Tag Archives: Joel Edgerton

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A few quick words on “Dark Matter” Season 1 (2024)

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“Dark Matter” (2024) is easily one of the best science fiction tv series I’ve ever seen.  It’s like “Sliders” (1995-2000) got together with “North By Northwest” (1959) to create an homage to Homer’s “Odyssey.”  I’d cheerfully rate Season 1 a 10 out of 10.

I had two concerns about whether I would enjoy “Dark Matter,” after it was recommended to me by a college alumnus.

First, I was afraid that it would be too campy.  C’mon … a nice guy being kidnapped by his evil twin from a parallel universe?  That’s a potentially cheesy plot device, and one I feel certain I’ve seen more than once before … maybe “The X Files” (1993- 2018), or some iteration of “The Outer Limits.”  But this is a surprisingly grounded story that assiduously sticks to realism in its tone and plotting (even if it’s occasionally injected with an effective jolt of horror).

Second, I thought it might be too hard for me to follow.  Its premise relies not only on physics, but on the enigma of the “Schrodinger’s cat” thought experiment.  (I will never truly understand it, no matter how many times I pretend to on Facebook.  Reality is objective!)  But the storytelling here is direct and easy to follow, even if the (logical) surprises take the viewer happily off guard.  If my ADHD-afflicted brain could follow the story, then so can you.

And Season 1 ended so perfectly that I’m not even sure I wan a second season.  (It has been renewed by Apple+ TV.)

I definitely get the sense that “Dark Matter” benefitted from having Blake Crouch as the showrunner and head writer.  (Crouch is the author of the 2016 novel that is its source material).  And it’s got great performances by Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson.

It’s really good stuff.  Check it out.

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A short review of “The Gift” (2015)

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I guess the formula for “The Gift” (2015) is pretty simple — hand a superb script to three superb actors.  Here, they are Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton, and the dark drama they bring to life is driven by dialogue and unexpected character development, instead of jump scares and dark hallways and other conventional thriller conventions.  (Edgerton, who I last saw as a boilerplate good guy in 2011’s “The Thing” prequel, is also the director here.)  The three actors are magic together.  I became uncomfortable (as was the filmmaker’s intention) even during the first apparently innocuous conversation when the three interact for the first time at a chance meeting in a department store.

In fact, I’m not sure that “The  Gift”  is even a thriller instead of a particularly disturbing drama.  Like other viewers, I’d suggest that what filmgoers see is not what the movie’s trailer suggests.  This is yet another film that reviewers can’t describe in detail for fear of spoilers.

I’d give this a 9 out of 10.  My only criticisms are very mild.  I think Bateman underplayed the distress his character ought to have felt in the last 10 minutes or so.  Also, I found myself wanting more closure and less ambiguity in the ending, as well more of a standard climax.   But that probably just reflects my expectations as a traditional horror-thriller fan, and not any real failings of the movie.

The-Gift-Movie-Poster-Simon