![]() ![]() But buying sleeves can get expensive, especially good ones - like the toned and trained physiques nakedly on display throughout “Altered Carbon” - so the wealthiest citizens (known as “Meths”) get to live forever in sky-bound cities while “Grounders” scrape and scrum in the dirt to survive just one lifetime. When a body (or a “sleeve”) dies, your brain can be downloaded into a new one. You see, in this future world, no one has to die a person’s consciousness can be downloaded onto a cortical stack - or a small disc lodged in the back of your neck. In his old life, Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) joined a terrorist organization that was fed up with the unequal distribution of wealth, and thus the growing disparity in power. That agent isn’t a Blade Runner, but a former resistance fighter whose “retirement” was actually his own death, and he’s been brought back to life by the very person he was fighting against. In the future, a trained agent is brought out of retirement for a secret job with wide-reaching moral and practical ramifications. On its surface, “Altered Carbon” is a neo-noir murder-mystery not wholly unlike “Blade Runner” in look and story, if vastly different in execution. Every so often, Season 1’s disturbingly intense focus on flesh proves compelling, but “Altered Carbon” never fully comes to life. It stabs them, shoots them, chops them up, and beats them down it watches them have sex, take showers, fall asleep, and often combines the nudity with the violence for some silly naked fight scenes. Poorly structured for an emotional impact and featuring a frigid lead performance from Joel Kinnaman, “Altered Carbon’s” biggest takeaway is in its memorably superficial depiction of human bodies. Set in the distant future, Netflix’s big budget, CGI extravaganza asks grand questions about the meaning of life, what makes us human, and how science and religion can connect, but this body-swapping drama takes things far too literally, and sucks the life out of its subjects in doing so. #Altered carbon review series#“Altered Carbon” is a hollow shell of a series about hollow shells of people. International Gay Cinema: 33 LGBTQ Movies to See from Around the World Oscars 2023: Best Adapted Screenplay Predictions 'Wendell & Wild' Star Sam Zelaya Proves Kids' Movies Are the Perfect Place for Trans Characters Safdie Brothers and Adam Sandler Set New Film Project at Netflix And there it is: That’s the reason an annoying, hyper-sexualized radio jam felt right at home in what appears to be a high-minded prestige drama: Both are in love with our bodies, but they don’t stimulate the mind. If you want to throw me a generic bone, maybe my heart is worth noticing, or take it a step further and sing about my oh-so-sexy mind. That’s great, Ed, but maybe don’t dwell on the physical side of things so much. “Every day, discovering something brand new / I’m in love with the shape of you.” “I’m in love with the shape of you,” the “Game of Thrones” star croons, over and over, as the rhythm hastens along with the hearts of so many teenage fans. ![]() Yet for as catchy as Sheeran’s breakout song can be, there’s something really, really creepy about its chorus. For reasons that weren’t immediately clear, Ed Sheeran’s pop hit “Shape of You” kept coming to mind throughout the first few hours of “ Altered Carbon.” The year-old banger (pun intended) has no practical place in Netflix’s neo-noir sci-fi series, and yet it could’ve slipped into any number of scenes, especially the sex scenes, the fight scenes, or the sexy naked fight scenes. ![]()
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