DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. The new HBO series "Lanterns" puts a contemporary spin on the DC Comics series Green Lantern, which has been around since 1940. Kyle Chandler stars as Hal Gordon (ph), whose status as the Green Lantern is threatened by the appearance of his successor, played by the British actor Aaron Pierre. Our critic-at-large John Powers has seen the seven episodes available for preview and says that "Lanterns" is a superhero show aimed at people who may not like comic-book heroes.
JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: When I was a kid, I loved comic books. Spider-Man was my favorite. And my mom was cool with that. What she wasn't cool with was my college-age cousins or their dads reading about superheroes too. When will these dummies grow up? - she'd say. But a funny thing happened. It was the comics, not the dummies, that began to grow up.
Ever since the watershed year of 1986, with the advent of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen, the most ambitious superhero stories have aimed to tackle adult themes, which is how we get a series like HBO's "Lanterns," the latest in the scores of superhero series to air in the last 20 years. Riffing on the DC comic Green Lantern, this mashup of superpower action, odd-couple comedy and old-school cop story boasts the pleasures and betrays the perils of pushing the comic-book envelope. Kyle Chandler stars as Hal Jordan, a one-time test pilot whose fearlessness led the Guardians of the Universe to anoint him a Green Lantern - an intergalactic cop whose lantern-powered ring allows him to fly and create objects out of solid green light.
But over the years, Hal's become a scruffy, hard-to-handle wiseacre. The guardians want to replace him with his understudy, John Stewart. That's Aaron Pierre, a tall, no-nonsense ex-sniper whose parents trained him from boyhood to become the first Black Green Lantern. Predictably, the garrulous Hal knows this and connives against his would-be protege. When there's a mysterious murder in Rushville, Nebraska, the two get called in to see if there's anything outer spacey going on. Naturally, there is. Soon, they're dealing with a macho rancher, his enigmatic wife and a team of ETs out to kill a so-called Manhunter - an alien who's taken human form. Oh, yes, Hal and John Stewart also wrangle with the local sheriff, played by Kelly Macdonald, who invariably exudes such niceness that she'd be a blast as a James Bond villain.
Of course, this being a newfangled superhero story, our two Lanterns don't wrap things up neatly. Here, early on, Hal grills a Rushville local whom he suspects is actually a space alien.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LANTERNS")
KYLE CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) I love football too. When did Nebraska win its first national championship?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Sorry?
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) You love football. You're from Nebraska. Huskers' first championship, when was that?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) It was 1970. Bob Devaney.
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) That is correct. How about their first 200-yard rusher (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Frank Solich?
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) First Heisman winner?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Johnny Rodgers.
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan, laughing) Where did Harry Potter go to school?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Excuse me?
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) Harry Potter, boy wizard. What was the name of his school?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, whispering) I don't know (ph).
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) It was a book.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Well, I don't read a lot.
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) Well, you go to the movies, don't you? They only made, like, 22 of them.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Oh, I watch a lot of football.
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) And that's the rub, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) What?
CHANDLER: (As Hal Jordan) Pretending to be someone that you're not. You learn all the specifics but you don't learn what everyone else knows.
POWERS: I had a pleasant time watching "Lanterns." It's got sharp dialogue and a strong cast. Laura Linney turns up as a shape-shifting, not altogether trustworthy Guardian of the Universe. I especially enjoyed the byplay between Chandler's seedy, freewheeling Hal and Pierre's John Stewart, an honorable Sidney Poitier-type character whose immaculate poise must withstand a man whose antics drive him crazy.
Of course, you don't need superheroes for this kind of stuff, as countless buddy cop movies have made clear. This points to a key issue facing shows like "Lanterns" - does the theme you're exploring actually require superheroes or are they only there to milk IP, provide brand recognition and justify action sequences in which entire neighborhoods get flattened? Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is the best Batman movie, yet, what it says about vigilante justice was done better and more powerfully in the film "Dirty Harry," whose hero's only superpower was being played by Clint Eastwood.
"Lanterns" is relatively sparing in its use of comic-book elements. In this, it joins the likes of "Spider-Noir," "Watchmen" - the great TV series, not the dire movie - and the delightful "Wonder Man," one of this year's best shows, which Disney foolishly just canceled. These series care less about showing their heroes doing super things than exploring the meaning and cost of being a superhero both for oneself and for the world. Here, John Stewart faces a big question - does he really want to become a Green Lantern or are there good reasons to turn down all that power?
Now, I have to note that I watched "Lanterns" with a 23-year-old DC Comics fan who did not find that question especially compelling. Although he enjoyed watching, he kept loudly asking when the show would finally go into outer space like the comic, and when the ring would start creating cool green stuff. For him, why do Green Lantern if it's going to be more like "Lethal Weapon" or "True Detective"? A reasonable question. In fact, "Lanterns" shows the trickiness of retooling comic-book characters for a grown-up audience. If the show is too comic-booky (ph), viewers like me will get bored by the CGI mayhem and mind-numbing superhero mythology. If they're not comic-booky enough, the genre's loyal fans will feel cheated of the geeky, fun stuff that made them fans. It's not only in "The Odyssey" that you must find your way between Scylla and Charybdis.
BIANCULLI: John Powers reviewed the new HBO series "Lanterns," which premieres Sunday.
On Monday's FRESH AIR, when you're dieting to lose weight, human evolution is often working against you. We'll talk about why with Daniel Lieberman, author of "Fed Up" and founder of Harvard's Department of Evolutionary Biology. He'll also talk about diets he's tested and the often contradictory information about what's healthy to eat and what's not. Hope you can join us.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Sam Briger. For Terry Gross and Tonya Mosley, I'm David Bianculli.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALLISON MILLER AND BOOM TIC BOOM'S "OTIS WAS A POLAR BEAR") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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