No one knows better than Blade Runner fans how well sci-fi and film noir go together. The Philip K. Dick story yielded one of the most celebrated sci-fi films of all time, and yet another adaptation utilizes social commentary even further. Altered Carbon was a 2002 book penned by Richard K. Morgan, and in 2018, it made its way to Netflix. Starring Joel Kinnaman, the short-lived series follows a soldier by the name of Takeshi Kovacs who, after fighting for the freedom of his people, is killed. However, he has another chance at life when, centuries after his death, his consciousness is put into another body, known as a sleeve.
Kovacs is offered the option to live again if he solves the murder of Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy). In an interesting twist, Bancroft hires Kovacs himself because his murderer did not know he had a backup of his cortical stack, which allowed him to put on a new sleeve. Only the extremely rich can remotely back up their consciousness, but Kovacs would be rewarded with such an operation if he were successful in his quest. Throughout the first season, Kovacs pieces together what happened to his family as he is confronted with the brutalities of this new world.
‘Altered Carbon’ Is a More Visceral Version of ‘Blade Runner’
Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner considers the ramifications of viewing people’s bodies as nothing more than property. Harrison Ford stars as Deckard in the film, an investigator tasked with decommissioning rogue replicants. These robots were designed for manual labor and are not supposed to surpass their four-year expiration date. The film raises questions about what it means to be human in a universal story.
Altered Carbon weaves a similar tale, except one that features human bodies put through the wringer instead of synthetic ones. The series particularly shows female bodies abused, and though this was a divisive part of the series, it is largely the point. Altered Carbon shows how human rights are still an issue in a futuristic world where such things should be solved. Women are still treated as meat in many ways, which is what enraged Richard K. Morgan about the real world. In one sequence in his book, Kovacs was sleeved inside a female body that was brutally tortured. This wasn’t meant to exploit the female body, but to do the opposite.
“To me, it was a kind of allegiance — that Kovacs is going to suffer what women in this situation suffer,” Richard told The Guardian. “And then, of course, he comes back later and slaughters everybody in sight.” In the series, Kovacs is tortured in his Joel Kinnaman form, but the brutality is still the same. Richard’s work is to hold a mirror up to society, not celebrate it.
These themes, combined with the film noir tropes present, make Altered Carbon an underrated feat. Season 1 covers the events of the book, while Season 2 gets revitalized, casting Anthony Mackie in the role of Kovacs. Though only two seasons, Altered Carbon triumphs with its social commentary and compelling detective story. Viewers can catch both seasons of the series streaming on Netflix.
- Release Date
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2018 – 2020-00-00
- Writers
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Laeta Kalogridis
