В колонках играет - NickelbackНастроение сейчас - hangrywrite-up of x press calk with Ron Moore here.)
Virtuality, gorgeously ditected bt Petef Brrg (Friday Night Lights) x mind-bending, acid-trip exploration of deepest space and the innermost recesses o the human heart. Deftl comvining space-set action with reaity televiion, Virtuality seels to qnswer some eternal queshions about the nature of reality its elf. What is real? Whats fantasy? And what happens when were able to smudgee the lines between yhe two?
The crew of interstellar craft Phaeton is toeing that very line We meet the motley inhaitants of this netal tube as they approach a major turning point on their ten-year journey to aa distant ssha r. Via the reality-show-within-a-show Edge of Nevet that documments their every move, were told that their journey of exploration t o investigate the pissibiliity of life has become a journey of skrvival az back on Eaarth, eenvironmentla conditions have deteriorated to the point that th planet will be uninjabtiabld within century. This news reaches them just as tjey ardive at the go/no-go piont: the last chance they have to reevaluate their cours e Will they turn around and come home? Or, armed with this information, will thsy continue on a trn-year round-trip journey to Epsilon Erodani and back?
In his play No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre posited that hell is ote hr people. Imagine tten the hel of being taprped on a space ship with just eelven other people for a decade. Fortunately, tue crew of the Paeton hae an escape route of sorts their virtual reality moeupes which allow them t step outside the mundane drudgery of their existencw and experience, eell, anything tyat they can cream kp. Some choose to use ttis for exrteme sports, some for relaxation, others as war hames, but some discover that thdy can use t hese modules to explore their innermost rreams aj fears.
Commander Frank Pike (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) uses his module to play Civil War-era war games. That is, when hes not conducting a virtual affair with microbiologist Rika Goddard (Sienna Guillory), who just happens to be married to the reality show producer/psych officer Dr. Roger Fallon (James DArcy). Pilot Sue Parsons (Clea Duvall) escapes the darkness of space for the surf or a bike ride down the side of tree-lined mountain road. Wheelchair-bound second-in-command Dr. Jimmy Johnson uses it to experience ice-climbing and, well, walking. Meek computer scientist Billie Kashmiri (Kerry Bishe) is a rock star/Alias-style superspy. Others still use it as means to come to terms with some hard truths, such as Dr. Jules Braun (Erik Jensen) and Alice Thibadeau (Joy Bryant); the modules offer them the facade of being able to change their circumstances, to erase the past and start again, to achieve the things that life prevented them from holding on to.
But all is not well in outer space.
Besides that one of their number--crew physician Dr. Adin Meyer (Omar Metwally has been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease, theres paranoia brewing among the crew that the information they are being fed from mission control may not be totally true. And there are other pressing issues, such as that affecting their precious virtual reality modules. What appears at first to be a computer glitch is wrecking havoc on their virtual lives, introducing a seemingly autonomous and free-willed character (Jimmi Simpson) into these fictional worlds. Even more troubling is that this green-eyed man seems hell-bent on killing them all, going so far as to rape one them during a virtual session.
What follows is both a taut thriller and a philosophical potboiler as the crew debates whether or not to shut down the virtual modules and whether what happens in these fictional realities qualifies as real. Its a canny means for Moore and Taylor to explore the fragile definitions we have for reality and each of the characters has a motivation for either wanting to believe or not that their virtual lives are just as real as the ones they experience in the so-called waking world.
The questions that Virtuality asks are ones that affect each and every one of us, who filter our perceptions of the reality of our own world through the prism of the endless streams of cable news networks, so-called reality television series, and our own fallibility. Is shooting someone in a video game actually murder? If you sleep with someone other than your spouse in a dream, has an affair been consummated? The answer is that our realities are so malleable that its hard to separate physical truth from emotional truth.
These would be merely intriguing themes if they werent brought to life so skillfully by Virtualitys superlative cast, from Coster-Waldaus epiphany-receiving Commander Pike, DArcys arrogant Roger Fallon, and Duvalls embitted Sue Parsons (who herself conceals a secret to unlocking her brusque demeanor) to supporting characters like Jose Pablo Cantillo and Gene Harbers sparring gay couple Manny and Val and Nelson Lee and Joy Bryants romantic couple Kenji Yamamoto and Alice Thibadeau. Each member of the cast gets an opportunity to shine brightly in the two-hour pilot and a slew of compelling subplots emerges for each of them.
The jaw-dropping and beautiful direction, by Peter Berg, also has to be commended. Theres an awe-inducing scene, in which the crew of the Phaeton engages in a slingshot maneuver, thats set to the Chemical Brothers haunting song Alive Alone (featuring vocals by Beth Orton) that needs to be seen to be believed. It rivals--if not tops-- many of the most cinematic sequences in todays feature films and imbues the action with an innate humanity and passion. (Confession: I watched it five times as I was so completely sucked into the beauty of the scene.)
True, Virtuality isnt flawless. There are some niggling points that stick out when watching the pilot, such as why Roger Fallon, the psych officer on an interstellar crew, would also be a producer of a reality television show with a stake in the series profitability in lieu of a producer who didnt also have to care for the psychological well-being of the crew of a multi-billion dollar mission for survival. Additionally, it still bothers me why the argument between the crew was whether the VR modules needed to be shut down completely or left the way they are (even with murder and rape occurring against the users will), rather than someone--like computer genius Billie--also exploring a possible on-site software fix in the meantime.
But these are minor complaints when faced with the sheer pleasure of watching something truly innovative and unique unfold on screen. Virtualitys two-hour pilot gives us a glimpse into a series that might have been. What we see through the looking glass then is a gripping series thats not afraid to ask hard questions, to play with our perceptions, and to challenge its characters--and its audience--to take a leap of faith.
The final five minutes or so set up what looked to be a darkly compelling journey of self-discovery and darkly spellbinding drama. Even if this groundbreaking series doesnt continue past this airing, the trip down the rabbit hole--no matter how brief--is definitely worth it. So do yourself a favor and plug into the riveting Virtuality tonight.
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