Being a not famous series (yet) and being fairly recent, this review will be completely spoiler free.
It a story that takes place in the '80s and breathes '80s at every step. In a classic small quiet town, those where everyone knows everyone, where there is a school with bullies and romance, something happens and everything goes sideways. A kid goes missing, another kid with superpowers mysteriously appears and the show moves very straightforwardly from that (episode 1, scene 3) to the end.
If you very much appreciate a simple story line (simple, not trivial) that without wasting any time leads you to the next turn, this is your show. It masterfully plays the citation game. There are continuous references to classic movies of the '80s, either in dialogues, situations or in random shots. In principle it is something that I don't like, especially when it is done so constantly. However, in Stranger Things it just works, since it maintains its identity, it has its own story. The effect is creating in the viewer an almost unconscious nostalgic feeling while seeing something new. I personally went back to my childhood, sitting on the couch on Saturday morning, raining outside and a VHS playing on the TV.
The atmosphere is dark, I found brilliant the use of lights and absolutely functional to the story, as well as the soundtrack. It is undeniably a good quality product, Netflix is really stepping out. Some locations are common with the one in the first season of The Walking Dead and I liked the choice because some shots were familiar and yet way more terrifying.
The story is unraveled from 3 points of view: the kids, the teenagers and the adults.
The kids are this new version of the Goonies, they face a dramatic situation as kids do: softening from time to time the atmosphere with some comedy or, you know, by being kids. The acting is credible, all of them are very well characterized. The trick is done by not trying to make them too tridimensional, but giving tridimensionality to the group. So we have Mike, that is the leader, the master in their D&D story, smart and cautious. Then there is Lucas, living next door, full of energy, more reckless and determinate. Dustin, being the comic component of the group that keeps the group together. And, there is Eleven, a mysterious girl with superpowers (remember, it is a spoiler free review).
The teenagers and the adults are less central and in them we find more sides in the same character, although we can't talk about an evolution of them. This makes sense since the all story takes place in a week or so. The result is a very natural acting and I think that when the characters manage to be transparent to the story that they are telling us, it's a big win for the show.
The three points of view give us a perspective broad enough to not need any further explanation since very often such explanation ruins the mystery. In Stranger Things we see just what the characters see and it is sufficient to make us understand bits of the plot at every episode, without spoiling the full story.
One last consideration. The episodes very often end by opening an arc of tension, that is very annoying when it is done consistently by TV Shows since then you have to wait a week to see how it ends. For a Netflix show, again, it just works, you can simply watch the next episode and such tension is usually resolved in the first few minutes. I've personally appreciated having this kind of possibility, to have the freedom of choosing how to deal with such tension. Sometimes I decided to live with it for a day or two, let the tension grow for a bit, sometimes I just decided to sleep one hour less.
In conclusion, it is a TV Show that I fully recommend, it is entertaining, it has a good sci-fi story, it brings you 30 years back in a good way, it has lovable characters, great soundtrack and, generically, it is very well executed. The perfect summer gift.
The atmosphere is dark, I found brilliant the use of lights and absolutely functional to the story, as well as the soundtrack. It is undeniably a good quality product, Netflix is really stepping out. Some locations are common with the one in the first season of The Walking Dead and I liked the choice because some shots were familiar and yet way more terrifying.
The story is unraveled from 3 points of view: the kids, the teenagers and the adults.
The kids are this new version of the Goonies, they face a dramatic situation as kids do: softening from time to time the atmosphere with some comedy or, you know, by being kids. The acting is credible, all of them are very well characterized. The trick is done by not trying to make them too tridimensional, but giving tridimensionality to the group. So we have Mike, that is the leader, the master in their D&D story, smart and cautious. Then there is Lucas, living next door, full of energy, more reckless and determinate. Dustin, being the comic component of the group that keeps the group together. And, there is Eleven, a mysterious girl with superpowers (remember, it is a spoiler free review).
The teenagers and the adults are less central and in them we find more sides in the same character, although we can't talk about an evolution of them. This makes sense since the all story takes place in a week or so. The result is a very natural acting and I think that when the characters manage to be transparent to the story that they are telling us, it's a big win for the show.
The three points of view give us a perspective broad enough to not need any further explanation since very often such explanation ruins the mystery. In Stranger Things we see just what the characters see and it is sufficient to make us understand bits of the plot at every episode, without spoiling the full story.
One last consideration. The episodes very often end by opening an arc of tension, that is very annoying when it is done consistently by TV Shows since then you have to wait a week to see how it ends. For a Netflix show, again, it just works, you can simply watch the next episode and such tension is usually resolved in the first few minutes. I've personally appreciated having this kind of possibility, to have the freedom of choosing how to deal with such tension. Sometimes I decided to live with it for a day or two, let the tension grow for a bit, sometimes I just decided to sleep one hour less.
In conclusion, it is a TV Show that I fully recommend, it is entertaining, it has a good sci-fi story, it brings you 30 years back in a good way, it has lovable characters, great soundtrack and, generically, it is very well executed. The perfect summer gift.
No comments:
Post a Comment