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In Reply to: Altered Carbon on Netflix posted by user510 on February 26, 2018 at 16:53:48:
It seems I may be in the minority here in watching this series. However I suspect that it is the genre, cyberpunk sci-fi, that does not seem so attractive to many.This is a violent series with, often times, a sinister and malicious energy at work.
There is much 'virtual reality' in effect. For instance interrogation can be carried out in a virtual reality where the subject can experience pain and death multiple times while the interrogater can manipulate short term memory so that the subject does not remember the last session (where he 'virtually' died). All this happens while the subject lies strapped into a hospital bed with sensors attached to his/her cranium and a staff of scientific types moniter computer screens as the session proceeds.
In some ways there are scenes that remind me of the dream hacking that went into the movie Inception (2010)
There is full frontal female nudity in abundance. And these are well endowed characters. I suppose this might be the sort of production that Weinstein might approve of...but that is just conjecture on my part.
The protagonist, Kovacs, is Asian by birth but awakes into this series, 250 years after his death, in a Caucasian cloned body. We see several memory flashbacks to his past in order to fully understand the nature of this character. In these scenes we see what motivates and defines him. These flashbacks are dramatized by an alternate team of character actors and in these scenes we see Kovacs, in his original Japanese body, living out his previous adventures. If I count correctly there are three different actors that play Kovacs at different times of his existence.
As it turns out, this particular body Kovacs now inhabits is a clone that one of the central characters knew and that had just previously died.All the data from the mind of the deceased is retained on a small disk that is inserted into the spinal collumn just beneath the crainium. This disk, called a "stack" can be re-inserted into a newly cloned body as need be. In this way a kind of immortality becomes possible for those able to afford the costs associated with the process of renewal. However, if the "stack" is destroyed, the victim is truly dead and can not be revived. Except, it has been suggested, that some among the most wealthy have worked around this limiting factor and now can duplicate a stack as well. Cost being the object.
Btw, a cloned body in this series is referred to as a "sleeve". The metaphor being that when you wear out one body you simply put your "stack" into a new "sleeve".
There is an over-arcing story line that resolves itself by the final episode of the season.
There are some interesting peripheral characters. Perhaps most notable is an "AI" character that goes by the name of Poe. Poe operates a hotel called The Raven. It is at The Raven Hotel where our protagonist, Kovacs, sets up his home base and with Poe as a paid and highly resourceful assistant who, at times, operates as a talented butler, other times as the hotel clerk, operates hotel defence systems, and still at other times as a counselor to those in need. Poe is a sympathetic character that provides a colorful, friendly and resourceful atmosphere......and he dresses and makes himself up as the well known 19th century American author. However he does not quote any poetry or verse from any of those well known stories, iirc.
The going gets tough for our protagonist. As the episodes play out we gather a sort of team of protagonist with individual paths that interweave into the initial murder mystery that Kovacs is tasked with solving.
Atmosphere: Lots of neon glow and CGI interwoven with the real in a very attractive psychedelic backdrop to this action series. Cars that fly. Large buildings fly above ground on individual air ships. This includes mansions belonging to the super wealthy.
Other notes:
There are some scenes where a "stack" is hacked into and that individual's sense of the 'real' is manipulated such that his actions can be controlled.This series shares the same name with the novel that inspires it. Author: Richard Morgan. Novel published 2002
After watching the concluding episode #10, I can say that it is the story line that leaves me somewhat glass-half-empty and with a touch of meh in my retrospective. Otherwise this series may be of interest to those who might enjoy all of the above series features mentioned above. If there is a second season, perhaps a more compelling, less depressing, storyline can be given.
Recommended with caution. Rated R for nudity, sexual situations and graphic violence. (some downright bloody butchery, maiming and dismemberment) Otherwise there seems to be no attempt at social engineering as normally comes out of Hollywood in recent years.
-Steve
Edits: 03/01/18
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Follow Ups
- RE: To summarize without spoilers - user510 17:37:50 03/01/18 (0)
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