Information of a sequel to Netflix’s cult sci-fi/horror The Platform introduced me blended emotions.
The unique’s nightmarishly easy idea was so compelling I needed to see extra from that world, however I additionally nervous about what a sequel might say or present that the primary film hadn’t.
I am pleased to report my fears weren’t needed. The Platform 2 is a strong continuation of the dangerous dream that started with Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s 2019 film, constructing upon its brutalist universe whereas altering the principles simply sufficient to ship a brand new message.
What’s The Platform 2 about?
The setting is identical because it was within the authentic: a vertical jail with cells stacked on prime of each other. Every cell has an oblong gap within the center, and every day a platform stuffed with meals descends from the very prime of the jail to the very backside. The platform accommodates a meal or meals merchandise that every prisoner requests once they first go into the jail, and there is sufficient for everybody — offering no prisoner eats greater than their justifiable share. Which after all they do.
The Platform 2 takes this idea and builds on it, introducing new cellmates Perempuán (Milena Smit) and Zamiatin (Hovik Keuchkerian) at a time when the prisoners have carried out a strict system of guidelines to attempt to guarantee as many individuals eat as doable.
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Credit score: NICOLAS DASSAS / NETFLIX
The Platform 2 is acquainted, however completely different.
This observe of quiet revolution — nearly hopeful — is how the movie begins. The oppressive setting is immediately recognisable, as are the ominous clangs and rumbles that type the film’s backdrop, however the guidelines have modified.
“The upper up you might be, the extra accountability,” is how one character places it, revealing a prisoner-enforced system the place individuals eat solely what they requested and are badly punished for doing in any other case. This tweak of the unique concept — due to the script co-written by The Platform scribes David Desola and Pedro Rivero, together with Egoitz Moreno and Gaztelu-Urrutia – breathes recent life into the franchise. The strain now comes not from attempting to know the jail itself, however from attempting to navigate the system enforced by the individuals inside it.
Credit score: NICOLAS DASSAS / NETFLIX
The Platform 2 is as merciless and exquisite as the unique.
One of many causes I really like The Platform is the way in which it exhibits humanity at its finest and worst. The script is transferring at instances, terrifying at others. Gaztelu-Urrutia’s route attracts out this hope and horror within the performers, all of whom are uncooked and plausible. Azegiñe Urigoitia’s manufacturing design is a nightmarish murals. Within the background, composer Aitor Etxebarria’s haunting rating spools via the film and ties it collectively like a thread. All of this stuff are true of the sequel, too.
As soon as once more, it isn’t one to look at when you’re consuming, as there’s loads of disturbing and gory imagery. However the dialogue and the performances are highly effective, and the underlying exploration of societal energy constructions is simply as fascinating because it was within the authentic.
“We kill to construct a future the place nobody will kill anybody,” says a personality at one level, displaying how a system that strives for equity can shortly devolve into brutality. “Solely worry subdues beasts.”
It isn’t straightforward to make a style sequel, and it is even more durable when the unique is such a particular and distinctive film. However The Platform 2 is a transparent instance of doing it proper.
The Platform 2 is streaming on Netflix from Oct. 4.