Robert Hayes

Beautiful, original and a slow burn albeit somewhat meandering. An underrated movie and one of a type that we are seeing less and less of available in the cinema. Worth watching on the largest screen possible if you can. A great performance from Fiennes. Keen to see more from the director - my first of his movies. Thought this was more sophisticated than anything I've seen from his more famous brother.

The intrigue keeps you watching but the twist endings are usually shallow and disappointing (which doesn't do many favours to Peele after Get Out's third act as he lends his brand, voice and face to this series). Really good themes but a generally sloppy delivery. Aside from that, the acting and production value is absolutely on point and there are a couple episodes which I would recommend watching to almost anyone. "Replay", touching on the realities of discrimination in American society and "Six Degrees of Freedom", which follows a Mars-bound space crew as they flee an earth falling into nuclear apocalypse, are the absolute highlights of the show and, in my eyes, come close to realising this reboot's potential, the latter in terms of intrigue and spine-chillingness and the former in terms of progressive modern social commentary. "A traveler" is also a somewhat high point, despite leaving a bit to be desired in the second half. The rest is mostly flat as a pancake but "The Wunderkind" & "Not All Men" are particularly messy and out-of-place in a show which seems already content with mediocrity. I can't really say that the show doesn't do something unique. Anthological episodes, cool concepts, and brash exploration of important modern social issues ranging from the treatment of indigenous people to gun control. I just wish it did it with more sophistication and in a way which didn't sacrifice the narrative for the message on most occasions. More subtlety could have gone a long way to help hammer home the themes.