I do not watch Black Mirror the TV series but I’ve heard so much about the special episode named Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. Hearing that it’s a choose-your-adventure type, made me wanna watch it. As a kid, I’ve enjoyed the Choose Your Own Adventures books so I was looking forward for the same experience on a screen.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is about a young programmer (Stefan Butler) who adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. In the movie, Stefan starts to question reality as he realises that another person/group is controlling his mind and actions.
The actors must have worked really hard for the movie as they had to act on scenes in multiple ways. Making sure that there is continuity or little-to-no-difference with previous take for consistency. Will Poulter is the only familiar actor for me and as usual, he’s very good in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.
It’s hard to root for a character in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch as the story kept repeating (felt like it’s on a loop at some point). The choose your own adventure was pretty cool but I would have hoped that they just let us continue on with the story versus bringing us back to previous scenes just because we chose the wrong option (and we end up going back to the same question to force us to choose the other answer). While it was cool, the movie felt a gimmick to me. I actually had a hard time finishing the movie. I appreciate that this is a breakthrough in watching a film but they could have executed it better. There are some options that are super weird… like pour tea on computer or break computer? kill dad or shout at dad? come on! I wouldn’t want to choose either, haha! 😅
The takeaway for me is that it’s now possible for us to control how a story progresses in a film! Technology is really super cool!
My rating for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch: ⭐️ ⭐️ (2 out of 5 stars).
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