Mikes Film Talk

3 Body Problem, or how to survive an alien invasion, is streaming on Netflix. Adapted from the best selling author Cixin Liu novel of almost the same name, “The 3 Body Problem” is a pretty good sci fi treat. Rather interestingly, the eight episode series, “brought to us from the same Emmy winning team that gave us Game of Thrones,” tends to drag in parts.

But.

This is an intense show. The characters are well scripted. The 3 Body Plot, is downright clever. (See what we did there?) It is difficult to sneer at any one part of the series. *Side note* Annoyingly, for someone who complains regularly about seasons only lasting six episodes, 3 Body Problem with eight episodes feels far too long.*

Synopsis

Scientists are killing themselves. Every particle accelerator in the world has stopped working and a small group of think tank superstars are having issues. Numbers are appearing in the sky and at one point, the sky winks.

A “lucky” few are invited to play a game. Silver helmets are used to visit another world and it appears that these are another way to learn of humanity’s weaknesses.

It turns out that the harbingers noted by the worlds thinkers, are an attempt to cut down the opposition. Aliens are working hard to plot and execute humanity’s destruction.

Mike Evans (Jonathan Pryce) starts a ball rolling when he reads Little Red Riding Hood to the head alien. The alien just does not get it. Evans messes up by admitting that humans lie and irrevocably a line is crossed. The alien tells him that they now fear his kind.

The aim is to destroy our technology, our science, if you will. Not too dissimilar to Arthur C Clarke’s Childhood’s End. This tale too is all about destroying science, working as the great disabler of humanity. Reducing us to, as the aliens call humans, bugs.

thoughts

The main draw for me was Liam Cunningham. It is a rare thing to see this man in a clunker. Dog Soldiers, The Tournament, Game of Thrones, et al; this actor’s bona fides are solid. In terms of the series itself, I was hooked ten minutes into the first episode.

Cunningham is Thomas Wade, the man in charge of finding a way to stop the aliens. He finally convinces Jin Cheng (Jess Hong) to put her talents to work. Benedict Wong is head of security Da Shi and he is pretty busy trying to protect his flock of scientists.

As the story unfolds China plays a huge part in the proceedings. At the start Mao was still alive and the communist regime was pretty brutal. Young Ye Wenje (Zine Tseng) goes to the Chinese version of Siberia. She is not going willingly, this is an enforced move. Ye Wenje starts a number of events in motion. She sends a message to the San-Tai, the alien boogeymen in the 3 Body Problem world.

Later, the older Ye Wenjie, played by Rosalind Chao, regrets her earlier actions.

Complaints

As good as this series was, and it was good by the way, Some of the main characters feel like templates of other characters in other films.

Cunningham Wade feels like a “good guy” version of his character in Dog Soldiers. Benedict Wong seems like a thin veneer of his role in Dr. Strange. Pryce even feels like a rehash of other roles he has played.

These are small complaints, nothing that spoil the series and their characters are integral to the 3 Body Problem. I initially had problems with the numbers in the sky thing. It was, apparently, a countdown clock that lead to the viewer killing themselves. Only Auggie manages to avoid this fate. Regardless of

It’s a wrap

At the end of the day, the 400 year wait time tends to let things down a bit. Although, having said that, the race to meet them halfway was good stuff. Despite the depressing nature of it, that bit of pressure kept interest high.

3 Body Problem is a solid 5 stars. It is only on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and see what you think.