I love big ideas in stories. The problem is when the idea takes over and gets in the way of character, plot and emotion.
To be fair, Alex Garland's Devs tries hard to avoid this. It also has a big, ambitious idea at its centre and it's entirely possible that I didn't follow it as well as I thought I did. But the fact remains, the further I got into this miniseries the less invested I became.
The best thing to come out of it is the stellar performance by Nick Offerman. He proves without a doubt that he's capable of so much more than comedy and is the only cast member to inject some real emotion into his role. It helps that his part was written to allow for this, because almost everyone else here is close to robotic. There's a real laconic feel to Devs, it's in no hurry to tell its story and its characters kind of float through everything that happens. I have a feeling it was somewhat intentional, but it was also a poor choice.
And while I have started to hate falling back on this word to describe things, I have to say just how pretentious it all comes across. There are visual tone poems and mood pieces all throughout, a character monologues poetry over the course of two episodes while we are given montages of multiple reality outcomes. It can be painful.
But it's also a ride. It has a pretty strong start, and I liked the way we the audience are allowed to piece the mystery together ourselves before any details are given. It's the sort of thing that's designed to make you feel clever and that's part of how it tricks you. Overall, I'm just glad I watched it for Nick Offerman, because he deserves all the praise.
The ending is nonsense, though. And given the premise, I'm not sure it could have been anything else.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2020-04-29T10:46:04Z
I love big ideas in stories. The problem is when the idea takes over and gets in the way of character, plot and emotion.
To be fair, Alex Garland's Devs tries hard to avoid this. It also has a big, ambitious idea at its centre and it's entirely possible that I didn't follow it as well as I thought I did. But the fact remains, the further I got into this miniseries the less invested I became.
The best thing to come out of it is the stellar performance by Nick Offerman. He proves without a doubt that he's capable of so much more than comedy and is the only cast member to inject some real emotion into his role. It helps that his part was written to allow for this, because almost everyone else here is close to robotic. There's a real laconic feel to Devs, it's in no hurry to tell its story and its characters kind of float through everything that happens. I have a feeling it was somewhat intentional, but it was also a poor choice.
And while I have started to hate falling back on this word to describe things, I have to say just how pretentious it all comes across. There are visual tone poems and mood pieces all throughout, a character monologues poetry over the course of two episodes while we are given montages of multiple reality outcomes. It can be painful.
But it's also a ride. It has a pretty strong start, and I liked the way we the audience are allowed to piece the mystery together ourselves before any details are given. It's the sort of thing that's designed to make you feel clever and that's part of how it tricks you. Overall, I'm just glad I watched it for Nick Offerman, because he deserves all the praise.
The ending is nonsense, though. And given the premise, I'm not sure it could have been anything else.