Has anyone seen this? I just finished the season this weekend and I am still waiting for the book to show up so I can compare it to the series. First thought: I enjoyed the overall aesthetic even though one could argue that it is essentially the same as Bladerunner. What did you think?
I saw the first episode some days ago with reasonable expectations. The visuals are fantastic, so kudos there. But two main [what I consider] faults have put me off: it's overly melodramatic; and quite a bit of the dialogue is hackneyed. It gives the overall impression of the interpersonal exchanges coming off as forced, stilted and generally unnatural. Also, that cop woman is extremely annoying with her over-acting. There's some good action. I liked the hotel lobby scene with the AI receptionist and those mini-guns that pop out of the ceiling reigning destruction. However, the hand-to-hand combat in the flashback scene was too neatly choreographed; it felt flamboyant and, consequently, a little unnatural. Would have preferred the less flashy but highly efficient combat à la The Bourne Identity (2002) or The Hunted (2003). Biggest problem for me is the melodrama & dialogue, e.g. his entire meeting with Bancroft from the entrance into the library, the theatrical opening salvo by Bancroft, etc., was out of some second-rate Gothic novel.
Yeah, the melodrama is off-putting. I wish they had stayed more true to the book (even though it is quite close). However, it seems that they tried to up the drama from the book by adding a few additions.
I liked it, but I can't say if it was because the series was good, or because I liked the books so much. Probably a bit of both, although the books were way better than the adaptation. One thing that the series did right is following the pace of the books. There were not many dull moments. Agree that the visuals were pretty much copy paste Blade Runner, allowing for 35 years of technology. Didn't like the fact that the series tried to make Kovacs a bit more sympathetic than he is in the books: one example (without spoilers) was that in the books the envoys were not freedom figthers but an elite black ops department. Maybe they thought that it makes for a better protagonist, but I always thought that part of Kovacs' appeal was that he was an asshole.
