Black Mirror Revisit: Men Against Fire

Last year, I compiled a non-definitive ranking of Black Mirror episodes. Once a month, I revisit an episode, starting from the bottom. Herein lies #10!

The Talent:

Charlie Brooker pens the script and puts the direction in the hands of TV veteran Jakob Verbruggen. The cast is led by the Roots remake's Malachi Kirby, with supporting turns from Dawn of the Dead's Michael Kelly and the glorious perfection that is Madeline Brewer.

The Setup: 

Stripe is a young soldier deployed somewhere off American soil, stationed in a small village where the goal is to eliminate "roaches" - I Am Legend-ish creatures who could do serious harm to the human race. While making his first kill, a roach zaps Stripe with some kind of device that messes with his military-issued brain implant.

On the next hunt, Stripe sees the roaches not as sharp-toothed monsters but regular old fashioned humans.

Turns out, we're not so different from our enemies after all.

The Ending:
Stripe learns the truth about the implant: it's there to block and alter human senses, making it easier for soldiers to commit acts of violence without remorse. The creatures he'd been hunting are part of an ethnic group that's been targeted by different governmental bodies for extinction. Stripe watches playback of his military exploits, realizing how he's simply been slaughtering innocents.

He's left with a choice Odysseus wouldn't envy: remove the implant for good and head to military prison, where he'll get to watch his past on loop, or have the program reset and return to his role as a dutiful soldier. Not unreasonably, Stripe goes for the latter choice. Upon his final deployment, he returns to the home of his dreams, only for the non-implant blocked audience to see it's an empty dump.

The Theme:
War is hell, as the old saying goes, and to be good at it, you have to surrender some of your soul.

The Verdict:
Men Against Fire was one of the first Black Mirror episodes I ever watched, which likely explains why my initial ranking was so high. I did, and still somewhat do appreciate the inherent Twilight Zone-iness of its premise and execution. It's a simple (and in hindsight, fairly obvious) twist that does its job.

That being said, on second watch, Men Against Fire's shortcomings are a bit more obvious. There's a heavy "tell don't show" element at play, particularly in the therapy sessions where Stripe's doctor just lays on piles of exposition explaining the history of PTSD. Malachi Kirby is a striking presence as Stripe, but his character is shortchanged. We don't need huge set pieces in Black Mirror, but there's something particularly cheap-feeling about the visuals here, as if this was the last episode filmed with whatever budget was leftover following

Technology Tip:
Begging for no vaccine/Microsoft jokes here, but I think it's fair to say that no thinking human being should willingly accept a sensory-altering IMPLANT being inserted inside your brain.

The Black Mirror Grade
Cruelty Scale: 

8/10; Nobody wins here
Quality Scale:

6/10; The ideas are better than the execution
Enjoyment Scale:
6/10; Once you know the twist, the episode just feels a bit of a downer.

Up Next (Month): It's back to the beginning for Black Mirror's series premiere, The National Anthem

I Prefer Ponytails

I love to see a fresh, completely original genre film connect with audiences.

I usually just wish I actually was a part of said audience.

Quick Plot: Petula and Tilda are paying off their student loans the old fashioned way: selling drugs from an NYC apartment. When cops bust their stash, they realize the $83,000 they now owe their terrifying boss can only come from one source.

Hopping on the Amtrack, the ladies travel up north to their childhood pal Daphne's sprawling Mrs. Havisham-like estate. Daphne (played by the always wonderful Madeline Brewer) isn't quite all there. Following a childhood treehouse fall (caused, no less, by Petula and Tilda), Daphne seems to be stunted in an endless game of make believe. Playing the doting mother, she welcomes the antsy Tilda as her fantasy daughter and slightly more controlled Petula as the visiting "doctor."

Written and directed by newcomer Mitzi Peirone, Braid has big ambitions of being high art. With its perfume ad imagery, overused filters, and deliberately muddled narrative, it's working really hard to stand out as avante garde.

I hated it.

Now I say this with a big grain of salt, most likely the very expensive pink Himalayan type. Braid is unique, and there's a lot of credit owed to Peirone's vision. She gets strong, if frustratingly aimless performances from her three leads, and certainly creates something you haven't quite seen before. I just wish it gave me something more in return.

One of my most frequently referenced films of recent years is the very divisive #Horror, a social media-fueled tale of preteen terror that seems to attract pure admiration or hatred from its audience. While I found it oddly and deeply thoughtful in capturing a very specific age, I can also fully understand another viewer--particularly one who never experienced the joys of being a 13-year-old girl--turning it off after ten minutes. Braid had a similar quality for me: I can, objectively, understand a critic raving about its use of imagery and nonlinear storytelling as an innovation. I will just not be one of them.

There's a sense that Peirone never wants her audience to really connect with the characters. Our sympathy is never aimed at anyone in particular, and as soon as the stakes seem to be raised, they're just as quickly removed with virtually no consequences to anyone's actions. 

But it all looks reallllllly pretty.

High Points

You can't complain about Braid's setting, a sprawling Yonkers mansion perfectly suited and filmed for this kind of story

Low Points

The film's own dismissal of any real consequences makes it hard to invest anything on our end into the story

Lessons Learned

If you really prefer drug dealing to office work, it's probably not a great idea to take selfies with your merchandise

The best way to stay fit when left to your own devices is to center your diet around the most colorful gelatin creations your kitchen can produce

Facial scars heal fast if they're accompanied by aggressive opera music

Rent/Bury/Buy

I didn't care for Braid, but it's by no means a waste of time. The style just didn't connect with me, but as is often the case, one woman's impression of pretentiousness is another's prime perfection. Those who want to check out a new filmmaker's voice, and especially fans of more ethereal style genre film may certainly find a lot here. I didn't, but hope to with Peirone's future work.