The best indication of this film’s state is the Neurocasters’ design. In the book, a herd of neurocaster zombies moves through a field, and Sentre broadcast towers loom in the background. The blanche white body contrasting with the dark pink LEDs of the headsets and towers gives off the impression of a flock of birds running free while being watched by distant giant eyes, a somewhat clear analog to Neurocasters in the book.
In the movie, the Neurocasters are quite different. Grayish white is replaced with deep and vibrant yellow, and dark pink is replaced with bright green. In the end, the movie Neurocasters ends up being family-friendly and marketable. There is no clearer metaphor for the contrast between the film and the book.
About the Movie
The story starts with an exposition about the robot revolution and how Sentre, a VR headset company that interfaces directly with your brain (the Neurocaster), won the war against robots. The main character is Michelle, played by Millie Bobby Brown. Her supposedly dead brother, Christopher (Skip), shows up at her door in the body of a robot. Concerned over her “living” brother, the two leave to find Skip’s body and run into Keats (Chris Pratt).
The group gets chased into the “Ex”, or the Sentre’s Exclusion Zone, by The Marshall (Giancarlo Esposito). Seeking to find Christopher’s physical body, they first go to a robot safe haven, run by Mr. Peanut, before they head to find the doctor who knows where Skip’s body is.
After learning where Christopher’s body is from Dr. Amherst, played by Ke Huy Quan, they are attacked by Sentre drones, who capture Skip. Everyone goes to Sentre HQ, Michelle defeats Sentre, and the day is saved.
Is It Worth Watching?
For a movie based on a book all about the horrors of capitalism and the way it invades and consumes everyday life, the movie sure did give a lot of screentime to Mr. Peanut, who in this movie plays the part of Robot MLK. The subtle horror of all-consuming advertising that was shown so masterfully in the book was flipped on its head in the film. Suddenly, when you’re making a $320 million film based on an obscure Sci-Fi art book, a little dirty peanut money doesn’t sound so bad. One can only assume that a majority of that budget had to go into making Mr. Peanut look as creepy as they possibly could, a design choice that was honestly pretty faithful to the book.
They took two of the book’s best moments, one being the Scavs traveling by the side of the road, and the last scene analog of The Marshall, called Walter, and made it into a one-minute-long scene for a cheap scare. This movie is a clear sanitization of the book’s original plot points in themes that would be hard to cover. From Michelle getting sent to a troubled teen camp and falling in love with a girl, to the Neurocasters emitting a neurological drug, to the persistent retro-futuristic ruined warship imagery being used to represent America. You would have thought the movie would have opened with a big bright “Government Approved Media” sticker.
Look, the movie wasn’t horrible, and you could even say that watching the movie will release more dopamine into your brain than if you read the book (reading is hard), but isn’t that the point? The Neurocasters feed stimulating chemicals directly into your brain, after all.
This movie is summed up with its tagline, “Rage With the Machine”. It’s a meaningless, hypocritical, and bastardized anti-capitalist message in the pursuit of making money. This movie is a 2/10. It’s a fun watch for someone who doesn’t know the source material, but it’s so utterly rage-inducing for someone who does, to a point where it’s not worth spending time on this artificially unintelligent Hollywood car wreck of a movie.
Rating: 1/5
