Interesting ideas with ineffective images.
59/100
Original Release: 2020
Directed By: Alex Garland
Cast: Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Alison Pill
Favourite Quote:
“Life is just something we watch unfold.”
Favourite Shot:
There was a moment in a recent Joe Rogan episode, (Episode 1854 with Rick Strassman) where they’re talking about hallucinatory drugs’ effects on the brain, and Joe identifies his fear of uploading his consciousness to a computer.
He fears that he will be blissfully enjoying his time in the afterlife and then suddenly whisked back into this world and forced to live the rest of his days trapped inside a computer.
There is a scene at the end of Alex Garland’s Devs in which a character dies and then reappears inside of a computer in a horrific blur of sound and image. The character reappears on a 2D screen and then disappears. And reappears and disappears.
Every time accompanied with this horrifying devilish sound that makes it seem as if the character is trapped. And for those few moments I couldn’t breathe.
Trapped for eternity inside a screen. No way out, forever. It made me flash back to the type of images Garland created in Annihilation.
And then the characters began talking, the moment ended, and the show continued for another 15 minutes. Unfortunately this was a rare moment, and one that didn’t come until the final episode of the 8 part miniseries.
Devs is a thought inspiring show, full of ideas and interesting concepts. But lacking in impactful or creative images. It shows off both Garland’s strengths and weaknesses as a writer and director. And ultimately feels as if it was presented in the wrong format.
Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) and her boyfriend Sergei (Karl Glusman) work for Amaya, the biggest tech company in the world. Sergei is offered a position in the top secret department of the company called Devs. And after one day, he goes missing and it is revealed that he committed suicide. Suspicious about this, Lily tries to find out what really happens inside Devs.
It is revealed that the CEO of Amaya, Forest (Nick Offerman), has created a computer that can both predict the future and show the past based on the theory that everything is already predetermined for us, and that we have no control over anything that happens in our lives because everything has essentially already happened.
The show brings up ideas of free will and determinism, the multiverse, nature vs nurture, simulation vs reality as well as the evils of trying to play god (which was also a main theme of Ex Machina which this project feels very similar to).
The show is at its best when it uses these concepts to create an unnerving or creative image. Examples of this include getting characters to watch their future play out in front of them and then watch them play that future out seconds after.
As well as the various multiverse sequences where Garland moves the camera through locations showing multiple versions of the same character reacting differently to situations.
But there are also some that feel very lacklustre and cheap. Including showing past film of Jesus on the cross or of Marilyn Monroe having sex. It feels like barely thought out images that will communicate his idea, but don’t really create any feeling inside the audience (in fact the only feeling it created inside me was cringe).
When he isn’t creating these images then it is essentially just people talking about the topic. This is fine in doses and when done well. There is a scene involving a pen with Alison Pill’s character, Katie, and Lily that is very effective at explaining the complex main ideas behind the show.
But then there are others that feel much less creatively done, and sometimes not essential to the storytelling.
"And the ideas are interesting enough to carry you to the end. But it feels just like an interesting concept. Everything surrounding it (the characters, images, plot, pacing, tone etc) seems undercooked and rushed."
The characters are also not very well written and effective. Nick Offerman gives a great performance as Forest (which feels like the only character that really comes to life).
But Mizuno is boring and lifeless as our main character Lily. Mizuno isn’t helped by the robotic dialogue and her underwritten character, who doesn’t seem to have a personality.
Many times during the show I found myself either not believing characters’ actions or flat out having no clue why characters did what they did. For example it is eventually revealed that Forest created Devs as a means to get his dead wife and daughter back.
Which seems unbelievable considering the amount of money he has funding it and the various people he has killed to stop it from being revealed to the public.
There is also a crucial moment at the end of the series where Stewart (Stephen McKinley Henderson) purposefully has two characters killed. And he then explains it with a one liner.
The show feels completely underwritten and also too long. It doesn’t quite get underway until the last three episodes. Everything before that is drawn out and meaningless and building up emotional relationships between characters that never feel real because of the unbelievability of all the characters.
Admittedly Garland does a great job at withholding information, leaving you just enough so that you can get through this slog of a beginning. And the ideas are interesting enough to carry you to the end. But it feels just like an interesting concept. Everything surrounding it (the characters, images, plot, pacing, tone etc) seems undercooked and rushed.
It is not all bad. I would certainly recommend someone to watch as the ideas, themes and key concept are all thought provoking and presented well in parts. A novel or potentially even a collection of creative essays would have potentially been a better medium. It just doesn’t completely work in the miniseries format.
Comments