HBO’s new DC series “Lanterns” has arrived, bringing Green Lantern mythology back to television with a darker, mystery-driven twist. So, how are critics responding to the latest show set under the DC Comics banner? You can watch the video above for the full breakdown.
Overall, early reviews for “Lanterns” have been broadly positive. The HBO superhero drama comes from showrunner Chris Mundy, who created the series with Tom King and Damon Lindelof. Aaron Pierre stars as John Stewart, while “Friday Night Lights” favorite Kyle Chandler plays Hal Jordan. Together, the two Green Lanterns are pulled into a murder investigation that gradually exposes a far bigger conspiracy.
For many critics, the show works best when it focuses on its two leads. Pierre and Chandler have drawn particular praise for grounding the cosmic DC Comics material in a sharp, character-led dynamic. Writing for Variety, Alison Herman noted, “This dual character study is where ‘Lanterns’ is at its best. Chandler and Pierre may be squarely in their comfort zones, but that also puts them in a position to succeed.” At IndieWire, Ben Travers singled out Chandler’s performance as a major strength. “Hal is the irascible old-timer whose belittlement can be interpreted as tough love, so long as you believe he’s one of the good guys,” Travers wrote. “How ‘Lanterns’ bucks and embraces that assumption at once, while savoring Chandler’s wily persona, is one of its finest feats (as well as some of the Emmy-winning actor’s finest work).”
Daniel Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter saw the series less as a conventional superhero spectacle and more as something closer to Amazon Prime Video’s hit action drama “Reacher.” “HBO’s ‘Lanterns’ has DC Comics roots and some moments of effects-driven superhero bombast,” he wrote. “But, as adapted by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, what it feels like is a Jack Reacher story with Aaron Pierre as the swaggering, oversized outsider who strolls into a small Nebraska town, undermines law enforcement, beds random women and refuses to leave before unraveling a mid-level conspiracy.”
Critics like Lanterns — and they really love Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler’s chemistry
John Johnson/HBO Max
That grounded approach may also make “Lanterns” easier for non-comic book viewers to get into. In his review for IGN, Jesse Schedeen argued that the show does not always feel like a traditional superhero series. “It’s as much a ‘True Detective’ and ‘Slow Horses’-style murder mystery as it is a superhero drama (and, in fact, features veterans of both shows among its creative team),” Schedeen wrote, alluding in part to Chris Mundy’s past work on “True Detective.” For Schedeen, that genre blend is a selling point: “But for those willing to abandon preconceived notions and take ‘Lanterns’ for what it is, this strange combination of superhero adventure and terrestrial murder mystery works surprisingly well.”
Cory Plante made a similar point at Polygon, describing “Lanterns” as “‘True Detective’ with superheroes.” Plante went on to highlight the strength of the central partnership between Hal Jordan and John Stewart:
“Most importantly, ‘Lanterns’ understands that friction between two people can be frustrating, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll lead to hatred. Hal and John don’t need to like each other to respect one another. They butt heads constantly. But their conflict never feels manufactured, and neither does the connection that keeps them together. Like Rust and Marty in ‘True Detective,’ they recognize that the annoying man sitting beside them in the car is who they want by their side when everything goes wrong.”
One critic really didn’t like it, though — Inverse‘s Lyvie Scott. “The series tries too hard to turn this story into something it’s not, and in the process, it pushes everything that makes it special just out of frame,” Scott writes. “It’s not that a grounded detective story couldn’t soar, given the circumstances — but without heart, or at least a sense of wonder, Lanterns is stuck on the ground.”
Decide for yourself. “Lanterns” is streaming on HBO Max now.
