News of a sequel to Netflix's cult sci-fi/horror The X-Deal (2011)Platformbrought me mixed feelings.
The original's nightmarishly simple concept was so compelling I wanted to see more from that world, but I also worried about what a sequel could say or show that the first movie hadn't.
I'm happy to report my fears weren't necessary. The Platform 2is a powerful continuation of the bad dream that began with Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia's 2019 movie, building upon its brutalist universe while changing the rules just enough to send a new message.
The setting is the same as it was in the original: a vertical prison with cells stacked on top of one another. Each cell has a rectangular hole in the middle, and each day a platform filled with food descends from the very top of the prison to the very bottom. The platform contains a meal or food item that each prisoner requests when they first go into the prison, and there's enough for everyone — providing no prisoner eats more than their fair share. Which of course they do.
The Platform 2takes this concept and builds on it, introducing new cellmates Perempuán (Milena Smit) and Zamiatin (Hovik Keuchkerian) at a time when the prisoners have implemented a strict system of rules to try and ensure as many people eat as possible.
Credit: NICOLAS DASSAS / NETFLIX This note of quiet revolution — almost hopeful — is how the film begins. The oppressive setting is instantly recognisable, as are the ominous clangs and rumbles that form the movie's backdrop, but the ruleshave changed.
"The higher up you are, the more responsibility," is how one character puts it, revealing a prisoner-enforced system where people eat only what they requested and are badly punished for doing otherwise. This tweak of the original idea — thanks to the script co-written by The Platformscribes David Desola and Pedro Rivero, along with Egoitz Moreno and Gaztelu-Urrutia – breathes fresh life into the franchise. The tension now comes not from trying to understand the prison itself, but from trying to navigate the system enforced by the people within it.
Credit: NICOLAS DASSAS / NETFLIX One of the reasons I love The Platformis the way it shows humanity at its best and worst. The script is moving at times, terrifying at others. Gaztelu-Urrutia's direction draws out this hope and horror in the performers, all of whom are raw and believable. Azegiñe Urigoitia's production design is a nightmarish work of art. In the background, composer Aitor Etxebarria's haunting score spools through the movie and ties it together like a thread. All of these things are true of the sequel, too.
Once again, it's not one to watch while you're eating, as there's plenty of disturbing and gory imagery. But the dialogue and the performances are powerful, and the underlying exploration of societal power structures is just as fascinating as it was in the original.
"We kill to build a future where no one will kill anyone," says a character at one point, showing how a system that strives for fairness can quickly devolve into brutality. "Only fear subdues beasts."
It's not easy to make a genre sequel, and it's even harder when the original is such a special and unique movie. But The Platform 2is a clear example of doing it right.
The Platform 2is streaming on Netflix from Oct. 4.
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