Altered Carbon
2018
Original language: English
- sci-fi & fantasy
- drama
The story
After 250 years on ice, a prisoner returns to life in a new body with one chance to win his freedom: by solving a mind-bending murder.
What it’s like
Neon-soaked night streets slick with rain, towering vertical cities under smog-orange skies, and interiors lit in hard cold blues and sickly greens. The look is cyberpunk noir: dense layered frames, glossy surfaces, hovering traffic and holographic signage bleeding light across wet pavement, with sudden sharp cuts into sterile white clinics. The sound design leans on a pulsing electronic score, rain hiss, and the murmur of crowded districts, broken by moments of eerie quiet. Its vibe is gritty, moody and slick, the kind of watch that suits a late-night session alone or a weekend binge with the lights off. Pacing is brisk and serialized, with action and dialogue scenes built to keep tension high, and its emotional core is a hardened ex-soldier with a bruised sense of self working through who he is when his body and memories no longer match. The violence is frequent and often graphic, with shootouts, stabbings and gore, plus nudity and sexual scenes that appear regularly, so it does not suit anyone seeking something gentle. It is for viewers who enjoy cerebral sci-fi mysteries, body-swap paranoia, and bleak futuristic worlds of corporate power and street-level crime.
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