on demand
Our verdict on Netflix’s Altered Carbon.
When technology finally discovers a way to eradicate death, what will it mean for humanity? That’s the question posed by this ambitious new Netflix series.
It plunges viewers two centuries into Earth’s future, when people’s personalities are stored in spinal discs (or ‘stacks’) that can be transferred into different bodies (or ‘sleeves’) should anything ever happen to them. Adapted from Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 sci-fi novel, Altered Carbon deals in pulp-y, post-Blade Runner visuals, as dead freedom fighter Takeshi Kovacs (Will Yun Lee) is downloaded into a new body (Joel Kinnaman, growly and unlikeable) and hired to investigate the murder of a rich tycoon (James Purefoy).
But Kovacs is haunted by his past, and also has a determined cop (Martha Higareda) on his tail…
There’s plenty here to provoke, in every sense: as well as tackling such hot topics as identity, sexuality, religion and death, these 10 episodes offer Verhoeven levels of nudity and gore. But there’s a hobbling lack of focus, too. If the ambition seems to be to create something as sprawling and complex as Westworld, the result often feels more like Demolition Man with a humour transplant.
So why the three stars? Well, for all its faults, Altered Carbon certainly knows how to go hard and dark. Its scrutiny of the sex industry is particularly harrowing, and while this is murky, messy fare that will flummox many, when it focuses on technology’s ability to corrupt, there’s the odd flourish of sci-fi greatness. Josh Winning