Yet, when I heard that Vince Gilligan was making a sequel about Jesse Pinkman’s fate, I was thrilled, to say the least. Not because I cared about Jesse, but because Gilligan is one of my top 3 most favourite directors. Actually, top 2. Well, since Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s failure with “Wild Pear Tree”, Mr.Gilligan is my most favourite director. A kind that you’d queue up for hours and blindly throw your money at.

Now, the 2 hours of El Camino is over and I am not as enthusiastic as before.

El Camino is a finely directed and produced movie. It is thoroughly well-written, too. Murad argues that it does not contribute to the overall story line, but maybe it was never about the story line. I could easily write a dozen of very decent quotes from El Camino. People from all walks of life could talk about Jesse’s situation and decisions for hours. And that is the art that Gilligan delivers, which he usually magnificently weaves into a superb story line. So, no matter how perfect, the story line has always been secondary. Therefore, it could very well be that Gilligan didn’t seek to contribute to the overall story with El Camino, hence why he failed in that department (read Murad’s opinion on why and how he failed).

But this failure was not what made me uncomfortable watching Jesse driving off in Alaska and the credits rolling.

Let me go back to saying that Vince Gilligan is my favourite director and I adore his work like no one else’s. Every time I say this, tho, I pause for a second and think about Hancock.

Until now, that feature was his only mediocre work in the past two decades. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, as he was not the one who wrote the original script, it was his first feature, etc. But El Camino completed “the Gilligan puzzle” for me.

Vince Gilligan has a peculiar story-telling technique. He sets up the scene carefully and sweats every detail, gives us insight into the characters’ emotional situation, provides the necessary background (isn’t he big on flashbacks), and then triggers the action. No wonder that action ends up making perfect sense and leaving a lasting impact. And apart from being a genius writer and a skillful director, he needs one essential ingredient to achieve these – time. Which he usually has plenty of. Take Better Call Saul – four seasons in, and it is only just stepping into what the story is really about. Long story short, it is Gilligan’s signature to roll a slow introduction into the action.

He does not have that luxury in a feature film.

If you tried to elevator-pitch Breaking Bad, it would have sounded mediocre at best. Unlike Inception, Slumdog Millionaire, Catch Me If You Can, et. al. Yet, Breaking Bad is a masterpiece that made a bold mark in the history of cinematography. This paradox is rooted in the fact that its storyline is secondary. Thinking of El Camino, that is the one phrase that comes to my mind – an elevator pitch of upcoming series.

Murad said that El Camino felt like three movies squashed into one. I claim that each one of those three could be made into a season, especially considering Gilligan’s narration techniques. That’s exactly what I watched in those 2 hours of Netflixing – an abridged supercut of 3 seasons of a brilliant series that will never exist.

Going back to “the Gilligan puzzle” – the missing piece is his elevator-pitching skills.

Now that Jesse Pinkman sorted his vacuum cleaner, are we back to Saul Goodman’s path to his Hoover MaxExtract 60? I certainly hope so, and I want to see my favourite director back at doing what he does the best.

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Story

Space ship is crash landing. Sitting in the hub, trying to subdue their anxiety are members of Robinson family. They know that computer will take care of landing, so all they can do is just sit tight and play cards. They were on the way to Alpha Centauri aboard mothership Resolute to establish a colony. And now they don’t know what happened and why are they crash landing. We will soon learn that they were handpicked to be on the ship. Despite being a family, each one of them had to pass a rigorous test to fill the needed position on the ship: Maureen Robinson is mission commander. Her husband John is mission pilot and ex-military. Their daughters: Judy is doctor and Penny is mechanic. Their youngest is 11-year-old brilliant engineer Will.

Landing is not soft at all. Their ship lands on what seems to be an ice mountain, triggering avalanches and ice movement. They don’t know where they are, planet seems totally unfamiliar and yet has breathable air. Space ship starts sinking so they had to abandon it immediately. While trying to recover batteries from the sunken ship, Judy gets stuck in the immediately freezing waters. Family needs to act fast to free her out. At this point they don’t care that apparently the reason they crashed was because their mother ship was attacked by an alien robot, that surprisingly also crashed on the same planet. In fact, not so far from the Robinsons. And that robot might not be the most dangerous thing that survived the crash landing.

Jupiter 2 crashing to the planet

Structure

In the best tradition of Netflix series, season 1 of “Lost in Space” is also 10 episodes long. And the way it is structured might seem pretty weird. First couple of episodes play out like a survival video game. Go there, gather this, travel back, click here, do that. And repeat through different quests. Then the show makes a wild turn and totally abandons that idea and becomes family drama. Last two episodes becomes an action piece.

