Original Netflix films
There is something wrong here, right? I mean every single time I hear someone or something talk about Netflix films, they all say either that they ALL suck or that most of them suck.
This makes my spidey senses tingle a bit, and I am very curious regarding if it’s true or not. Are all Netflix original movies bad? Or do people just go in with too high of expectations? Either way, as the investigative journalist that I am not, I seek to find the truth. The mission is clear, watch some original Netflix movies and see if they suck or not, should be simple enough.
Furthermore, I seek to find some hidden gems if you will. Some movies that have gone under the radar, So I can own everybody in conversation about my superior Netflix knowledge, because we all know, that is where real street credit lies.
Tau 2018
The first movie on this quest is the movie Tau, directed by Federico D’Alessandro and written by Noga Landau. The movie is sci-fi with a dash of cyberpunk. I say a dash because it’s only in the first ten minutes or so, that we really are in a cyberpunk setting. So if you go in expecting a full-on cyberpunk tale you might leave a little disappointed.
The film follows a girl named Julia (Maika Monroe) a petty thief who earns money by picking pocketing people in nightclubs and selling their stuff.
She is then captured by a scientist named Alex (Ed Skrein), and forced to do puzzles for him in his fancy house so that he can make an advanced Ai. However, an Ai named Tau is also living with Alex and the story is more about Julia trying to escape and bonding with the AI in the process.
The Good
Let’s start by talking about the good stuff and to my surprise there was a lot to like about the film. I know, I am shocked too.
First of all, the aesthetic of the film is quite good. The house itself is a very nice setting, it has this believable futuristic vibe, where you totally believe a rich tech guy would live there. Everything is being kept clean and nice by Tau, in fact, cleanliness is important to Alex, so much so that he is willing to hurt Tau if doesn’t do his job properly.
You might think how do you even hurt an AI? Well, he has this little remote that removes some of his code, meaning he loses some of his memories. This makes him feel pain, when this happens he squeals and begs Alex to stop.
Alex also lies out his torture tools very meticulously and neatly. Further indicating his need for cleanliness.
The movie also uses colors exceptionally well, in fact it did such a good job in that aspect that a more detailed analysis of the use of color in the film will be made into a separate post. You can read that post here.
As I said before, the film is about Julia trying to escape. This, in itself, is a good premise since it is only Alex that can unlock the door. So, a girl is trapped in a futuristic house and has to find her way out.
A cool idea, and if you read the plot summary for the film then that is more or less what it will say.
However, the film is also about Julia and Tau bonding. See, the question the film raises is how much of a sentient being is Tau? is he but a piece of software, or is he something more.
The theme of whether an A.I is a sentient being or not is nothing really new. Tau is perfectly capable of expressing fear, anger, happiness and curiosity. You might say it is only a program and it’s not “real”, but it is real for him.
The fact that the film throws in a subplot about Tau, an A.I learning what it means to be a person, was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise.
Tau is also voiced by Gary Oldman which is simply perfect.
I also like the fact that Julia is established as someone who can pickpocket. Throughout the film, she snatches a pair of scissors and his glasses. This works since we have been introduced to her as someone with that skill, and I like that it came back to serve a function.
Doing the film you start to wonder why she is there, why did he capture her? The movie does not outright tell you. You know he is using her to solve puzzles for his work on A.I. You can kind of put two and two together, that he is taking people from the lower ends of society and is running experiments on them.
Some might say this is bad, but I appreciate the fact that the movie did not use some kind of stupid exposition you typically find in Hollywood movies.
A societal hierarchy is also in the spirit of cyberpunk. So Alex the rich white guy is taking people from the lower class fits right in.
At some point, Julia askes Tau why he is letting Alex hurt him. Tau replies by saying that he can not go against the one that created him, he asks if Julia would go against the one that created her. She talks a bit about how she had a bad mom and that she was never around.
Again we see a small amount of exposition, instead of just saying it outright like a…..Hollywood movie.
Another small thing I enjoyed is when she is trying to escape by smashing the window, they all turn out to be screens, indicating that escape is an illusion.
This also builds on the idea that the outside is to be kept secret from Tau.
The Bad
While Monroe and Oldman were both good in the film, I can’t say I liked Ed Skrein that much. In fact, I did not find him that convincing in Deadpool either. He is better in this film for sure, but maybe it’s just more of a me thing, I can’t seem to connect with him on screen.
There are also some wonky death scenes with some really bad fake blood.
The CGI is decent enough, but nothing to really write home about.
While I said before that I enjoyed the AI bonding subplot, it is also clear that there was nowhere near enough time to actually develop that theme properly. The idea of a sentient AI is super interesting, and it takes a lot of time to explore the idea.
In this way, the movie suffers under the shorter run time.
It also takes a little time to really warm up to Julia. She is very unlikeable as a character. However, this is somewhat justified since she is a thief from the lower ends of society
We know from the dialog that she did not have a good relationship with her mom. The only real reason this is not a bigger problem is that Alex is less likable. You do want to root for the main character though and especially in this kind of “trapped in a bad circumstance” kind of movie.
Conclusion
So, is Tau one of those bad Netflix films? Well, as of writing this post Tau has a rotten tomatoes score of 25% and an audience score of 48% an IMDb score of 5.8, and a Metacritic score of 43. RAVING REVIEWS INDEED!
I think people have an inherent dislike of the idea of an original Netflix movie. Something feels wrong about anyone but Hollywood making movies. However, Hollywood is not exactly a beacon of quality at this point. If I go and watch movies in the cinema (which I still do), then the movies are sometimes better and sometimes worse than this one.
I recently wrote a post on Wrath of man and I was not a fan of that movie at all. It currently sits on an audience score of 91.
I think the problem people have with Tau and with Netflix movies, in general, is that it feels unfinished. Like something is missing in the production and the script department.
Maybe there is just a difference between the quality of all movies regarding where they premier and who publishes them.
I simply have to watch more Netflix films to get a bigger picture. As for Tau, it’s good, I like it. POST OVER.