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- Netflix
- Feb 27, 2020
- Netflix
- Feb 27, 2020
Summary The sci-fi series based on Richard K. Morgan's 2002 novel Carbon is set 300 years in the future where soldier Takeshi Kovacs (Will Yun Lee/Joel Kinnaman) awakens in a new body when he is freed from prison by Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), who wants him to solve his murder.
Created By: Laeta Kalogridis
- Netflix
- Feb 27, 2020
- Netflix
- Feb 27, 2020
Summary The sci-fi series based on Richard K. Morgan's 2002 novel Carbon is set 300 years in the future where soldier Takeshi Kovacs (Will Yun Lee/Joel Kinnaman) awakens in a new body when he is freed from prison by Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), who wants him to solve his murder.
Created By: Laeta Kalogridis
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
50% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
All of the body-hopping, impersonations, and lies could easily have grown messy, but the show manages to avoid any pitfalls around race representation.
Mackie is up to the challenge of playing Kovacs as an interstellar Philip Marlowe. And with Netflix throwing cash at the screen, Altered Carbon also succeeds at the level of breathtaking spectacle. After a stuttering first season, a would-be blockbuster has belatedly but emphatically achieved lift-off.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 144 User Ratings
3.7
22% Positive
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
21% Mixed
30 Ratings
30 Ratings
57% Negative
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 144 User Ratings
3.7
22% Positive
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
21% Mixed
30 Ratings
30 Ratings
57% Negative
82 Ratings
82 Ratings
Right off the bat the characters of season 2 are a lot more like-able than season 1. Anthony Mackie portrays Tak well enough and he’s a good addition. However, season 2 was a rollercoaster. The first episode was pretty great, but episodes 2,3, and 4 were very shaky and sometimes very average. The second half of the season is where it all picks up and the finale is fantastic. If there’s one thing this show is consistently good with is finales. On the other hand, season 2 feels a lot less grand and deep than season 1. So many intriguing ideas are given in this season but aren’t explored much or at all it feels very superficial and shallow at times. The sets feel less grand/ cyberpunk-y (but that may be a purposeful choice to fit the narrative of desperation). Overall, the first season was stronger than season 2 but not by much. I’d give Season 1 (8/10) and Season 2 (7.5/10).
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SEASON 2
The distinct episodes help keep viewers invested when “Altered Carbon” goes too heavy on diegetic mumbo jumbo or changes its own rules to set up silly twists.
Missick's addition to the cast changes up the chemistry in good ways, mostly owing to the actor's winning persona and its great fit with Mackie's Kovacs. ... The story itself its somewhat downgraded from a provocative examination of the role mortality plays in defining our humanity to a soap opera with a whole lot of gratuitous punching, kicking, and bleeding – much of it occurring in the premiere.
Mackie isn’t as stiff as Kinnaman, and there are interesting questions raised by the idea of what comprises a person. It still falls short of its potential, but Altered Carbon has probably done enough to ensure it runs for years to come. A lump of graphite, if not quite the full diamond.
The second round of the cyberpunk noir series will feel familiar to those who watched Season 1, as it's mostly a take-the-good-with-the-bad combination of sticking with what worked and not learning from its own mistakes. ... Altered Carbon has an amazing sandbox to work with, but the story doesn't always know how to play in it.
A future where one’s physical form is not just disposable but customizable inspires plenty of fascinating questions; unfortunately, the writers either find those questions uninteresting or beyond the scope of their storytelling.
I do like Anthony Mackie as an actor and I think he did a good Kovacs. He made Kovacs more empathetic, which was a necessary improvement in my opinion, which I appreciate. Speaking of empathy: Poe was my highlight of the season. What a guy. Overall I felt like the season improved on what was already good and fixed what might fell a little flat like the visuals. No need for a few scenes of big CGI Cities which swallow the budget and already look outdated like in the first season. Instead the overall visual quality improved. The image is sharp and the camera work, while at first a little jumpy improved a lot, which made the whole series look more cinematic. And while the sets were sized down their overall quality have been improved, which made them more realistic, which helped with the atmosphere in return.
The story was less of a space Noir and while the overall pacing is different it is still good - just in a different way. Some character fates seamed too inconsequential in the end but over it felt like a less gritty but more polished season of altered carbon.
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SEASON 2
Acs2 is not as bold as season one, a more restrained approach to the scope of the plot has some benefits but ultimately I felt less emotionally connected to the characters and the screenplay seemed bareboned stood next to the complex weave of dialogue in s1. Mackie does ok here but his takeshi plays it more cool and serious so seems less desperate snarky and vulnerable which is something I miss from kinneman's version (which brought a much needed sense of balanced humanity to this ridiculously op character!). Overall this was an entertaining if less memorable trip this time around.
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SEASON 2
I'm a **** for sci-fi, particularly sci-fi that explores issues in non-idiotic ways. Altered Carbon is the rare show that accomplishes this - yes, including in this second season.
I definitely missed the actor from season 1, and was skeptical about Mackie - but he won me over. He's not terribly charismatic and the humor was definitely not there like the first season, but he was solid and toed the line between being convincingly tough and also capable of displaying emotion that conveys to the viewer. I found him watchable and was rooting for him - so he did his job.
The writing, while rarely brilliant, was never stupid - something one cannot say about something like 99% of sci-fi shows. So that's a big win. And at moments it gets close to poignant.
I do need to watch season 1 again for comparison to see if I agree with the consensus here about a drop in quality. But I do remember the last episode being so dumb I stopped watching it - which didn't happen here. So while it perhaps does not quite reach the heights of season 1, it also doesn't descend to the same depths.
Edit: just watched season 1 again. Can confirm there is a definitive drop in the quality of the cinematography, and a slight one for the writing. In contrast season 2 comes off like a WB show, as other reviewers have noted. So not a great look, but still watchable.
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SEASON 2
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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SEASON 2
I read the Altered Carbon novel and thought it was decent but not amazing. I had the same thoughts for Season 1 of the show. I thought it was a worthwhile adaptation and a decent show to binge. I started Season 2 since with Covid running rampant I have a lot of down time. It isn't good. In fact is just bad. The writing is terrible and the acting is atrocious. Anthony Mackie is wooden as the lead and the supporting cast isn't any better. The changes to Falconer that they made from the book just don't work. She isn't an inspirational character and I just don't care about her character at all. They have her set up as this messianic figure but really she is just an angry child. She just wants to murder, murder, murder, and cause uprisings. It was also kind of odd how they really upped the wokeness quotient. All of the leads are non-white, with one being a lesbian, while the badguys are mostly men and white with a few exceptions. This is pretty standard fare with Netflix, but with how terrible the acting was it felt like they put identity over quality.
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SEASON 2