Prophetic Sci-Fi Docudrama On HBO Max Sets The Tone For Our Future Dystopia
Written by Robert Scucci | Published
If you’re wondering why apocalyptic sci-fi thrillers are rarely presented with a documentary frame that focuses on real-world events and social figures, it’s because it leads to disasters like 2073; a film with a clear message delivered to the audience in the most diverse way possible. As ambitious as this film is, it’s incredibly difficult to watch, and it highlights a unique problem: it’s not the same, but the opposite. again original to handle. I wish I was as original as Rotten Tomatoes reviewer Glenn Dunks, who simply called this film “Doomscrolling: The Movie,” because it is exactly that. 2073 besides the promising icon and synopsis you will see when you want to stream the title in Max.
I’m not mad, just disappointed, because anyway 2073 it’s classified as a documentary and a thriller, it’s like, 10 percent, if that, and the rest is the kind of stuff you’ll see while scrolling through your Instagram feed in horror while wondering how close we are to a dystopian reality that, according to the film, we’re getting closer to fast.
The Future is a Dark Place in 2073
2073 begins with promise as it follows the vision of a single woman known only as “Ghost” (Samantha Morton). Living under a long-abandoned shopping mall with other abandoned people, the narrative from Ghost explains how far society has come, and aims to tell the story of how humanity got to such a dark place. In constant fear of being interrogated and silenced (killed) by the government, Ghost dumpster dives for food and supplies when it’s safe to do so, then retreats underground to his crumbling lair that houses the other survivors who are in a terrible state of old age.
And let me tell you, these post-apocalyptic scenes are absolutely amazing. I wanted to learn more about how society works in the year 2073, and I would like to see more of this. The power hierarchy, the desire to re-educate the masses so they can overthrow their oppressors, and the constant surveillance the society lives in is fascinating, to say the least, and this fictional but unfortunately believable setting is fertile ground for next-level storytelling about a disadvantaged society that hasn’t collected our history and hasn’t.
Well, That Went Dark
The best part about 2073 a sequence set in a dystopian future that will fill any reasonable viewer with a sense of total fear, and then suddenly the worst thing can happen: we get a documentary that reminds us of a terrible Zeitgeist film series that does a great job of pointing out the dangers of a totalitarian government, but never even tries to show the problems or deal with real problems, so that we can face the real problems. we can actually make a concerted effort to get on the right side of history and prevent such a bleak future from happening.
In other words, 2073 tries to be two different movies: a dystopian sci-fi thriller set in a fictional not-so-distant future, and a documentary that uses actual, archived footage from the present day to explain how this dystopia was created.
But there is a problem.
While watching the documentary sequences you make most of it in 2073 time to run, I felt like Alex since A Clockwork Orangewho was forced to sit in front of the television with his eyes open so that he could capture the entire video at an alarming speed. This type of delivery removes the mystique from a very interesting story – a legend that began in 2073 – that could be used as a vehicle to propose solutions for a society driven underground by existing forces.
Two Different Films Failed in One
Although I appreciate what 2073 I was trying to achieve, it left a bad taste in my mouth because it comes out as if preaching to a choir that already knows the current situation, but feels powerless to do any sensible ways to prevent things from getting worse.
We already know that wealth is concentrated in a way that keeps the working class under the thumb of its ruler. We already know that politicians and tech bros are sweeping humanity under the rug so a few people in power can control the landscape while the rest of us suffer. We already know that data mining billionaires and the annoying warts of the internet are a bad combination for humanity because it suggests how artificial intelligence will control the masses as it finds a way to be smarter than the people it is meant to manipulate.
All well and good, but what do we do about it? An interesting story – a story I wanted to see – in it 2073 how the people of the future deal with the decline of society and look to a bright future. What we get instead is today’s hottest news that is constantly flashed before our eyes as if to say “there’s nothing you can do about this,” and “we’re doomed.”
Stream 2073 to Max
If you look at a very condensed list of current affairs as told in various media that leads to the highest representation of the concept of the future that may become reality, then. 2073 it might pique your interest. But if you’re expecting to see how humanity intends to rise from the ashes with its speculative sci-fi narrative, you’ll be sorely disappointed. By combining real, contemporary world events with what is a work of fiction, 2073 it misses the mark on both fronts because it’s realistic, scary, and offers a disturbing vision of how we’re collectively headed down a sad path at an alarming rate, but never uses creative fiction to rationally examine how we’re going to get out of this seemingly inevitable mess.
2073 it gets an A for effort and concept, and an F for execution. If you want to see how messed up the world is, just fire up your news apps, or log on to TikTok or Instagram, for a crash course because it’s all the same. If you want to just finish quickly and move on with your life, you can stream 2073 to Max.
