D L – Google

One of the worse movie I have ever seen. I can’t think of a movie that infuriated me like this one. I felt I wasted two hours. I keep waiting for something to happen, but literally nothing happens for 98% of the movie. The pretentious wannabe-artsy nature of it makes it even more unbearable. The effects fell flat. The premise is basically the perpetrators living a normal and joyful life in the huge backdrop of the holocaust being planned and performed. But you don’t need to watch a 2-hour long movie to get it. This is almost like watching paint dry while hearing once in a while gunshots and screams. It’s not even subtle enough to be interesting. It’s not intellectually nor emotionally challenging. Maybe it’d work with viewers who have little idea of the horrors of war and the related crimes throughout history and unfamiliar (i.e. still too naive) with the reality that is the “banality of evil”. The only positive aspect about this movie is perhaps it’ll make some viewers realize it is portraying many of us in the west who go about our lives with our trivial issues while we let our leaders sponsor the similar kind of atrocities abroad.

I haven’t read the book but this is just another sci-fi TV show set in the future with highly advanced technology but with manners, customs and mentality of ancient civilizations. The most striking example is how the ruling Empire works. One specific example is the death by hanging scene — it’s as if we were in Rome in 10 BC. Ridiculous. In fact, all the drama around the emperors is ill-conceived and poorly executed. This is supposed to be sci-fi; I’m no interested in watching a soap opera in the Roman empire. The sci-fi aspect seems to be immaterial to the whole plot. That’s what I despise about these shows — the “sci-fi” is just a bait.

After 4 episodes of Season 1, I can't force myself to continue. Maybe it gets better later on but my time is too precious to find out. It seems to go in circles most of the time: retired detective pissed because he is retired, maniac pranking him, maniac at work, ex-partner who seems to have a GPS tracker on said retired detective because he has the habit of showing up regularly to remind the pissed retiree that he shouldn't work the case and that the pranks are no leads (the usual typical skeptic colleague), scenes where character uses the computer (what's more boring than that?). Rinse, repeat. Not a single character is likeable (arguably a Stephen King staple). When, after a handful of episodes, I couldn't care less about what'll happen to the main character, it's a clear sign the show is not for me. Acting is okay. Ex-detective's interactions with neighbor were interesting. So two stars.

I presume being pointless and contrived may be viewed as artsy and original by some? This movie is simply a series of (mostly silly) events perpetrated by a psychopath with a bunch of retards (and I'm not referring to those with the recognized medical condition) as accomplices/victims. We already have a good idea of the psychopath's fate and that's pretty much how the movie ends, nothing more. The entire movie basically feels like if you were reading a newspaper article about a criminal who has recently being arrested. It lacks meaning and character development. It's extremely disappointing because the first 15 minutes were very intriguing. (The circumstances leading to the psychopath's fate were totally silly and uncharacteristic of him: deciding to go stay at one of his victims' apartment.) I like the genre of music in the movie but sometimes, it just doesn't seem to fit the scene.