Lanterns Review: A Fantastic Cast Grapples with a Very HBO Take on DC Comics

DC Studios’ Lanterns opens with a hell of a pilot. Funny, gripping, and twist-filled, the new HBO drama immediately drops the viewer into the grim expanses of rural Nebraska, where some unexplained deaths need investigation. Green Lantern space cop Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) has brought his “backup trainee” John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) to the small town of Rushville, because he’s pretty sure a space crime of some sort is involved. What the pair stumble on together is far bigger than they can imagine, though.From the first teaser, which featured Hal and John riding in a car sparring with each other, Lanterns has been drawing True Detective comparisons. That ends up being pretty close to the reality of the series, from the heavy emphasis on location to its odd couple central pairing — something you can easily credit to showrunner Chris Mundy, whose previous credits include crime dramas Ozark, Bloodline, Criminal Minds, and oh, what’s this? True Detective Season 4!Hal and John both swear plenty and don’t hold back on the violence. The show is also not chaste or free of nudity (though those elements are never exploitative in their execution, and the nudity is largely dudes). In short, L...