The new production of the filmmaker Alex Garland, is a mini series of science fiction, a genre in which the director is very well developed. Devs is going from over to under, he's starting out very well, but he's losing as the end approaches.
Any artistic expression is subjective, the plastic arts, photography, writing, etc. So are movies and TV shows. For some, Devs may be an extraordinary piece of science fiction, for others, it may be a bad mini-series.
What's the story?
Lily and Sergey are a couple who work at the AMAYA Technology Corporation. Sergey is selected to work at DEVS, a personal project of Forest, the owner of the company. The couple is very happy about that achievement. On the first day of work at DEVS, Sergey is supposedly shocked to see the code, when he leaves the premises, we discover a secret and something happens that he won't tell. Sergey does not arrive at the house, Lily gets worried, starts asking questions and the company gives her answers, they show her a video where her boyfriend commits suicide, soaking himself in gasoline to set himself on fire. Lily suspects her boyfriend didn't kill himself. When she discovers a password-protected Sudoku application on her mobile phone backup, she seeks the help of an ex-boyfriend who is an expert in computer security to investigate and find out what really happened.
Visually it's impeccable. Beautiful. With minimalist atmospheres to delight us. It's the director's style. This minimalism can be seen even in the streets, always alone and without traffic. This detail can be seen very well in a frame, but it also affects the credibility of the story we are told.
The series is a bit pretentious, something that the film Ex -Machine also had, with scenes that want to make the impression of being deeper than they really are. I don't have a problem with that, on the contrary, I like that pretentious atmosphere. But many viewers find this unbearable.
On the scientific and philosophical side, the series deals with interesting theories, but I am not an expert on that subject, my review will be of the history and dramatic elements. If you want to know about determinism, multiverses and free will, you can read about them in the following links: Determinism - LINK , Free Will - LINK& Multiverse - LINK
Garland again creates a multi-million dollar technology guru character who thinks of himself as a messiah. The character's name is Forest. And in keeping with his name, he has built the Devs facility in the forest. The company is called AMAYA, the name of the daughter, who died in an accident.
To get to DEVS, you have to walk through the forest, it's a long way. Come on! A multi-million dollar company and the only way to get there is to walk? What if it rains? These are small details that must be taken care of. This isn't a comedy, it's a science fiction drama.
Forest lives in a suburb with no security measures. A modest house, where he lived before he lost his daughter. He has no surveillance cameras or security equipment to protect him. I don't believe this! It's as if Mark Zuckerberg had no security and lived in a random house. In the universe of the series it seems that there are no stalkers or kidnappers.
The same problem exists in AMAYA. There are no security protocols and everyone walks around where they want to. When Lily makes the alleged attempt to throw herself off the building, there are no security personnel in the hallway, the road is lonely (a place with hundreds of employees), there are no surveillance cameras. A place where something is being built that will revolutionize the world. It is coincidentally Forest, along with the visiting senator, who sees her and alerts Kenton by phone. Too forced by the script.
The first four episodes are good, with a slow pace, beautiful images and a proper use of music to create the atmosphere of intrigue, we are entering this world, then comes episode five, which works as an explanatory episode of everything that has happened so far, and then lower the level that had the mini series, with episodes 6 and 7, which could be summarized in one.
Industrial espionage is treated in a superficial way, the Russian plot is only briefly addressed in two episodes (I would have liked the series to go deeper into that). Only at the end we find out again about that subject, which was bound to come up. The character of the tramp, from the moment I saw him in the first episode, I knew what his importance would be within the story. It was no surprise to me.
Friendly actor Nick Offerman, well known for comedies, plays Forest. Always surrounded by a mystical air. I found his performance convincing. Get to see him as that technological messiah who just wants to be happy again with his family.
Sonoya Mizuno plays the heroine of the mini-series, Lily Chan. The British actress has already participated in other Garland productions ( Ex - machine, Annihilation ). I like your performance. Perhaps because he's a little-known face. When the character is in borderline situations, that's where it's best. The flaws in the character are due to the demands of the script, especially in episode six, where I find the way of acting towards the groom's killers incoherent.
Zach Grenier plays Kenton, AMAYA's head of security, who is an interesting character at first, but in the final stretch of the series, the character becomes flat, to become a textbook bad guy. Alison Pill plays Katie, Devs' second in command and an occasional Forest lover. His interpretation is inexpressive, but for a moment I thought he might be an android. A pretty actress with a proper performance. Stephen Henderson is a veteran actor who gives way to the character called Stewart, the oldest of the DEVS developers. The character will be pushed by the script to make an important decision by the end of the story.
I was surprised by the character of Lyndon, who in the series is the youngest of the developers, a 19-year-old boy. But in looking for the actor who plays it, I found that she is an actress and singer. Cailee Spaeny participated in the film Pacifit Rim, and this character in Devs would be the second most important in her career. The character Lyndon is very intelligent and thanks to him, they achieve a great advance within the Devs project.
Devs, which actually has another meaning, revealed in the end of the series, is where the project of a quantum super computer is developed, which allows to create a real simulation of past events, and of course, it also creates a simulation of the future.
What is the reason for creating this? Although we might think that the guru's motivation would be the advance of technology, on the contrary, it is for something simpler: love. He wants to be with his dead daughter again.
I was a little disappointed by the ending. That's what this simulation is, just a simulation, no matter how much they have programmed their memories to the last moment of their lives, it doesn't mean it's them.
My Rankin: 4/5
Trailer