What I did enjoy is that each family member was given an independent backstory. Series pick us up from the crash moment, but there are flashbacks to what happened almost through whole season, even up to the last episode. These flashbacks basically answer most of the questions we have and help understand motivations behind each character’s action. There is a certain family drama. Maureen and John are on the brink of divorce, the only thing keeping them together is their children. I enjoyed their story arc, it gave them more emotional context to operate in. Maureen seems to be strong and independent, after all she is not only an accomplished scientist, but also managed to raise three children, while John was constantly away on military deployment. John knows literally nothing about his children. He understands and regrets that and tries to do everything to connect with them.

Children also have their skeletons in the closet. Judy, despite looking tough and agile like her mother, is still green and still needs a push to overcome her fears of being independent. Penny is a teenager, who no one listens to and who desperately wants her own space. And maybe a little faith from her parents. Will is a brilliant kid, but totally lacks social life. He has no friends and is in desperate need of father figure he missed so much. All these conflicts and their resolution is the backbone of the whole series.

Maureen (Parker) and John (Stephens) trying to figure out how lost they are

Style

While emotional conflicts between the characters carries “Lost in Space” it is that these exact conflicts that create most of the problems through the series. Characters constantly are trying to talk to each other, explain their feelings, or vice versa not tell anything because they are afraid how the other party will react to that. This turns otherwise potentially fun premise into an emotional rut. You will be surprised how much plot progresses because at some point children decide to withhold information from their parents. And for no apparent reason! Also, emotional state of several

members of the family leads to almost a disaster that could have been easily avoided.

As I mentioned above, episodes 3 to 8 are extremely slow. There is a lot happening, but everything is done with such slow pace that I wanted to give up watching the show. There were several cliffhangers throughout, that were never resolved or resolution extended to be the whole new story arc that didn’t lead anywhere. Like fuel recovery mission. Feels like it was written to fill the gaps and have an extra episode for nothing.

Unnamed planet looks like Earth, somehow

Other issue I had was with locale. The planet, at first seemed totally alien-like and full of danger. It turns out the planet is not that different, neither physically or visually from Earth. I mean, you can’t just add couple of moons and some weird insects/bats/hippos and call it an alien planet! Do some things to it goddamit! This is not 60’s, you can make ANYTHING with some CGI and whatnot. Otherwise it pretty much looks like a postcard view from Canada, Alaska or Iceland.

Series also has an identity crisis in terms of audience selection. For the whole run of season 1 “Lost in Space” juggles between being a kid-friendly space adventure to adult oriented survival and drama. There is certain emotional depth to it, so series is either too dark for kids or too lame for adults. Not sure why Netflix chose to do it. Totally messes the whole experience.

Acting

There is nothing much I can say about acting in “Lost in Space”. The actors do their job, but it is surprisingly the actors who play the children – Taylor Russell (Judy), Mina Sundwall (Penny) and Maxwell Jenkins (Will) who really shine. Firstly, I have to compliment acting department, they literally chose child actors who look like their on-screen parents. I even had to google if Mina Sundwall was an actual daughter of Molly Parker or not. Second, they are probably the sincerest actors in the film. Judy is strong and independent young woman who is just on first steps of her life path. Russell shows deep internal struggle, yet externally is determined and in complete control.

Children (Jenkins, Sundwall and Russell) teaching robot

Penny is a teenager who just wants to live her life. She wants for everyone to stop treating her like a kid and is the only one who completely misses her old life on Earth. Sundwall is able to portray her not as a moody princess, but as a girl who just wants to have a life of a teenager. She wants to fall in love and be loved. Will is young kid who needs a friend. Not a father, but just a friend. Someone he can talk to and share his thoughts. Although I found his character annoying, I did enjoy how Jenkins was able to show everything that was requested of him.

That I can’t say about the villain, Dr.Smith, played by Parker Posey. She was supposed to be a psychopath manipulator, which requires constant shift in her performance. Unfortunately, Posey can’t deliver that wide spectrum of emotions. Her manipulative version was good. She felt genuine. But whenever we see her true self, it just seems fake. And that ruins the whole picture.

Summary

“Lost in Space” has an interesting premise. Season starts as a survival, but then turns into a family drama and ends with action. These shifts are not subtle, especially drama stage seemed totally slow and at times incredibly dull. Season had 10 episodes, and believe there is enough ground to cover for 10 episodes, yet some of the episodes have been poorly structured. Emotional backstory to the Robinson family was a nice addition and made heroes really relatable, however most of the plot is dragged because of the inability of characters to resolve their issues. On top of that, the villain was not written/executed well.

