"Lanterns"
Green is the color that counts for Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler in “Lanterns,” from HBO

"Lanterns"

Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre go way beyond the call of comic-book duty to bring humanity to the usual alien mashup.

By Peter Travers

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★★★ (3 out of 4)

What a bummer summer. This take on “Green Lantern” is a new primer on how not to film a comic book unless you want to screw it up. Flat FX, smirky acting, clunky writing and clueless direction. WTF?

Hey, wait a minute. I’m not talking about “Lanterns,” the new ratings juggernaut on HBO and HBO Max. I wrote those words in a 2011 Rolling Stone review of “Green Lantern,” a shamelessly soulless Hollywood product starring a miscast Ryan Reynolds, replacing his patented grin with square-jawed purpose as Hal Jordan, the reckless test pilot recruited by the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps to protect the world from evil.

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