In early October Netflix release a sequel to the great movie The Platform, I was really expecting this movie to happen after the success of the original, to be honest I was not expecting to be better since the bar was set very high but it was not that bad so my rating is mostly based compared to the first movie so you don't get confuse. After all is a good movie which attempts to expand on the original and doesn’t quite reach the same heights. The movie brings us back to that vertical prison where food comes through the platform that goes from top to bottom, but now with a new system in place trying to make sense of the mess we witnessed in the first film.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27729779/
- Platform: NETFLIX
I didn't go into this movie expecting another masterpiece like the original, but I did get a decent follow up that's entertaining enough but doesn't pack the raw punch of the original. Though they feel at times like a refresh of what we’ve seen before just with a similar tone but at the same time trying to stay as close as the first classic, the movie still delivers some intense moments and thought provoking scenarios but not the type of movie who tries to push their agenda.
The basic setup remains the same with 333 levels, two prisoners per floor, so 666 prisoners, on both movies they do try hard to make it look that its a living hell. Food still comes down the platform once a day, from the top to the bottom. This time is different because, they say, there’s an actual system in place where inmates can only eat what they have specifically requested when they got in, compared to the first movie its interesting since now inmates has a choice?.
And the story develops around Perempuan played by Milena Smit, who is locked up with a very interesting cell mate, Zamiatin played by Hovik Keuchkerian. They have started on level 46, which isn’t the worst place to be because there are 333 floors, but things soon get complicated when they find out that the prison now works under strict new rules enforced by a group of zealot like followers of a blind prophet. Perempuan chose croquettes, Zamiatin pizza, so this detail becomes much more important than you might think as the story goes on.
When we find out about "the higher ones" that supposedly met some kind of messiah figure and now violently enforce the food distribution rules, the plot takes some wild turns. The movie isn't scared to show the brutal repercussions of breaking these rules something that was heavily shown on the first movie, reason probably sometimes it feels this story just takes from the first movie instead of adding context or substantial changes, although there is less stomach churning violence than the first film, it's still pretty intense. There are also religious fanaticism elements all over through the story and how a peace loving ideology can be twisted into a violent crusade, honestly this felt a bit heavy handed at times but further added to the story.
Perempuan is brought to life by Milena Smit who gives her a vulnerability and strength as she works her way through the prison’s strange social order, especially at times when the plot starts to become a bit tortuous, her transformation into a deeply entangled being in the prison power play feels believable. Hovik Keuchkerian as her cellmate plays Zamiatin, he does brings some welcome humanity to the role of a former mathematician with a violent past. As on the first movie its about team work, no different on the sequel some of the more outlandish moments of the movie are ground by the chemistry of these two actors. Natalia Tena who appears later in the movie does good work with what she gets but many of the characters are underdeveloped compared to our two leads, and Oscar Jaenada as the blind prophet figure is appropriately creepy and authoritative, in my opinion a bit too on the nose with religious symbolism. Having so many characters on a close environment movie and not giving them enough context in fact becomes one of the biggest problem of the movie since it feels like the story is force against the main duo.
According to Netflix, the movie has been doing well on the streaming charts, it's hit number one on the non English language chart with 19.4 million views. Some have loved the expanded world building, others hate it because they think it's an unnecessary sequel that doesn't do enough to improve on the original concept. If you have been reading my posts for the almost two years then you might know I'm a bit forgiving with my opinion and never go to the extreme of giving very very low ratings below 5, or even talk about them since they not worth my time of posting about. I can see how this movie can be a 50/50 split between the audience and how critics would just murder it from the go. Another point to recognize is that this is a well made movie from a technical standpoint but not sure it warranted being a rehash of the first film's themes.
While watching this I found myself somewhere in the middle, it does have the production values and the movie is a very good looking grim, concrete affair with its grim atmosphere and claustrophobic settings. They build the tension well in quite a few scenes and they actually get quite thrilling with a few of the action sequences, but the second half of the story becomes too confused in its own mythology and symbolism to make you care what’s happening, instead this could have been a better movie if it was a pure action sequel instead of going all metaphors and over thinking things.
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