It's safe to say that interms of cinematic output the DCU has been of to a rocky start and yet when it comes to it's TV output it's been a roaring success. With nearly all of the shows that are set in the new DCU being big hits well now there is another show out there and well I just had to check out this first episodes the very first chance that I got to see if the DCU can bounce back from Supergirl and so then join me as I gibe you my SPOILER FILLED first impressions of the show that doesn't lack the color green with the show in question being called simply just "Lanterns" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his trainee John Stewart have to investigate a small town when a group of people are murdered. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To be frank this episodes plot could have been a lot more better as this is the first episode of a new show and therefor you do want to start out with your best foot forward and this is something that isn't really coming across in this episode as the plot does feel thin at best. With the episode itself not really giving it's plot alot of focus which is something that it really should have done as it does make the plot of the episode feel more like an afterthought when compared to anything else in the episode, heck the episode doesn't really devote that much time to it's main plot as it spends more time in setting up the rest of the show which is fine as you do have to set up alot of things in the first episode of a new show but here it comes at the expense of the episodes plot and it does get to the point where you are left wondering what the main plot of the episode even is as so little time is spent on it that you do have to remind yourself of what the plot of the episode is even meant to be in the first place and is something that does end up doing more harm to the episodes plot then it does good with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan / Green Lantern and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart / Green Lantern. Also starring in this episode is Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry Kane , Garret Dillahunt as Will Macon , Poorna Jagannathan as Zoe Macon , Jason Ritter as Billy Macon , Chris Coy as Waylon Sanders , Michael Ocampo as Deputy Lopez , Cristina Marie Frias as Janet Sloane , Shirl Boe as Nice Woman , Doug Long as Thick Neck , Ben Strickler as Sheriff Simpson and Tony Toboada as Sheriff Everett.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. To fair here this episodes acting is the kind of acting that you would expect to see in the first episode of a new TV show as all oof the shows actors are still trying to find there characters and that does mean that the acing in this episode won't be as good as the acting in say the season finale for example and while there are a few bright spots in this episode acting wise with the likes of both Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre being good examples of this the rest of the episodes acting just felt rather flat and lifeless. With the best actor in this episode being Kyle Chandler with him making for a really good older version of Hal Jordan with him making what could have been seen as being a dull take on the character still seem charming with his performance reflecting that and heck he even has some really good chemistry with Aaron Pierre which is perfect for this show and this episode as there chemistry is going to carry the show moving forward, Kyle while he isn't as good as Ryan Reynolds was as Hal he does give you a good performance that while it does have room to grow his performance is of to a good start with his natural charisma really shining through in his performance. With the acting that's inn this very episode really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes actors anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
Doing the CGI for this episode is the really legends and the greats that are currently over at Legacy Effects. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. There shocking isn't that much CGI in the episode was the episode barely even using any kind of effects at all which for a superhero show is oddly refreshing to see as alot of the time they are filled to the brim with withe CGI effects and yet here in this little show just by going off of this first episode alone there really isn't that many effects to be seen in the episode. With the only three effects that I saw in the episode being a scene with Hal taking off flying , the numerous shots of Hal using the ring and an explosion and that's really it and to be fair to this episode they all looked really good or as good as they could be given that this is still a TV show after all and those do come with certain limitations when it comes to things like the budget as while this episode doesn't really have alot of effects in it when it does have some effects they hit all the more harder as we are not being bombarded with tons of effects like we do in alot of modern superhero movies which does make it refreshing to see a superhero show actually hold itself back and not do everything inside off of a computer with the effects that we do get looking really good with the digital double for Hal looking fairly impressive and the effects used to the create the things that the ring makes looking as good as they could have done with the the one effect is a slight let down being the explosion near the end of the episode but that really it with the rest of the effects looking really good.
SPOILERS START HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thankfully the one thing that should never an effect isn't an effect as we get to see what looks to be a fully practical Green Lantern suit. Which we do get to see Hal wear at the start of the episode and while he suit is only seen very briefly in the episode it does look really good and is easily better then the CGI mess of a suit that they used in the 2011 film of course there is always a chance that the suit was done in CGI as as of this writing there hasn't been any VFX breakdowns for the episode released but if it is a CGI suit then one does have to wonder why they bothered to do it as the 2011 film proved that something like that doesn't work and if it's a fully practical suit then it does look really good with the suit being a slightly more modified version of the suit used in the comics. This episode does have someone who does know his way around science fiction television directing as this is episode is directed by James Hawes whom has directed five episodes of modern Doctor Who it's 2005 and 2006 seasons respectively and to be fair having him be the one to make the first two episodes of the show is a smart choice as he would have had that expirence not only working in science fiction on as mentioned Doctor Who but also working on American science fiction as he made an episode of Raised By Wolves with him being able to make the script by show creators Chris Mundy , Damon Lindelof and Tom King somehow seem more filmable this doesn't make there script good but James does show a skill for being able to make sense of the script and knowing what to film with something like Hal's practical suit being something that did need to be filmed as it shows us just how the Hal of the past is different from the Hal of 2016.
