Utopia Review
What a load of pretentious up its own arse check me out I am way too Shoreditch cool load of balls. Was my initial thought about Utopia. But oh how I was won over. Don’t let me mislead you, Utopia is so cool I had to wear skinny jeans to watch it but it is directed, acted, shot and edited so well that you forget your glasses have real lenses rather than fake.
Utopia is the story of a group of random strangers brought together over their interest in a cult comic book called Utopia. The comic book is surrounded by mystery and conspiracy theories and our central characters lives are thrown into utter chaos when they unintentionally become embroiled in a plot to gain access to the second, never published, volume. Our core group consist of Becky (Alexandra Roach), Ian (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), Wilson (Adeel Akhtar) and Grant (Oliver Woollford) who are hunted by the sadistic and seemingly all-knowing The Network.
That’s about as far as I want to go with giving you any plot description for this series, there are so many reveals and mind bending twists in just six episodes it is best to go in without any prior knowledge whatsoever. I shall however share my views on the stylistic composition.
What is truly outstanding about Utopia are the characters. Whilst you must credit the actors for great performances you acknowledge that they have impressive material to work with. Characters who could be painted as villains are much more complex, the “good” guys are not simply moralistic and straight forward and, always a dangerous area, the child actors are fantastic. An example of great character was finding myself thinking of Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere when watching scenes with Arby and Lee however by the end of their story arch having a completely different perception and feeling.
Unfortunately as with anything which relies heavily on style Utopia is not perfect. I almost feel as though I know and went to university with these directors as I can see where they are inserting classic filmic uses; the red herring, the macguffin, the hint drop ambiguity for later twist reveals. It ends up being a bit film school textbook. This is perfectly exampled in the extras which focus on film making techniques. The ending did not surprise me at all, which is a shame considering I couldn’t foresee where the story was going throughout the rest of the series. I was also a little disappointed with the extras as whilst they do offer insight into television and film making they did not particularly examine or reveal anything further around the story. These are, however, minor complaints.
Utopia is one of those television series that reminds you why Channel 4 should exist. Unique, beautifully written and something people will still talk about in years time. On a side note I highly recommend watching this show in one weekend then going to see the current immersive exhibition showing in London called In the beginning was the end. I guarantee it will totally mess with your head!
Lauren Cracknell