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- Peacock
- Jul 15, 2020
- Peacock
- Jul 15, 2020
Summary In the adaptation of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel of the same name, the seemingly utopian life in New London is threatened by the arrival John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich), a man Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne (Brown Findlay) met while on vacation in the Savage Lands.
- Peacock
- Jul 15, 2020
- Peacock
- Jul 15, 2020
Summary In the adaptation of Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel of the same name, the seemingly utopian life in New London is threatened by the arrival John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich), a man Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne (Brown Findlay) met while on vacation in the Savage Lands.
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Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
54
33% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
67% Mixed
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
54
33% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
67% Mixed
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The pilot for this series, with its completely unique premise, blew me away.
With its small cast and heavy reliance on CGI, Brave New World has the look and feel of a modestly-priced Syfy miniseries. It will appeal strongly to some but not to most.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 29 User Ratings
5.3
55% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
14% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
31% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 29 User Ratings
5.3
55% Positive
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
14% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
31% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
I haven't read the book yet and I can't assert whether the show accurately sticks to the book's message or not, but as a standalone show, it's just absorbing. It took me only two days to watch the entire show and I don't get why it has mixed reviews. It gave me a mass of food for thought, showing the human's contradictory nature along with great visuals and acting, and it's entertaining enough not to let get bored at the dark philosophy
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SEASON 1
A conundrum. It simply does not know if it wants to be good or not. Yet it is not about where it is, its about where it is going.
First and foremost the hardest part to deal with is the over use of sex. Once you can get beyond that element you can begin to examine the actual plot.
It looks at the dark and philosophical ideas of Huxley and only just glances at it before losing its attention span and rejoining the party. Those glimmers of the philosophical make the show incredibly good. Yet they are few and far between. Mostly filled with solid performances that make the otherwise vapid spectacles more entertaining than they have right to be.
Overall the show is good. Perhaps the best sci fi of the summer. Yet its hard to like it at times.
The thing that ultimately makes it good is how it ends. It sets itself up in such a way where it leaves you wanting more of what the ending is promising yet you know if it goes that direction and tries to do a second season that it will fail miserably and taking the good of the first season with it and tainting the whole thing. Sort of like Wayward Pines.
So enjoy it for the one season and long for but hope it never gets another. The ride is mostly fun and its not like theres much else trying to compete with it.
It definitely is a positive launch for Peacock and if they produce a full slate of this level of programming it might just be successful.
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SEASON 1
For all its group sex and pill-popping, this adaptation doesn’t take many risks. It’s a cautious old world, and Aldous Huxley would surely have been disappointed.
The main problem is that the stakes just feel too low. Nothing is really on the line until around eight hours in, and the story doesn’t really go anywhere that isn’t largely predictable.
Huxley's novel was a warning against blind ideology and the numbing comforts of conformity. But much of that has been lost in the wash in the new, nine-part adaptation which in the main settles for being a silly, if action-packed and excellently-acted, chunk of escapism. It passes the time – but that is where its ambitions end.
It spends so much time reveling in its own aesthetic that dramatic momentum becomes an afterthought. ... [Series’s creator, David Wiener] has made improvements that are anemic and uneven.
On paper, it has the elements of a hit. But in practice, it's another example of how many things have to go right to make a successful show, and Brave New World has too many parts out of place to be a success — and stripped out one of the most important parts that would have made it a success.
Couldn't get past the terrible acting, and a plot that has been maximized to show the society's hedonism (ie lots of naked people) while ignoring all the discussions and interesting dialogue Aldous Huxley had in his book. It takes real effort to muck up a tv show when you have an entire novel and story at your disposal.
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SEASON 1
This has missed the entire point of the Book and I would put the ''Look how they massacred my boy'' meme if I could. It felt like this was put together by someone who read the wikipedia page of the book and tried to make an entire series outta it without ever understanding the point and ideas that the book was trying to convey . I have no issues if they try to modernize and put some new ideas but unfortunately it has failed tremendously, the acting was good but they just couldn't get the idea and feel of what the book was supposed to represent and the whole revolution thing was just bah.
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SEASON 1
This is not just a bad show. it's an abomination.
Imagine taking a classic piece of literature and making a show about it that not only completely misses the whole point of the book, but actually elevates the aspects of human behavior and society which the book was critiquing.
It's not necessarily a problem that this show has lots of sex in it. Hedonism was an important part of Huxley's Brave New World. There were orgies in the book. There are orgies in the show. No big deal, right?
The difference is, Huxley centered his focus on hedonism as a numbing and fleeting frenzy of instant gratification that divorces people from feeling or meaning. It might work for a time as a coping mechanism but ultimately it stops working and disappoints when the novelty wears off. The same is true for Soma/drugs and other external sources of fulfillment. This was a very important part of the spotlight Huxley was shining on modern people through his work of science fiction, where it seems that our real society the same as his world is hell bent on finding newer and better ways to distract and numb rather than to grow.
In Peacock's version of A Brave New World, the hedonism is actually deployed in a rather distasteful and indulgent way to draw in viewers who are doing the exact thing Huxley was critiquing, and this is basically spitting in Huxley's face.
The writing of the show is so, so bad and that is evident from the first ten minutes. It doesn't get better further in, it actually gets worse somehow. This show really beats you over the head with its dystopian-ness when the source material was such a classic precisely because its modern parallels were so subtle and relatable that they filled you with dread about where humanity is headed and where it has already ended up.
There is no such depth to Peacock's Brave New World. It is a hollow farce. Don't watch this crap.
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SEASON 1
