By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Netflix may be the butt of jokes thanks to its Netflix Original movies that often not only look cheap, but have been put together according to a soulless algorithm for maximum appeal, and yet sometimes the streamer drops a hidden gem on viewers. In 2019, The platformabout a future dystopian prison built vertically with food lowered hundreds of floors for the inmates locked inside, was a Spanish sci-fi thriller that surprised everyone with its imaginative premise and writing intelligent. Five years later, THE Platform 2 debuted on the streamer, and its sole purpose was to remind you that the first film was really good.
333 levels of hell
Platform 2 takes place in the same vertical self-management center as the original, with the same food concept lowered from top to bottom, and each month the prisoners are randomly assigned to a different floor. As in the first film, there are factions among the prisoners, divided between those who only eat what they need to survive and those who believe they can take what they want, often by force. It is an original way of presenting the class struggle in the real world in a way science fiction environment, with all the violence, angst and well-meaning, well-meaning people that one would expect, and this is where I would normally say “but with a twist”, except here, there is no has no twist.
Perempuan, a woman who chose to join the Self-Management Center as atonement, is at the center of Platform 2finding herself embroiled in a simmering factional conflict, slightly complicated by the rise of a cult known as the Anointed Ones, who believe in solidarity among prisoners, but enforce it through grotesque acts of brutal violence. While the first film relied primarily on intense conversations and a sense of discovery as viewers learned more about the brutal dystopia, the second took a more visceral approach to conveying its message, and the story suffered as a result.
A return journey
Most of the first film is echoed in Platform 2to “the girl is the message”, although it fails to capture the heightened drama and tension of Goreng’s descent into the depths of the prison complex. Perempuan launches an escape plan, but it ends with a revelation that’s meant to be shocking and shows how evil and manipulative the operators behind the prison are, but we’ve seen this before. I haven’t seen such a derivative sequel since The hangover 2; at least then the movie openly admitted that they were doing the same thing again, but since 22 Jump Street has ridiculed everything about the sequels, none have been as egregious as this one.
At the same time, Platform 2 maybe not as good as the first and nowhere near as original, but the heightened violence and social commentary still made for a decent viewing experience. Great science fiction reflects modern society through a futuristic lens, and unfortunately, stories of class struggle have been relevant since humanity first developed permanent dwellings. So even though we’ve seen this story before, it’s still worth telling, and fans of the original may enjoy the journey back, but for everyone else, go watch it. The platform First of all.
Platform 2 is now available on Netflix.
