Metalhead

I don't really understand the poor reviews about this Black Mirror episode.

I see that for many this is not the most elaborated, with a complex production, a lot of effects or stuff like that and in my opinion this is exactly the point.

This is something made with little money and lots of imagination and talent, and this is exactly where the beauty of this little film stays.

You haver a few characters going to do something which looks not too difficult, which is to go to a warehouse which looks not very well watched or protected from thieves and, well, these guys look like they are going to enter the premises and take something with them with a van which looks like someone left there.

I'm not going to spoil anything or say anything to compromise it.

I say that this is the start and it looks like something very straightforward and simple, right?

Well, not so fast, you keep watching and something which looks quick, easy and simple turns into something completely different, and then is when the story starts to be fantastic, and you put yourself in the characters' shoes and, wow, just wow. Don't mind people giving poor rates to this film.

This is what a good film should be, something which keeps you grabbing your armchair on the verge of screaming and all made with a very limited budget but with a lot of imagination.

Watch this. You are not to be dissapointed, but your fingernails will if you are prone to bite them.

FANTASTIC.

Even tho the plot lacks context, this was pretty interesting. Even better than other episodes that are rated higher on this site.

This is one of the best Black Mirror episodes, along with Shut Up And Dance and The Entire History Of You. It's a tense 45 minutes with a bleak, nihilistic, ending. People complaining about it being about nothing going nowhere are missing the point, if humans put too much into making robots that can fight a war then they're asking for trouble and if a war is fought using them then this could be the sort of scenario the human race faces after such a war. The "dog" robot is eerily close to the systems being developed by the likes of Boston Dynamics and the Chinese Military, only just today the Chinese unveiled a dog robot that can defend itself and I only just watched this episode last night! Just view it as a straightforward sci-fi horror similar to The Terminator.

Not really sure what to make of the negative reviews of this episode. For me this was the first episode of season 4 that got my attention, it was different for sure but definitely in the right way. I appreciate any film/episode that prompts me to think about what is happening and why, rather than spoon feed me every detail of the plot and over explaining the technology presented.

This episode was gritty, gripping, and well paced. It gave just enough pieces of the story to get me thinking about how things came to be and where things had evolved to. I like this type of storytelling, where just enough of it takes place in your head.

Very different than other episodes, and I for one appreciated the presentation of the genre in a completely different and terrifying way.

I've never before ever felt so divided about an episode of Black Mirror, I either love them or I don't. Metalhead is for my part the weakest offering of a strong fifth series, but it gains my imagination for its sheer originality, indeed it feels like a stand alone episode from the show, there is nothing really to compare it to. If I were to sum it up in one word it would be bleak, it's bleak from start to finish, it's clinical, sharp, dark, indeed to only soft and cosy thing we get to see are the teddy bears in the final shot. It has a vintage horror feel to it, I think it benefited from its black and white shooting, adds to the overall bleak theme. It's almost like they took a snapshot from a movie, keeping only the action packed ending, we get no explanation, no solution, just the core action. Charlie Brooker invites us into a post apocalyptic world, but allows us to invent for ourselves the cause, was it the AI, or something else? I felt uncomfortable from beginning to end, possibly one of the scariest Black Mirror episodes to date, it's not one I'd visit frequently, but it was certainly a powerful watch. Maxine Peake is outstanding, the emotions she packed into it were brilliant. I think it's an episode that for those that didn't like on first watch, they're sure to want to give it another try. It is certainly thought provoking.