Alex Garland, the man behind Ex Machina and Annihilation has done it again. Floored by the first two episodes. The man creates art.
Something in me tells me this could have been so much more and better.
It's a good tv show don't get me wrong, it's enjoyable and there's some nice ideas in there.
But the whole oh we have to just follow the tram lines cause we have no choice so now I'm going to say this and you're going to say that and we're going to walk that door just like the machine told us we'll do, and then the big turnaround when Lilly threw away the gun, disobeying the predetermined nature of our universe etc. I mean come on, I suspect that people who watch and enjoy these kind of shows need a little bit more than that.
Also, what? In the machine? What does that even mean you live in the machine? Physically? The machine doesn't even create atoms, it just projects what it predicts so it's not even a simulation. In code as part of a program? That wouldn't be less weird either. So I gave up and just looked at the tv show more like an abstract kind of piece of art and I can live with that. And it's a great show. But F this could have been so much more interesting in my opinion.
What I hoped for: descent cyberpunk tech noir detective with megacorporation and government conspiracy
What I got instead: another religious centered bullshit trivia
I take back my review. This was a waste of 8 hours of my life. Beyond being super duper slow. The whole concept was dumb. This was basically someone’s art project. Def not for the masses.
I was a bit bummed out that the core relationships that the drama stems from are pretty basic, but I guess that they were kinda necessary to have some grounding for all the crazy complex ideas to bounce off of.
The reveal about the name was real dumb, I really enjoyed that. The show has moments of obvious humor, like cuts & angles $ awkward interactions you'd see in a comedy, but it comes off as almost off putting in the context of the usual heavy droning abstract music, people staring into the camera mournfully aesthetic. The effect of that is unnerving and it feels like it should throw the tone off balance, but personally I found it made me more engaged. It's like the show telling me that it's not trying to be realistic or recreate known human emotions and dilemmas. Everyone talks so plainly and slowly & with a consideration that people in real life (or in most movies) only ever find briefly. The 'drama' of the show is mostly about people coming to terms with big metaphysical realizations, so I guess it makes sense that they just say what they think a lot.
I appreciate that the focus was always on the character reactions. The twists and revelations are presented as being wild and huge, and I guess I haven't seen all of them in the specific arrangement they have here, but each of the individual beats and ideas are common to a lot of sci-fi. The drama isn't "what are they going to do" it's "how would that affect a person". Like for as much as dweebs like Elon Musk will talk about 'what if the world was a computer simulation' or whatever, they never really extrapolate past that into the things that would be actually interesting to think about. I don't give a shit if Deckard was a robot or not, but it's really interesting to think about what it means for the world around him if he was, right?
This show is not for everyone. Great cinematography, audio/visuals, tone, etc. but veeeeerrrrrrry sloooooooow. The acting is slow. People move slow. They talk slow & replies are even slower. Camera moves slow. It’s not normal or real.
If you don't like slow moving show, you'll hate this show.
If you want something artistic, watch this show.
However, majority of people will hate this show.
In addition, it was a quite boring start.
Devs fits right in with Garland's themes and style, and I love his work. I find cohesive, thoughtful limited series to be very enjoyable as they don't get repetitive or outstay their welcome as some shows can but have time to explore their characters and themes in considerable depth. Devs is squarely focused on determinism and the implications of perfect information about the predetermined future. Even more than Annihilation, Devs is more of an intellectual show that is filled with tension and interesting ideas than a show with an emotional hook. I don't know how much I like the climactic choice of Lily throwing the gun and breaking the perfect prediction, and that's treated as this crazy thing. If the model is perfect and is this world and not a many worlds prediction, then that shouldn't be possible. If the prediction was simply from a parallel world, then that should've happened earlier in some of the predictions Forrest and Katie watched, and there would be no reason for that to ruin the system. It's not a deal breaker but wasn't quite as satisfying as I was hoping. I do quite like the ending of them dying and being in a simulation, though. I'm definitely happy I watched it for the way it made me wrestle with the implications of determinism and am eager to see more content from Garland.
Liked a lot of it, but the lead actress is just awful. Maybe she was written this way, but I found it off putting. Still interesting, but maybe that's just my brain saying it had to be, since I loved Ex Machina.
Love the art and atmosphere, but can somebody please wake me up when this gets interesting? The actors are putting me to sleep.
absolutely plasticky the main “character”, the worst acting I ever seen
It's good, but not easy to watch. The pace is very slow and many dialogs are boring. But just as you're falling asleep, they bring some interesting scientific or philosophic dialog, that makes you think. The show expects you to have some knowledge on science.
The show also has a very artistic approach, which I personally don't like to much. A lot of gold colours, antique looking tech and creepy faces. And then there is some terribly uncomfortable music. I guess it's supposed to serve the story by making you feel bad.
Story 4/5
Characters 5/5
Depth 4/5
Cast 5/5
Artistry 4/5
Finished. Enjoyed the unfolding of this story, and its twist and turns. The settings and scenery were superb, and the themes brooding and intense. One of those shows which makes you ponder reality, determinism and existence. In the end the Omega point was a constructed one but why the hell not, I say. This may be hard going for many, and some may turn to the wayside at the pacing. Deus ex machina. 9/10.
This show has so many crazy moments, and it's actually a pretty interesting story about free will and life. While the acting wasn't out of this world, and I think the ending was a little lackluster, the characters were still interesting enough to keep the story going. I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Garland's other works.
