News of Netflix sequel to cult sci-fi/horror film platform Gave me mixed feelings.
The nightmarishly simple concept of the original was so compelling that I wanted to see more from this world, but I also worried that the sequel would say or show something that the first film didn’t.
I’m happy to report that my worries were unnecessary. Platform 2 is a powerful continuation of the nightmare that began with Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s 2019 film, building on its brutalist universe while changing the rules just enough to convey a new message.
The Best Escapist Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix
what is Platform 2 about?
The setting is the same as the original: a vertical prison with cells stacked on top of each other. Each cell has a rectangular hole in the middle, and every day a platform filled with food is lowered from the top to the bottom of the prison. The platform contains the meals or food items requested by each prisoner when they first enter the prison, and there is enough for everyone – provided no prisoner eats more than their fair share. Of course they did.
Platform 2 Taking this idea and building on it, while the inmates enforce a strict system of rules to ensure as many people as possible are fed, new inmates Perenpuan (Milena Smit) and Zaha are introduced. Myatin (Hovik Kochklian).
Popular stories that can be mixed and matched
Photo Credit: Nicolas Dasas/NETFLIX
Platform 2 Familiar, yet different.
This quietly revolutionary tone – almost hopeful – is how the film begins. The oppressive background is instantly recognizable, as are the ominous clanks and rumbles in the film’s background, but rule has changed.
“With higher positions comes greater responsibility,” is one character’s statement, revealing a system of prisoner coercion where people only eat what they are asked to do or suffer severe punishment. This tweak to the original idea – thanks to co-writing the script platform Screenwriters David Desola and Pedro Rivero, with Egoitz Moreno and Gaztelu-Urrutia ) breathed fresh life into the series. The tension now comes not from trying to understand the prison itself, but from trying to navigate the system enforced by the people inside it.
Photo Credit: Nicolas Dasas/NETFLIX
Platform 2 It’s as brutal and beautiful as the original.
One of the reasons I like platform This is its way of showing the best and worst of human nature. The script is sometimes touching and sometimes horrifying. Gaztru-Urutia’s direction brings out this hope and fear in the performers, who are all raw and believable. The production design of Azegiñe Urigoitia is a nightmarish work of art. In the background, composer Aitor Etxebarria’s haunting score runs throughout the film and ties it together like a thread. All of these things apply to the sequel as well.
Again, this is not suitable to watch while eating as there are a lot of disturbing and bloody images. But the dialogue and performances are strong, and the underlying exploration of society’s power structures is as engaging as the original.
“We kill to build a future where no one kills,” one character says at one point, showing how a system that strives for fairness can quickly devolve into brutality. “Only fear can subdue the beast.”
It’s not easy to make a genre sequel, and it’s even harder when the original is such a special and unique film. but Platform 2 This is a clear example of doing it right.
Platform 2 Streaming on Netflix from October 4th.
