At one point a hired hitman tells Takeshi “I could take you myself without breaking a sweat”, a line just as boring as the fight it precedes. There’s even a touch of that creepy Bella/Edward Twilight vibe laid on by the fact that he’s hundreds of years old, and she’s practically a child by comparison. She’s supposed to be a “strong independent woman” but the only way that’s evident is her calling Takeshi an asshole repeatedly, which is slightly undermined by her gazing at him for long periods of time whilst they drink together in a strip club. The “sexual chemistry” between Kinnaman’s Takeshi and Kristin Ortega (played by Martha Higareda) is so boring that it made me nauseous.
If it matters so little, why are they there at all? Yet despite their redundancy, Takeshi just can't get rid of them! I understand that this new definition of death means that murder no longer holds the same status, but the cops in this episode just did not give a shit about the people being murdered. This is the flip side of the "tech's affect on crime" point. I’d much rather watch a show starring him, please and thank you. Lee, who plays the character’s previous sleeve in flashbacks, does a much better job of portraying a mysterious, enigmatic military type. And yet Kinnaman gets to play modern-day Takeshi Kovacs, who is supposed to be an elite ex-soldier, but just looks like a dehydrated ken doll.
Will Yun Lee is more interesting to watch than Joel Kinnaman.
#Joel kinnaman altered carbon series
I really hope the series explores it further. This has that deliciously chilling effect of an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. When they protest, a government official aggressively tells them to take what they’re given unless they can pay for an upgrade. Since it’s a profit-driven enterprise, she gets “whatever crap they have left”, resulting in the 7-year-old being housed in the body of an old woman, much to the dismay of her young parents.
#Joel kinnaman altered carbon for free
There’s a scene very early on in the episode - it almost happens in the background - where a little girl killed in a hit-and-run gets re-sleeved for free by the government. Death becomes menial, and that has a real impact on how people live their lives. I loved this facet of Surrogates (2009), where people stay at home and live their lives in fake surrogate bodies which are seen as safer. No big deal, they’ll all just get re-sleeved. This comes across in how blasé the police are when they walk into crime scenes with bodies strewn everywhere. When your life is no longer tied to your body, the nature of murder is immediately redefined. The image is so striking and disturbing that it just hits home every time.
You could argue it’s a tired trope, but I freaking love the sci-fi concept of human bodies being grown in bags à la Michael Bay’s The Island (2005) or the more obvious The Matrix (1999). Just to clarify, I only watched the first episode, and if you read on there will be spoilers. Brought back to life after 250 years by Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) the richest man on Earth, ex-Envoy soldier Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman / Will Yun Lee) must solve Bancroft’s attempted murder for the chance to live again in a world he doesn’t recognize.”ĭoesn’t that sound great? Boy was I disappointed.īut first off, let’s talk about some things I actually liked about Altered Carbon. Here’s the official synopsis: “In the distant future, human consciousness can be digitized and downloaded into different bodies. So last night I sat down to watch the first episode with my Blade Runner-obsessed boyfriend. In my opinion, you can’t have enough futuristic industrial cyberpunk sci-fi. Critics were hailing it as Netflix’s answer to Blade Runner. I actually received an email from Netflix about Altered Carbon, and that literally never happens. Not since the Crown have I seen a Netflix Original marketed so heavily.
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