The concept of the show is really neat, but does rely that you are interested in the quantum and many worlds interpretation and the consequences of that. If you are not, still will be a dull show.
That being said, the concept is nice and makes you think, but the story itself is too little and too slow. Should have been a mini serie at most.
The end was kind of bs though
What is this self-indulgent remedial art school monstrosity I just watched?
Had high hopes for this one. Great director and great cast. Started off strong with episode one but then proceeded to slowly decline. Episode 6 felt like 50 minutes of filler. Season finale felt a little flat. Wasn't a bad watch overall, but probably not among Garlands strongest work.
The slow pace will put many people off but I was engaged throughout all of it. Nick Offerman shines as the tech messiah running Devs. Thought-provoking science fiction with great storytelling in each episode.
Every time Forest appears, I think back to that character from The Hangover.
It only took me 5 minutes to start cringing at this show. American gringo with fake Russian accent. Currently there doesn’t seem to go one American show/movie by without a dig at Russia. It's okay, but could they seriously not find a native Russian actor? Is this so hard for Hollywood?
This was a pretty gripping show for me. They could have done more with the main devs predictive machine/program part, but the other parts of the story were interesting too.
Probably not worth re-watching ever.
Ex Machina. Deus Ex Machina. Deus. Devs. Devils.
All the halos was some fallen angels type shit.
I fucking love Alex Garland. One of the only filmmakers I can think of that can truly make brilliant cerebral films, and in my view he is clearly the frontrunner of modern science fiction. Devs is no different, taking you to all sorts of places with ambition that could have only been made possible with the miniseries format. Honestly every auteur should get the chance to make at least one of these.
Forest's daughter - which plays central to the plot and there's a huge statue of her repeatedly shown throughout - is named Amaya (played by an actor named Amaya) which is what he names the company after. Put the company - Amaya - and the project - Devs which we all know is really Deus - together and you get something terribly close to 'amadeus' which means 'God's love'.
I wonder if this is is a cool way to say the daughter represents love that the company and therefore Forest is missing, and a literal fake statue of her portrays a fake kind of love being projected to the public/world.
This is an odd one. I've never watched anything that dropped the ball this hard. It's a solid 8 all the way through up until the last episode and a half where it just becomes a bunch of montages and nonsense. Other than this weird flex about Christian mythology being historical, it's fantastic until it falls apart at the end. I gave it a 6 because I was loving it but then it disapoints as drastically as anything I've ever watched.
I thought I was a really cool show. Alex Garland is definitely becoming one of my favorites.
For some reason, I just kept watching until the end. The 8 episodes are paced very slow, which becomes annoying at times. This should have been made into a movie that's done in under 2 hours.
I think this show either thought it was smarter than it was, or I'm clearly not clever enough to get it. I do suspect it's not the latter lol. The show isn't bad by any means but it's also not incredible/essential viewing, it's very slow and while I have no issues with slow builds you still need to pay it off with something which is one of the areas this show fails.
Maybe my thoughts would be more positive if I had watched this prior to watching Severance, but unfortunately, I was constantly comparing how it did similar vibes and themes in a better and more intriguing way in that show instead of this.
But it's only 8 episodes, and it tells a completely wrapped-up story so, if you have watched all of shows like Severance, Station Eleven, The Peripheral and need something else to toss on.
Holy shit this show is an insufferable, boring, faux-intellectual, pretentious bullshit, featuring an unwatchably grating protagonist. The production and the score are great but it's incredible how this thing progressively gets worse with each episode. I made it about halfway before I gave up. I wish I had stopped after first episode.
This show had glimpses of greatness but IMO they were fleeting. Convoluted, edgy technological concepts that tried too hard to cover up the otherwise confusing and uninteresting main plot. Some good, but mostly bad, acting. A good effort but poor follow through.
Too bad, this could've been a good show...
There were many things right with this miniseries, but also many things wrong
The ending is utterly disappointing
That they wanted to show Jesus as a "historical fact" is just plain stupid
The characters are supposed to be science people, so why should they use so much profanity? That takes away all credibility from them
In the end, it is not a waste of time, but it has potential to be so much better
A fine example of confuse a cat entertainment. Nick Offerman does his best Charlie Manson thousand yard stare while Alison Pill speaks volumes without saying a word. The other players all live through their spooky actions at a distance reality at their own peril. Meanwhile every shot of the big doll in the forest gives me the shivers. Enjoyable and obtuse in no specific order.
Half Good! Half eh.
Starts with USA vs Russia... same old. The side story is the gold of the serie, the rest... is blunt.
2.1 points -> Acting and Characters (0-3)
1.4 points -> Plot development (0-2)
1.6 points -> Cinematography (0-2)
0.8 points -> originality (0-1)
0.8 points -> Based on Genre / Theme (0-1)
0.7 -> Overall Quality (0-1)
Aka.7.4 points
This is a very slow paced show. Great visuals and music but super slow.
If you aren't up for slow paced shows, watch it in the background while doing some other work. You don't have to pay much attention to the story.
Moody, strange, and a bit ponderous. I am hoping though that in the end these Godless arrogant souls will be redeemed.
Shout by Akash SharmaBlockedParent2020-07-22T13:47:09Z
it's a very boring show. I couldn't get past episode 3.