Out of the Past

After binge watching the whole season in one afternoon evening I can honestly say this is a must see for any sci-fi lover out there, the visuals are breathtaking and the concept behind the story line about being immortal and switching bodies is something any sci-fi lover will fall in love with the storyline is quite complex yet engaging. I am really enjoying it so far and some of the action scenes are amazing in it literally like mind blown and is definitely a blockbuster TV series

There's no doubt that Altered Carbon is one of the most expensive TV shows ever made, with visuals that could easily have come out of big-budget Hollywood productions. The cyberpunk cities have a gritty, dirty beauty to them. The cityscape is overflowing with bright lights and neon signs. The fight scenes are well shot too and fun to watch with jazz music playing in the background.

But other than that, this pilot episode is a mighty disappointment. Far from drawing me in, I found most of it didn't have much of an impact on me at all. There's a lot of issues that are touched on- an exploited underclass, the neo-Catholic protests that life is sacred and shouldn't be played around with, what it feels like to be put into a different skin to that which you were born in and what it's like to be reborn multiple times. But these issues are only touched on in between the murder mystery, strip club scenes and Tak's drug-fuelled wander. This is a show that cares more about generic sci-fi pulp than exploring the interesting issues at its heart. I know this is only the first episode but first impressions are important.

It doesn't help that none of the characters are interesting. Joel Kinnaman is stony as Takeshi, not letting us empathise with a protagonist who doesn't seem to care about anything. And if he doesn't care, why should we? Most of the rest of the cast are equally bland. It's not just the acting that's to blame though, as the writing doesn't give any of the characters a chance to shine.

8/10? Seriously?? Jesus, no. The acting from that police woman was horrendous. Dialogue feels off/forced to be witty. The universe seems interesting, so it's a shame that the pacing ruins the pilot. It just feels weird. I know that's not the best review but hey I'm just telling you how I felt about this particular episode.

I tried watching this on its release, and gave up, I've tried again. It's a pretty good start, I am struggling to see what people who gave this nine and ten star reviews saw that I didn't. It's a solid enough start, but amazing? no.

The story is decent enough, but it's packed with so many special effects, so much razzamatazz, that the plot is almost secondary.

So, the idea is that Kovacs has been brought out of storage after 250 years, to help solve his own murder? He just wants to have fun.

I'm sure it gets better, a decent start, 6/10.

I can't believe I waited so long!

I've heard good things about this, but my expectations (already high) were set way too low.