Critic Reviews

While not as bursting with ideas as Lindelof’s best work or as visually stunning as “True Detective’s” most memorable scenes, “Lanterns” is an exciting synthesis of its creators’ strengths.

All in all, Lanterns is the solo Green Lantern project that DC fans deserve, with exciting action, complex characters, and a gritty, magnetic story.

While Lanterns comes with plenty of nods to the comics, you don’t need to do homework to keep up with what’s going on. It’s a beautifully crafted drama for adults. The performances are gloriously mature and the characters’ relationships are realistically complex.

Lanterns manages to create something of its own, singular but not reactive, as delightful as it is thoughtful, a superhero story for people who think they don’t like superhero stories.

In Chandler and Pierre, “Lanterns” has an extraordinary pairing that sustains enough frustration, humor, passion and regret to keep us rapt through the episodes provided for review. .... This adaptation one of the best of its kind in a long time.

Lanterns is a tough show to fit into any genre. It's also a deeply compelling, unpredictable series regardless of what you want to call it.

While not quite as thoughtful in its explorations of themes – “Watchmen” centered on race, “Lanterns” is more about fathers and sons, mentors and mentees — “Lanterns” easily outsmarts the average superhero show.

“Lanterns” is easily the best thing to arrive from the Gunn/Safran DC Studios era so far, lending credence to the idea that this universe must keep establishing its own creator-driven identity.

Structural unevenness aside, it’s grounded even when its superpowered main characters take flight, thanks primarily to stellar lead performances from Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, which lend this fantastical material its down-to-Earth soul.

Lanterns is a thrilling, highly entertaining season of television ... [with] two commanding lead actors that knock their roles out of the stadium.