Lanterns: Damon Lindelof reignites the light of the DC Universe (review)

The brilliant creator of Watchmen strikes again with this brilliant and decidedly captivating retelling of Green Lantern. A success at all levels.

Fifteen years after the greenish adaptation which almost ruined the career of Ryan Reynolds (since Dead Pool), Warner Bros. has finally found the right formula to adapt Green Lantern. She had finally been in front of his eyes for a while: Damon Lindelof. Like a “Bat-Signal” projected into the California sky, the studio called the brilliant screenwriter to the rescue – the one who had already accomplished the impossible with Watchmen, extending with crazy audacity the work of Alan Moore without ever betraying it – to reinvent one of the oldest heroes of DC Comics (born in 1940), and bring nearly a century of comics into dialogue with a profoundly modern vision.

The co-creator of Lost started from the base. In his version of the story, Hal Jordan has been Green Lantern for years. A seasoned protector of the Earth thanks to his ring, he sees the arrival of a partner whom he would have done well without: John Stewart, a young recruit full of ambition to whom he has no desire to teach the tricks of the superhero trade. But now Hal is called back to the depths of the Midwest. A shooting has just taken place in a Nebraska football stadium. In this rural America where everyone seems to live with a gun in their hand, there is fear of an… alien invasion. THE space cop and his cadet in training will lead the investigation. But Rushville clearly hides much more than a simple news item…

The bet of Lanterns consists of making two universes collide. On the one hand, the whole cosmic mythology of Green Lantern. On the other, a gritty detective thriller, firmly anchored in reality. And the collision works wonderfully… The ring, the powers, the Guardians of the Universe and the entire cosmology of the saga are invited into a sticky criminal investigation in a western setting. HBO had sold the series as a True Detective DC version: the promise is kept. The dynamic between Hal Jordan and John Stewart is immediately reminiscent of that of Rust Cohle and Martin Hart (Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson). Two investigators who share neither the same methods nor the same vision of the world, but who nevertheless move forward together. Here, their disagreements go beyond simple personality: they also concern their conception of the power behind the ring and the heritage of the Green Lanterns.

With wild hair and a hangover across his face, Kyle Chandler is simply fantastic as Hal Jordan. His best role since Friday Night Lightswithout a doubt. His tired, disillusioned, sometimes even frankly unsympathetic vigilante is a thousand miles from the impeccable hero to which the genre has accustomed us. Opposite him, Aaron Pierre, superstar in the making, gives crazy charisma to his John Stewart. Their opposition electrifies each scene, but around them, each character is also carefully drawn to keep the distance. Special mention to Kelly Macdonald (former revelation of Trainspotting) who makes an impressive Nebraska sheriff.

And then as he knew how to do with WatchmenLindelof imbues his story with very contemporary concerns – without ever sacrificing fiction to discourse. The fractures in deep America, generalized distrust, barely veiled xenophobia and above all racial discrimination naturally permeate the story, particularly around the casting of John Stewart within the Green Lantern Corps. Nothing is ever simplified or blunted. Everything makes sense over the course of 8 episodes and an incredibly ambitious narrative, which does not hesitate to wander through time, passing from one era to another to tell the intersecting destinies of Jordan and Stewart.

This could all have quickly become confusing. Stunning. But if Damon Lindelof refuses the usual tropes of the superheroic genre, he does not forget the fundamentals: there is action, powers, and above all rhythm. Lots of rhythm. Lanterns becomes exciting very quickly. And even better: the screenwriter succeeds in subtly integrating his story into the new DC Universe. In its second part, the series makes the connection with Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), seen in Superman (last summer at the cinema) then in season 2 of Peacemaker. She fully participates in the construction of this shared universe.

A few weeks after the enormous failure of Supergirl in the cinema, James Gunn’s franchise really needed a strong signal to show that it was still breathing. Lanterns is this startle. Damon Lindelof has just shown the way. It’s up to James Gunn to know how to follow her…

Lanterns, in 8 episodes, to watch in France on HBO Max from Monday August 17, 2026.