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Story

End of 24th century. Takeshi Kovacs wakes up after 250-year-long “sleep” in a new body. Humanity has long defeated death by inventing “stacks” – alien-based device that is implanted into all humans recording every single thing that host does – his personality, memories, character, etc. Human body is no longer a constraint. If you die, your stack (given that it was not damaged) is just inserted into new (or previously owned) body – or “sleeve” and viola! You can run again. Or you don’t even have to die to change sleeve. If you are rich enough you can just buy yourself a new sleeve and become whoever you would like to be.

Before he was put to sleep – “iced” – Takeshi was a renegade revolutionary with extremely deadly set of battle skills. 250 year has changed a lot and he soon realizes that everything he fought against during his life has now become a reality. But he doesn’t have much time to enjoy his new body. He is informed that he has been awakened by mega-rich businessman Laurens Bancroft. He needs Kovacs’ help. See, weeks ago Laurens was murdered. He has been restored to his old backup and has no recollection, of course, of what happened to him. Everything leads to conclusion that he killed himself. But Laurens, who has been living for 300 years, will not accept the fact that he would just end his life. Takeshi needs to find his murderer. And then he will be free.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) gets instructions from Bancroft (Purefoy)

To complicate things, Kovacs pretty soon realizes that a lot of weird things are happening. Firstly, police detective Kristin Ortega has 24/7 surveillance on him. Second, he immediately attracts attention of some high-level criminals. Third, he realizes that the body he has now has belonged to someone who had his own share of enemies. And lastly that Laurens has extremely deep secrets. After all, you can’t just avoid death and not proclaim yourself a God.

Structure

First season of “Altered Carbon” is 10 episodes long. Series starts literally as classic film noir. Character has hateful monologues about reality and what not, there is a “damsel in distress,” soon Kovacs finds a sidekick, in a form of AI hotel proprietor. Somewhere around episode 4 show slowly takes a turn into more of action-fantasy genre. Kovacs’ investigation takes him to investigate various underground gambling, fighting and prostitution dens. Series really slows down somewhere by episode 6, unfortunately. There are multiple twists that basically put Kovacs on completely different track from his main investigation. Of course, it all is tied together in the end and season finishes with strong comeback and offers an ending that will not disappoint.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) punches his way out of zero gravity fight club

There is a lot of social commentary. Series is full with philosophical discussion on what is soul and why should we avoid death. I liked how the world was setup – although the technology to replace bodies exists only the richest of them all can afford it. Regular people still struggle as they used to do before. Yes, if you die you get a new body, but this body can be anyone’s. Early in the first episode we see six-year-old girl, who has died in accident, given a body of older woman. You should have paid, they tell her parents. There is also religious people, called Neo-Catholics who refuse to be revived when they die. Police though has permission to bring back to life criminals for interrogation or victims to testify in court. This world is so rich and

very vivid, it almost makes total sense.

Style

“Altered Carbon” stylistically resembles Blade Runner in every single aspect. Neon lights, rain and gloomy scenes make dirty city even dirtier. But unlike another Netflix crap called Mute, “Altered Carbon” offers totally immersive world. Virtual reality and AI simulation plays a big part, which somewhat give series a new edge. Also I really enjoyed the action scenes through the series. I have double feelings about is Kovacs’ backstory. Directors intentionally withhold information, thus artificially moving plot forward. Up until episode 4, we are given almost no clue about who he was and what he has done and then suddenly there is almost 2 episodes devoted to his past.

Kovacs (Kinnaman) holds his body hostage

If I say that “Altered Carbon” has a lot of nudity, it would be an understatement. There is just a LOT of it. Mind, it is not more than Westworld and definitely less than Spartacus, but you will be surprised how many naked female bodies are there. One scene involves a fight with a dozen of totally nude clones. People are complaining that it is distracting. I don’t think it was distracting a bit, but then again even without nudity the series would have lost anything. It was just at times redundant, that’s all I am saying.

Acting

I have to give it to producers for a bold statement. “Altered Carbon” doesn’t have any A-list actors. Instead the cast is relatively unknown. Surprisingly they all deliver very precise performances. Joel Kinnaman plays new Kovacs and he is strong, cynical, sarcastic, unbending, and smart. James Purefoy is Laurens Bancroft and he is a total charmer as gazillionaire with God complex. I specifically liked the casting of Martha Higareda as

Martha Higareda kicks ass as detective Ortega

detective Kristin Ortega. She has short, dark complexion with curvy figure and is visually total opposite of basically every single female actress on the show. Higareda completely owns her part. She is strong, independent woman, who will not stop until she reaches the bottom of it. Since Kovacs is cynical and unemphatic, Ortega offers us a moral beacon for the most part of the season. Also I will mention Dichen Lehman and Ato Essandoh. Both deliver solid performances that require emotional investment.

