So I've had some time to digest the "Lanterns" trailer, and when they said this was gonna have "True Detective" vibes...I was NOT expecting a carbon copy. There are some words that I have to say, but I think most of it has already been said. Just for the record, I'm gonna add my two cents. Here we go;
I have no problem with The Green Lantern investigating an Earth-related issue, after all, that's what he does, but having two Green Lanterns show up in a car and out of uniform is just weird. Weirder still in the color scheme for this show, and again, I wouldn't be calling it out if they didn't already poison the well by saying "True Detective". The color scheme for "True Detective" was Yellow, a very desaturated yellow, an almost jaundiced color as a reference to The Yellow King and the decay surrounding Rust and Hart. For this show, however, there is a noticeable amount of brown to the extent that people are calling this Brown Lanters. I'm not saying this show needs to be green all over, but even the ring itself doesn't pop. If I showed this trailer to anyone who was familiar with Green Lantern and wasn't aware that there was a TV show, they'd assume this is a run-of-the-mill Detective show with the same Young Cop/Old Cop dynamic instead of a superhero detective show.
The real issue is that the 1st season of "True Detective" was lightning in a bottle, and that's why other seasons have failed to meet the bar, and "Lanterns" looks like it's following in that same vein, but in a bad way. By that I mean, "True Detective" is an anthology, "Lanterns" has not been pitched as a mini-series, but we're imagining this is gonna get a 2nd Season, and if that's the case, they're gonna have to make the overarching mystery of the series more than a few humans with guns. That's the real issue I have here: given the trailer, I see nothing going on worthy of Green Lantern's powers. And I get that they have to keep some things hidden to surprise you in the show, but I haven't seen one alien or alien-like weapon or anything otherworldly that'd suggest we're watching something other than a detective show.
I have no gripe against the actors; the actors look fine. Kyle Chandler is a weird choice for Hal Jordan, but playing an older Hal Jordan ready to pass the baton to John Stewart, I can dig it. But overall, this trailer does look like someone in the editing room said, "Make sure people don't know this is a superhero show." I mean, we get a shot of Hal Jordan flying, and that's about the only otherworldly thing we get. I'm not gonna go all in on the trailer because, for the most part, I don't hate it, but I don't like it either. There's enough here for me to ask just what in the hell is going on, and with a run of 8 episodes (probably an hour each) I'll check it out. But there is much to be said about the idea of genre-mashing. I have no problem mashing a superhero story with a detective story or any other genre. Superhero isn't the genre; Superhero is the character, and the story needs to understand how that character best operates. The Green Lanterns are an intergalactic police force that protects their sector of the galaxy from intergalactic threats, not domestic SO an investigative story where The Green Lanterns discover an otherworldly threat masking as a domestic one would be right up the Green Lanterns' alley, but they need to understand that THEY'RE GREEN LANTERNS and they have a lot at their disposal.
Last but not least, can I just state that Hal can talk to the other Lanterns because the ring is a universal translator? I suppose I should make that absolutely 100% clear because the power ring and The Green Lantern Corp in and of themselves, wouldn't make any sense if you gathered together a group of aliens for one common goal and they couldn't understand you or anyone else. Hal Jordan, thanks to The Power Ring, is able to read and understand alien language perfectly because the ring translates to him in real time. Brainiac 5's Legion rings also have a universal translator built in. Also on its own Wikipedia page for the power ring, you'll see that the ring has a universal translator built in. There is literally no language Hal Jordan wouldn't be able to understand while he's wearing his ring.
So this bullsh*t about Hal not talking to the other Lanterns? What about Sinestro (who's supposed to appear in this series), what about Kilowog? Abin Sur? Guess Hal never spoke to any of them. I digress. That small comment there raises the last of my issues, and that's the overall...Embarrassment, I feel from the trailer that it has to admit it's a superhero show, and that's where I'm furrowing my brow. DC has had a Batman problem for a long time in that Batman is the only superhero they can take seriously because the others aren't realistic or can't really be dark/gritty. Not everything can be or should be dark and gritty, and Green Lantern is one of those things that, if given the kinda care it needs, could really turn into something awesome. I hope DC/Warner Bros. get it together, we'll see what shakes down when the show actually drops. Next time, kiddo.
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