![]() The character interactions and some of their observations regarding the lore of the world they inhabit will keep you from seeing all that. And since the characters begin to feel half-baked, Utopia’s take on universally relevant topics like our dependence on strong men, media manipulation, and fantasising an apocalypse seems hollow. They’re given only the illusion of progress while their actual progress is minuscule. But they’re stuck doing the same thing over and over again. The characters are well-rounded and unique, with Jessica Hyde being the best out of the lot, and hold lots of potential in terms of exploring the series’ central theme: what is exactly humanity’s purpose in this chaotic and brutal world. And then the payoff is more of that with even lesser nuance. By that I mean she leaves clues as to what she’s trying to say about corporate culture, human behaviour, familial relationships, the role of government, etc. In Utopia, Flynn uses an abomination of these methods. The second one is where you intentionally hide it under layers and then give it such a grand payoff so that the viewer is compelled to revisit it and look under the layers. One is where you leave little crumbs of the aforementioned elements throughout the course of movie/series and eventually give it its grand payoff. But if I can boil it down to its simplest, I will say that there are two ways (Please keep me in mind that this is purely subjective and not gospel). There are hundreds of ways to establish a story’s themes, character arcs, and its throughline. ![]() ![]() Gillian Flynn expertly sets up the stage for an engaging pandemic thriller and then runs circles around it. The story oscillates between the mystery behind the titular comic-book series and the looming danger of a real-life pandemic that is about to end humanity. It features Sasha Lane, Rainn Wilson, John Cusack, Cory Michael Smith, Desmin Borges, Dan Byrd, Christopher Denham, Ashleigh LaThrop, Javon 'Wanna' Walton, Crystal Fox, Farrah Mackenzie, Jessia Rothe, Jeanine Serralles, Hadley Robinson, and more. The production design is by Steve Arnold, and art direction by Ryan Grossheim and Oana Bogdan Miller. The series’ music is by Jeff Russo, cinematography by Shawn Kin and Stephan Pehrsson, editing by Scott Turner, Kyle Traynor, Lisa Bromwell, and Jonathan Schwartz. Utopia is written by Gillian Flynn and directed by Toby Haynes, Susanna Fogel, and Courtney Hunt. However, now that I’ve watched it, I feel that her stories truly flourish in the hands of good directors. So naturally, I was excited about Utopia because it promised to have all that while being scarily relevant because, like the characters in the story, we are going through a pandemic. When I am doing something as banal as staring at the wall, I think about them and wish other storytellers emulated her attention to detail when it comes to understanding the dynamics of a relationship. I find myself referring to them while talking about mystery thrillers that go beyond the genre conventions to talk about the human mind. Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and Gone Girl are two of my favourite pieces of entertainment. But from a storytelling standpoint, it doesn’t really go anywhere, thereby making the viewing experience a little tiring. Rainn Wilson, John Cusack, Sasha Lane, and the rest of the cast provide great performances. On a technical level, the series is top-notch. Michael Stearns Farrah Mackenzie as Alice Christopher Denham as Arby and Cory Michael Smith as Thomas Christie.Utopia, written by Gillian Flynn, is an amalgamation of a mystery that’s wrapped in the pages of an obscure comic-book series and a pandemic thriller that aims to comment on the operation of private organisations, public organisations, and the human mind. Kevin Christie Rainn Wilson as scientist Dr. The series also stars John Cusack as a philanthropic billionaire, Dr. ![]() Together, they team up to fight a vast government conspiracy and save the world. Also real: the main character, Jessica Hyde (Sasha Lane). Ian (Dan Byrd), Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Samantha (Jessica Rothe), Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges) and Grant (Javon “Wanna” Walton) obsess over hidden meanings in their cult-favorite comic, uncovering threats to humanity that are actually real - including a viral pandemic. The first trailer for Amazon’s Utopia, which debuted in the series’ panel Thursday afternoon, reveals that the meta series - about a group of comic book nerds who inadvertently discover that their favorite graphic novel might be real - is even more prescient than a self-referential series debuting on a Comic-Con panel already would’ve been. ![]()
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