There really is nothing all that interesting about the episode and this something that does make alot of sense as the makers of this show are more used to tell stories that last years and drip feeding us information. This is something that would be perfectly OK if this show was a bogstandard twenty two episode season yet it's not it's eight episodes and we don't even know not only what the season plot is but also who the main villain of the show is as this is something that really should have been set up in this episode and while there is some merit to drip feeding us information in a shorter season show the show still needs to have talented writers that know what there doing to make it work and judging by this first episode that is something that it the makers of this show are missing. Again this is not to say that having information given to us slowly couldn't work as somethin like Game Of Thrones has proven that it can but inorder for it to work all of the episodes have to knock it out off the park and find someway of advancing the plot where as with this episode it takes so long in starting of the episodes main plot that it forgets to start of the plot for the season this is something that very easily could have been fixed just by removing the pointless prolog scene with a young John Stewart and his family as that scene adds nothing to the episode out of John giving one throwaway character some advice and that's it and heck that prolog scene is even quite confusing as John's brothers act as if there father is going to abuse them if they he catches them watching TV and yet he doesn't do that he just takes John outside puts an apple on his head and shoots the apple off him and that's which makes you wonder why his brothers were acting like he was going to abuse them in the first place.
This episode does take place across three different time periods with the prolog taking place in 1986 with the rest of the episode taking place in 2016 and the final scene of the episode taking place in 2026. This something that does look like will be happening across the rest of the show as well as we know from how this episode ends that Hal and John are still in this small town heling out the local Sheriff which would place the main bulk of the action in 2016 with the mystery surrounding what's happened to the seemingly dead Hal and where his ring is taking place in 2026 which to be fair to the makers of this show is a really good mystery an it's one that should get alot more focus on as it is something that does open the door Guy Gardner to come back in at the end for a quick cameo as it wouldn't make sense for John to not know that Hal is dead as he'd have his ring but if the ring went to someone else then it would make alot of sense and having Guy have the ring would make sense as we know in Superman 2025 that he is using a Green Lantern ring therefor who's to say that the ring he's using isn't or wasn't Hal Jordan's ring of course there could be someone else who ends up with the ring and that would work as well there is of course a chance that Hal is somehow alive or that the ring was stolen and not given to someone, this is where this series could well and truly as if the makers of this show were smart then they'd get right on giving us clues as to what actually happend not only to Hal and his ring but also what happend to clearly cause him and John to become distant after the events of this first season as this is something that would make what is sadly appearing to be a dull and lifeless show appear to be alot more interesting.
Now the this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty six minuets and twenty eight seconds. Which is something that does make this episode a bit of chore to sit through as there was really no need for this episode to be this long as you could have told the entire plot of this episode in well under that amount of time and that's even taking into account all of the things that this episode has to set up and given the fact that it does have alot of things to set up it does mean that something does end up falling threw the cracks which in this case does end up being the episodes main plot as the makers of this episode just don't seem that interested in the plot of the episode with this episode having more then enough plot there to really cover that amount of running time. With this episode not even using it's running time all that wisely as the episodes doesn't take the time to fully develop it's plot as while this is understandable as the season does have seven other episodes to develop its plot there still needed to be some foundation being layed in this episode for that development to not only happen but also make sense as yet there was none of that in the episode with the episode feeling more like an episode of Lost and it's approach to storytelling then it it's own thing with the makers of this episode being more focused on giving us a pointless prolog scene then there were in developing the episodes plot. Sadly this is also something that does also effect the episodes characters as well with this also being understandable as you could make the case for the characters getting there development in the other episodes which is fair enough as this really is only the first episode but again much like with the plot there still really needs to be that foundation built for the development to happen and going off of this episode that does seem like something that we're really not getting with the makers of this episode putting more thought and effort into to one interrogation scene then they did into giving the characters character development but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. As much like with the House Of The Dragon season 2 finale his episode does have more of a focus on drama and not on action however unlike the House Of The Dragon season 2 finale there is a couple of brief action scenes in the episode both of which happen to feature Hal and both of which happen mostly in the background altho the latter one play more of a role in the episode tho. With the best action scene in the whole entire episode being the interrogation fight scene as we see Hal and Waylon Sanders trying to first outwit each other with Hal being convinced that Waylon is an alien and when he gets proven right Waylon then proceeds to taunt him by reciting the Green Lantern oath amongst other things with Waylon using the bomb in his body to to try and blow up the police station with the whole thing being stopped by Hal using the last of his rings power to contain most of the blast with some of it getting threw with this action scene working because of the fact that it is a key plot point in the episode and is something that could prove to be a key scene in the rest of the first season moving forward as while it is is more of a drama focused scene we do get some hints of action in it that help to make be as good as it id is with the rest of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
SPOILERS END HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overall if this episode is anything to go by that yikes does this show have a long way to go before its good but in all fairness to the show it very well could start t turn around next week but the show has left a bad first impression and that is something that will always be hard to shake off in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that are in this very episode in this very post and wit this being the first episode of the show I won't be giving this a rating however if i'm still watching the show by the time the final episode is released then i'll do a review of the show as a whole.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally sued in this very post well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very post from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.





























