to 10 years ago.
Today, when the MCU and DCU are ubiquitous, we have less patience for their tropes that are growing long in the tooth (like dialogue about intergalactic sci-fi gibberish, or shots of CGI force fields in the sky).
Luckily, that stuff isn’t the whole show, just a sizable chunk of it. There’s just enough human drama, too.
The series is an enjoyable — if uneven — watch, with barn-burner performances from the two stars, especially Chandler.
“Lanterns” premieres Sunday, Aug. 16, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streams on HBO Max.
