Corps Values: HBO’s LANTERNS illuminate a darker vision…
As a child back in 2006, John Stewart eagerly took in all the information he could find about the newly-revealed superhero Green Lantern, aka Hal Jordan, while simultaneously trying to show his own father that he had no fear.
By 2016, it appears that Stewart’s destiny is to fall in his hero’s footsteps, though he’s less than impressed with his mentor who doesn’t seem eager to train any kind of protégé. If the disciplined Stewart thinks he knows the weight of his calling, it’s Jordan who knows the actual baggage. He got picked for the role by a dying alien who indicated he was picked for a reason and Jordan doesn’t see that Stewart has any exceptional qualities. Besides, each sector only needs one Lantern at a time. But if Jordan has to make cars fall off cliffs or make Stewart take short-haul flights to learn lessons, well…so be it.
When Stewart, temporarily allowed to wear the ring, gets a virtual message to pass on to Hal, it changes everything. Apparently, ‘there’s hail in Rushville, Nebraska‘ and the secrets they will find in this small mid-western town will have huge consequences…
…for the people of the town, for the Green Lanterns Corp and possibly for the Earth itself…
*some spoilers*
Those hearing the words ‘Green Lantern‘ might well shudder slightly and be expecting something light and almost frivolous- such as Ryan Reynolds’ much-mocked movie (and rare flop) of the same name in 2011 or even something cartoonish over-the-top and bowl-cut as Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardener incarnation in the recent Superman movie. So, they will likely find that HBO‘s new take on DC‘s cosmic policemen is not what they thought – and has a way darker emerald hue.
HBO actually feels like the perfect home for this particular take. It’s one of the streamers known for its edgy drama, the ones that put murder and mayhem slap in the middle of the mundane. Here, Lanterns essentially marries Green Lantern mythology with blue collar procedural… the extraterrestrial superhero Corps. aspect being just occasional punctuation to the latter and it’s all the better for it. HBO, of course, has form with raising its eyebrow at the fantastical. Its Watchmen mini-series, adjacent and beyond the classic comic-book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, ultimately got mixed reviews from purists but one couldn’t fault its sheer ambition and attempt to extend some existential ideas.
Lanterns takes the DC high-concept (of cosmic policemen, the powers-that-be choosing a representative from each planet or sector to be the guardian of that area, armed with a green ring that can summon up a cosmic chartreuse doohickey as required to fight injustice) and grounds it in more True Detective territory. What connects the cosmic to corn-huskers… ah, well, there’s the mystery. It turns out there are aliens in Nebraska for some reason – thanks, Harry Potter clue – and if current Lantern Hal Jordan has some insight into the whys of it all, he’s not immediately forthcoming to his protégé John Stewart.
Kyle Chandler, best known to American audiences for Saturday Night Lights, plays Hal Jordan as a soldier who has seen more than he wants to and takes no joy in the fight itself. He spends a fair amount of time being grouchy on the edge of the small-town Nebraskan football field, gazing with icy, isolated stare from the bleachers, one step ahead of much of the crowd with a mix of annoyance and contentment at that position. From one angle that’s arrogance and over-confidence, from another its more weathered inevitability. (To quote Blake’s 7 dialogue ‘Don’t you ever get tired of being right?‘ – ‘No, just with the rest of you being wrong…‘).
English actor Aaron Pierre as John Stewart is a soldier of a different kind. From a family where his father shot apples off his son’s head in a lesson about controlling fear, John is now a younger military man, honoured to find himself gifted with the opportunity to serve in a unique and cosmic way, but uncomfortable with Jordan’s more hand-wavery approach to being his mentor. Jordan appears to be chaotic, Stewart wants formality and delineation – and a chance to wear the ring and prove himself. He’s patient, but that patience has limits. In that regard, we have a classic buddy-movie in the making.
The supporting cast is also strong. Scottish actor Kelly Macdonald, (Trainspotting, Boardwalk Empire) gives what sounds to this ear as a cadence-perfect performance as Kerry Kane, a local Nebraskan sheriff wise to the ways of those who might trample local law enforcement under super-powered feet and savvy enough to also know the perils of small-town politics. Her father-in-law William Macon is played by the ever-reliable Garret Dillahunt, who imbues the local rancher and power-broker with a quietly dangerous and imposing isolationist demeanour. William’s son / Kerry’s husband is Billy Macon – Jason Ritter playing another lawyer, but one a little different from his regular role in Matlock. In the coming weeks, we’ll see the likes of Laura Linney, Banshee‘s Ulrich Thomsen and Nathan Fillion also making their mark.
The narrative style of viewing and switching between different time-periods as part of a greater whole has become a trend used in many shows, sometimes in better ways than others. Here it works well enough – establishing the different generational beats of the two characters and how they change as people and potential partners over time. We see how some of it starts and where it’s going, but the main emphasis will be in the points in between, the ‘whys’ of what is slowly being played out with plenty to fill in along the way between the buddy-aspect, the procedural and the more cosmic elements.
Smart and savvy, the writing and acting are strong and though the show is filmed in California, it feels like middle-America in values and volume. You may see where some of the story is going (and I won’t spoil the ending of the premiere episode which sets some of the complexities to come), but the unexpectedly earthy tone, the human characters and the general sense of huge consequential impact for small-town life, come together to make a potent mix in the blackest of nights.
9/10
There are new episodes of LANTERNS each Sunday on HBO Max…