Summary

“Altered Carbon” starts very strong, offers immersive world, interesting story and worthy heroes. Unfortunately pacing slows down drastically towards the middle and diverges from main storyline. But it is able to recover towards the end and deliver satisfying ending. Looking forward for Season 2.

The post Altered Carbon – Season 1 appeared first on Kino-AZ.

Story

Leo is mute. He suffered an accident in his childhood and his mother, being Amish, decided not to fix his vocal chords. But so does Leo, even though he is now all grown up, he has put himself in a “vocal exile”. He is barmen at a strip club in futuristic Berlin. He is in love with Naadireh, who is waitress at same club. Surprisingly enough she is also in love with him. Naadireh has a secret. She wants to tell it to Leo. She should tell it to Leo. But she doesn’t, because all that matters for Leo is that Naadireh is with him and he doesn’t need to know her secret, see. Then Naadireh disappears. Leo tries to look for her to no avail. Until he starts receiving weird anonymous texts.

Meanwhile, there are two underground surgeons. Cactus Bill and Duck are their names. Cactus Bill has a six-year-old daughter and he is AWOL in Berlin. He is trying to escape Germany, but for that he has to pay his dues by working for local gangster. Duck has unhealthy obsession with little girls. That’s it.

Writing

This is the core thing that is messed up with this film. And since writing is a mess, nothing can make this film better. Mute hero (Alexander Skarsgard), designed in the likeness of a regular Liam

Leo and love of his life, Naadireh

Neeson type character gets into situation where he needs to get out of his bubble and do whatever it takes to save his love. Or so he thinks. We are supposed to root for this character, but he is so badly written that I can’t see how anyone would be on his side at all! Then there is the fact that he is not even the center of the film. Majority of the story takes place around Cactus Bill character. It is very annoying, until film tells us in the end that Leo and Bill are connected (which was not a surprise at all)

But even then it doesn’t make much sense! The whole movie literally takes place between this two. The contrast of their characters, personalities, moral values, backstories and developments is what supposed to be driving this film. Instead the resolution is awkward, fast and ridiculous. Which I think is best, because it would have made this film even longer than it is (already at almost 2 hours long). Supporting cast is even worse. Bunch of characters who we should not care appear in and out of the story at a random pace, just to have Leo go from place A to place B. There is not a single likable character in this film.

Then there is his girlfriend (Seyneb Saleh), the one that is the center (or one of the centers) of the whole film. Why Leo likes her, I have no clue. Maybe because she is the one and only person to ever speak to Leo, at all. She is supposed to see something in him, something others don’t. It is supposed to be a pure love. He is not just a mute, she sees beyond that. But from the resolution of the film we find out that she actually liked him because he IS mute, not in spite of it. So much for pure love, indeed.

Acting

Paul Rudd in Mute. No comments.

Here I must note that the half responsibility for the lack of likability falls on the actors. First, you have Aleksandr Skarsgard trying something out of his shell, but what he basically does is just sit quiet. Because he is mute, see. He walks around with the notepad, which instead of using it to communicate with others, he just doodles into. All his traits make Leo look not just mute, but mentally impaired. And this is not only my impression, even other characters in the film refer to him as a big dummy. Paul Rudd playing ridiculous character Cactus Bill looks even more ridiculous in his weird handlebar mustache and most ridiculous when he tries to act seriously. Justin Theroux who plays his “friend” Duck is a creep, even without the whole pedophile context to him. Rest of the cast is not even worth mentioning.

Directing

“Let’s just throw in bunch of neon signs and have a stupid voice do public announcements over the speakers” was the idea of giving this film a science fiction look. This is the most boring display in any sci-fi film of recent that I have ever seen. There is literally zero novelty, zero logic and zero rationale to the whole science fiction aspect of it. This makes Lord of the Rings look like the greatest sci-fi movie ever.

Then there is editing. When you have a film that is slow, you just can’t have fast cuts. It just doesn’t make sense. In this film there are literally no shots that last more than three seconds. This is

Leo (Skarsgard) watching some neon signs that represent our bright future

supposed to be a long and contemplating film, man! Not just random action BS made by Michael Bay.

Which is a shame, because director is Duncan Jones, whose previous works are acclaimed “Moon” and “Source Code“. This was apparently his pet project for a long time. Was it really? It feels like he did it just to throw off his chest.

Summary

It is clumsy, ridiculous film, that makes little sense. Badly written and directed, this film should be avoided, if possible. Another dud from Netflix, it solidifies the trend that Netflix is becoming a dump space for movies that otherwise would bomb incredibly at the box office.

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