The Blade Runner universe grows with Crunchyroll and Adult Swim’s Blade Runner: Black Lotus anime series. After a trailer released at Comic-Con a couple of weeks back, the show’s opening minutes were revealed today by directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama, and you know what? It looks fantastic and like a welcome addition to the sci-fi classic.
The synopsis sums it up pretty well: “Los Angeles 2032. A young woman wakes up with no memories, and possessing deadly skills. The only clues to her mystery are a locked data device and a tattoo of a black lotus. Putting together the pieces, she must hunt down the people responsible for her brutal and bloody past to find the truth of her lost identity.”
To be fair, that plot could’ve been for any of a million other anime projects, including Alita: Battle Angel, but it means something different now because this is Blade Runner and the story takes place between the 1982 Ridley Scott film and Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. That places new replicant Elle (voiced by Jessica Henwick in English, Arisa Shida does the Japanese for Crunchyroll) in an interesting spot to be an important figure, as she’ll help guide us through that world’s transformation between movies. I mean, this one has katana blades, making it an exciting Japanese samurai aesthetic to go along with the neo-noir we’re accustomed to from Blade Runner.
Henwick is joined by a stacked voice cast that includes Will Yun Lee, Samira Wiley, Brian Cox, Wes Bentley, Josh Duhamel, Peyton List, Stephen Root, Barkhad Abdi, Gregg Henry, Henry Czerny, and Jason Spisak.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus debuts on Adult Swim this fall.
Then out of the blue an opportunity presents itself. Lea (Olivia Cooke), an old client of Casi’s, has gotten herself mixed in with a bad crowd. She works at an impound lot where, unbeknownst to the police, sits an SUV filled with heroine. Lea is approached by Craig (Ed Skrein) who makes a lucrative offer for her to help him get the SUV. Lea gets arrested and spills the beans to Casi and the police. When Casi’s friend Dane (Bill Skarsgard), who happens to be a fellow attorney, hears of the situation – a plan begins to brew. Opportunities like this come around once in a lifetime, plus it’s just stealing from bad people – what could go wrong?
The script paired with Boyega masterfully delivering Casi’s quick wit and attitude gave hope that we had something special on our hands with Naked Singularity. Numerous ideals were touched upon, both about the criminal justice system as well as more metaphysical in nature. Palmer mixes in a pseudo science fiction element that is never truly hashed out. Unfortunately, these interesting elements to the film get pushed aside as the heist comes to the forefront. Naked Singularity builds anticipation of an event, a collapse, throughout the film that purely doesn’t deliver.
When the dust settles, Naked Singularity will be remembered for what could have been. The wasted potential of excellent performances and what started off as a notable script with humor and zest. Too many genres get blurred without any being fully fleshed out. That being said, even with its flaws Naked Singularity is relatively entertaining throughout and does move at a solid pace for its ninety-minute runtime. The film may be worth a watch for those that temper their expectations and just want to enjoy another great Boyega performance.
Yes, it’s a time-loop film, there does seem to be a resurgence of them in the last decade with Happy Death Day and The Boss Level being two of my personal favorites so far. There are a few beautiful little twists made to the genre by the Butler-Hart’s that I think set this film apart, the most impactful of which is that Jane doesn’t retain complete knowledge of the loops she’s been through prior. It gives a real “rat in a maze” overtone to the whole thing and raises the stakes of it all. If you were given infinite chances through your life, but weren’t able to learn from the past, would you ever get a step further? The reference I made earlier to video games really applies to more then just the Groundhog Day of it all, even the way the mysteries are revealed seems reminiscent of time I’ve spent searching areas in a game only to happen upon a needed item. The thing is, it really works well. There is a palpable hopelessness that’s missing from other films of it’s kind, while Jane will, assumingly, get as many go’s at escaping as she needs you get the feeling that there’s a good chance she never will.
While Infinitum: Subject Unknown is an overall enjoyable film, it’s not without it’s issues. The biggest problem is one I have with most films like this, but it seems more pronounced here and that’s the inherently repetitive nature. There’s always a 5-10 minute stretch in the first act wherein they have to establish the loop, which always piques my anxiety. The lack of forward progress and the extended time it takes Jane to get past her first hurdles do start to make you itchy to do something else. Thankfully there are little breaks provided by Ian McKellan’s Dr. Charles Marland-White and Conleth Hill’s (Varys from Game of Thrones) Professor Aaron Ostergaard, in which their role in Jane’s struggle is established. The only other issue I had with the film was the lack of a resolution. The film goes on, the plot plays out, and the credits role…but there are SO many unanswered questions. So many, in fact, that I had to do some post-viewing research on the film to see why. As it turns out there is more of this story in development through a few different media streams. It’s good to know we will get answers, but it’s always a bit frustrating when you’re made to feel like the film you watched was, in part, a hook for things to come.
Here at the close, and I have barely even mentioned the greatest achievement of Infinitum: Subject Unknown, which is in and of itself a compliment. For a movie shot during the most restrictive time in film-making history and filmed on a device that most of us have in our pockets right now, it is ASTOUNDING that it’s possible to watch this film without really noticing. Above all else it is a compelling story that keeps your interest and can be viewed without any special disclaimers. I’m sure they didn’t set out to make a film that was judged on it’s quality despite the circumstances, and they succeeded.
