Film review no.31 - Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

 Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

Rating - 15


Director - David Slade

Written and created by - Charlie Brooker

Starring - Fionn Whitehead, Craig Parkinson, Will Poulter, Asim Chaudhry 

Run time - Approx. 90 minutes


Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is an 2018 interactive movie and a part of Netflix’s sci-fi thriller anthology series Black Mirror. The movie is set in 1984 and throughout, the viewer gets to select the actions of the main character, Stefan (Fionn Whitehead), a 19 year old cunning computer programmer whose designing a video game adaptation of a choose-your-own-story book Bandersnatch for the company Tuckersoft. The author of the book went insane and murdered his wife a couple of decades prior. As Stefan continues to make the game, he starts to question reality itself after several decisions lead to him going back and changing the outcomes and a warning from his idol and fellow programmer Colin (Will Poulter). 


Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has 5 main endings, including a secret sixth ending for dedicated fans which takes you through all five endings with the secret ending following after (i tried it, it took two hours and to be honest, it wasn't worth the time). The average run-time for a play of this film is around 90 minutes. 


Before watching this, I’d never seen Black Mirror before, but now I’m intrigued. The series is well-known for its high quality storylines and dark outlook at the effect technology could have on society. Charlie Brooker, writer and creator of the series, has been previously credited as a genius for creating such a complex and invigorating series. The popularity of the series always left the speculation of a movie spinoff pending, and it certainly delivered an interesting story in a new, unique format. Since Bandersnatch has been released, Netflix has released several other specials based on a variety of their shows from Boss Baby: Back in Business to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I generally enjoyed this thriller; it really delivered in terms of story and the acting and writing was great. It was the first thriller to actually make me scared (but not in a terrifying way) in a long time and for any fans of horror/thriller series like American Horror Story or Inside No.9, I’d recommend to watch Black Mirror as a series as well.


Score - 8/10


Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is available on Netflix

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