The Green Lantern endures because of two things that even the infamous 2011 Ryan Reynolds adaptation understood. For one, it’s about the power of creativity—the idea that you can do anything you put your mind to. The second isn’t just the super-cool ring you wear on your right hand when you walk into a bar like a boss. No, it’s the fact that it allows you not to run away from fear, but to face it head-on, as Lanterns demonstrates often.
It’s a metaphor: the ring isn’t what gives you power. It’s the courage you had all along. If only HBO Max and DC Comics had shown that same courage and allowed all critics to review the first seven episodes made available to select members of the press. Lanterns have had bad word of mouth for months, so it’s no wonder the marketers handpicked critics they believed would promote the series.
Rather than trusting the product itself. In doing so, they created the impression that the fix was already in.
The funny thing, though, is that the pilot is good. Very good. Not only do you have a rising star in Aaron Pierre, who was so good in Rebel Ridge and Genius, but you also get a charismatic, funny, and magnetic return to form for television star Kyle Chandler. The Friday Night Lights star is terrific as Hal Jordan. His turn is a knockout, and his best performance since Netflix’s Bloodline.
For those who don’t know, the Green Lanterns are peacekeepers of the interstellar kind. And if you’re wondering whether you’ve ever met one, trust me, you’d know—they wear the gaudy chick magnet known as a Power Ring. That’s what Hal Jordan (Chandler) is wearing when he tosses it into his trainee’s lap while driving. The thing is, Hal then jumps out of the moving car, leaving John Stewart (Pierre) sitting in the passenger seat.
It’s an exciting, if somewhat confusing, bit of trial-by-fire training, as Stewart finds himself trapped in a boxy sedan barreling toward a cliff while desperately trying to slip on a tricked-out version of the eye of Gollum’s affection. Before eating a face full of asphalt, Hal tells Stewart where to meet him. When John arrives, he finds Hal, or rather, the Halogram, a version of Hal activated as a backup whenever the ring is used.
Hal and John make their way to Rushville, Nebraska, where, apparently, the Lanterns’ training involves peacekeeping of the domestic variety. There, they meet a local cop, Deputy Kane (No Country for Old Men‘s Kelly Macdonald), a single mother and devout member of the community. The Lanterns are called in to investigate a mass shooting at a football field. Why are they there? Hal has a feeling the incident is extraterrestrial in nature.
And that it’s just the tip of the Oa-berg.
Lanterns is from Chris Mundy (Ozark), DC Comics legend Tom King, and Damon Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen), and the pilot episode is an exciting, funny, and intriguing setup. Chandler is terrific here as a charismatic mess who can sniff out an alien from three galaxies away. Pierre isn’t just stoic in the role, a description we tend to use as a crutch. Instead, he brings a disciplined, understated, and quietly intense presence to Stewart that makes him the perfect foil.
The writing is strong here, bringing Lindelof’s talent for playing with themes of memory and identity, and using various variations of Hal, which is clever. While we don’t know where this leads because of the spineless marketing campaign, the show will clearly use Hal’s backstory as a driving force to add depth to almost anything the character touches. And let’s hope Never Have I Ever’s Poorna Jagannathan takes a more prominent role, who is electric here.
At the heart of Lanterns is a grounded detective story, led by the terrific chemistry between Chandler and Pierre. My main concern, since we here at GVN were only allowed to screen one episode, is whether that restraint will place too much of a stranglehold on the imaginative side of Green Lantern. Which, if you remember from our opening paragraph, is exactly what makes the source material so great.
Only time will tell if the remaining episodes begin to earn that praise.
You can watch Lanterns weekly on Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on HBO, with simultaneous streaming on HBO Max. The eight-episode first season runs from August 16 and concludes o on October 4, 2026.
Lanterns delivers a strong, grounded detective story powered by the terrific chemistry between Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre. The pilot is funny, intriguing, and surprisingly human.
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GVN Rating
I am a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. However, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, and that’s when I often stumble over. When I’m not writing about movies, I patiently wait for the next Pearl Jam album and pass the time by scratching my wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. I was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs, but I chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find my work on InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Hidden Remote, Music City Drive-In, Nerd Alert, and Film Focus Online.
