From The Village to the village idiot ?

nazztrader

So we finally know the full truth, or...

The problem is, I don't really care anymore, as the magnitude of "suspension of disbelief" required at this point is beyond my tolerance threshold, by a wide margin. I don't mind that bits and pieces are borrowed from "The Prisoner," "The Twilight Zone," "Cube," "The Village," "Dark City," "Twin Peaks," "Persons Unknown," and a bunch of other movies and TV shows, but to come up with something like this is quite irritating. However, before I get to the plot, I want to mention that the often cardboard acting is a problem here, because the plot can't keep your mind off of it. I'm particularly disappointed in Matt Dillon's performance - it often feels like they gave the lead role to someone who can't do more than be a background character actor! Better acting for his role might have helped quite a bit, at least until the level of silliness became clear.

As to the plot, it's just ludicrous, but it would have at least made more sense to say that people decided to experiment with genetic manipulation to create "super humans," but a small group was kept to be the old type humans, just in case something went terribly wrong, which in fact would have to happen for it to play out in a similar way. The worst thing here, beyond super humans who can violate the laws of physics, is the idea that teenagers are the psychologically strong ones and can keep secrets! Wouldn't you tell the adults first, because they would want to ensure that their children are protected and can live a reasonably good life? Don't parents tell their children about the "hard realities of life" most of the time? How did that get reversed? And if the adults "freak out," well, we saw that there was no hesitation about executing anyone!

So, we have this fake town where the kids know an incredible truth but don't tell their parents, but if an adult wants to know about the truth he or she is publicly executed in a gruesome way with the kids watching and cheering. Yes, what a wonderful way to preserve good old American values! And if you are a species on the verge of extinction, why are you executing members who just want to know the truth or speak their minds? Unless this all turns out to be someone's nightmare, I can't see how this is going to hold any water. It's ridiculous on multiple levels - scientific, social, psychological, and technological. I like the idea of these kinds of presentations, so I suggest that those who have the same preferences watch the ones I mentioned above - who would have guessed, after watching a few episodes, that "Sleeper" would come across as more serious than this !

score 2/10

nazztrader 13 June 2015

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3257078/