Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch follows Stefan, a young game developer, as he works on adapting a choose your own adventure fantasy novel into a video game. The cool part? The movie is a choose your own adventure experience! Sometimes Stephan has to deal with learning some pretty crazy secrets, sometimes he succeeds in his endeavors and sometimes things just go all the way wrong for young Stefan. This is one that has to be experienced.
There was a ton of buzz around this movie when it first dropped and I was skeptical. The thought of a choose your own adventure style movie sounded gimmicky at best to me. I have also never watched a single episode of Black Mirror so I had planned on skipping this one altogether. Luckily, JimJam asked me if I would mind checking it out and giving it a review. I decided I had nothing to lose but a couple hours and dove into Bandersnatch. Honestly, I’m really glad I did.
I really can’t think of anything in the movie that I didn’t like. I got kind of shitty that I couldn’t back up immediately and redo my choices (FireTV) but I don’t know if others would have that same issue. Other than that, this movie was really cool. The performances and writing were incredible. The cinematography, effects, and interface (minus that one little gripe) were all great.
There are five endings and a secret post credits scene to Bandersnatch and it would have been a great film with just about any of them. Some would have been a little more comical than others and some were downright dark but either of them would have been acceptable. The ability to see all of these possibilities play out at the whim of the viewer was really interesting. I really thought this was going to be dumb but the way they put it together made for a really fun experience. It was nice to be able to fuck someone else’s life up with bad decisions for once.
All in all would I recommend this movie? Yes, yes, and yes! Bandersnatch covers all the bases! It might take a little longer than an average watch but I promise you, it is completely worth it. Bandersnatch is on Netflix right now. Make your first choice count and give this one a shot.
