Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

I was probably only about a third the way through before I figured out where this was going, and sure the execution is original, it's also sort of a gimmick, and it definitely ties into the movie in a fitting way. But the issue is that by being forced to go down different alternative paths, this movie begins to feel transient and none of the endings really leave an impression. Also, I'll add that Whitehead was really starting to irritate me by about 20 minutes in.

Boy, they sure loved talking about how your choices don't matter. And they loved demonstrating it through the interactive mechanics. But boy they sure didn't love giving us characters worth giving a damn about! The choice gimmick ends up being the only attraction here, and without a way to jump around (e.g. reloading a save or flipping back some pages) then even that quickly descends into tedium. Could be a good sign of things to come, but it doesn't work on its own.

In my opinion they failed quite miserably at making a good interactive film (both in terms of the experience and the content), but I love that they tried.

Pushes you to choose the tragic and more brutal option. You either end up killing your father, going insane, or becoming a successful game designer. How does this contain any "critical" sensitivity towards the current reality? It reproduces the symbolic order's propensity for violence, madness, and all kinds of excesses, and the self-conscious elements are just too overt and superficial. Plus, the scenario is just poorly constructed. They constantly send you back to your previous choice.

Kudos for taking a chance on the concept, which I'm sure we'll see more of, but I hope that in the future there's a bit more effort put into the other elements of the production aside from the gimmick.

We manipulate Stefan. Netflix manipulate us.

The choose-your-own-adventure is mildly interesting at first, and at least unique, but by the end I was just desperate to achieve some kind of resolution. Ironically, the audience involvement factor ultimately distanced me from the story, which was pretty gimmicky anyway, though there were brief moments when the concept was compelling.

I've played enough 'Telltale' games to know that the bar is set fairly low when it comes to your choices mattering in modern interactive entertainment, that's why Bandersnatch pleasantly surprised me. Here is an experience that is entirely self aware in how much choice it gives you and what type of people are going to play it and this meta approach is frequently amusing (e.g. The 'Netflix' choice!). Possibly best watched with at least one other person so you can argue how to torture the lead!

There's a comforting irony to how Black Mirror has spent 4 seasons trying to scare us with what technology can do, and now Netflix can't even get the movie to work on the most common platforms. Choosing (heh) to watch a torrented version without being part of the gimmick hammers home that this is basically a British Donnie Darko where the writer *really* wants there to be a downer ending despite promising control. Not bad, but hardly more revolutionary than any other CYOA game.

A great concept, poor execution. I really think they could have pulled this off if they made slightly different choices. For example, when I reached an "ending" in the narrative, I was given the option to go back and replay the game from some set point. But this made it feel like I hadn't reached an end, and that I had made mistakes in my choices, and then, going back and replaying content to get to different results made it seem like there was no finality to my decisions. Bleh.