User Reviews

Altered Carbon makes a strong impression from the very beginning thanks to its sheer ambition. Its universe openly draws from classic cyberpunk imagery—Blade Runner, William Gibson—and delivers it with striking visual confidence: dirty neon, endless rain, all-powerful corporations, and a humanity that has reduced the body to a replaceable container. The core idea, immortality bought with money, is disturbing and provocative, and the series explores it with a level of rawness rarely seen on **** first season defines the soul of the show. It carries mystery, weight, and a sense of existential melancholy that sets it apart. Visually, it is spectacular, with cinematic shots and a richly layered world that feels alive and tangible. Narratively, it starts brilliantly but loses some focus midway by opening too many threads, though it manages to recover and close on a solid note, leaving the feeling of having traveled through a complex and coherent **** second season marks a clear shift. The change of Takeshi Kovacs’ body is not only physical but tonal. With Anthony Mackie, the series becomes more straightforward, lighter, and more action-oriented. It works as fast-paced entertainment, but at the cost of part of the identity that made the first season special. The philosophical reflections on immortality, memory, and alienation fade in favor of a more conventional and accessible **** a whole, Altered Carbon is an uneven but stimulating experience. Its visual power and premise remain compelling, even if its evolution never fully matches the promise of its beginnings.

Can we PLEASE have more of this?! Pure epic sci-fi with no holds barred and a gripping "who-dunnit" mystery hunt that just hits all the right notes! Loved every episode!

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

J’ai vu qu’ils ont remplacé l’acteur principal dans la saison 2, je me demande bien pourquoi… c’est évidemment stupide mais de toute façon, je ne suis pas allé jusque là…! En effet, l’ennui et les incongruités, la lenteur et les incohérences innombrables de cette enquête à la noix, de ce complot à la con ont vite raison de la patience de n’importe qui. En dépit bien sûr de ce monde cyberpunké aux jolis effets spéciaux (c’est pour ça que je mets 1) dépaysant d’une certaine façon, un monde décadent et dévoyé mais qui se complaît dans une noirceur qui n’a pas d’autre but que d’attirer l’attention… et tout cela pour nous servir en fait de la guimauve récurrente à deux balles !La façon de les présenter, de les filmer, le ton général est souvent dégradant (et putassier) pour nombre de personnages sauf hélas pour la fliquette… qui fait pourtant un bon 95D ! ou alors c’est bien plus **** peut-être… mais j’en doute (j’ai arrêté à l’épisode 3). Une fliquette d’ailleurs toujours aux basques de la brute épaisse, une machine à tuer qui joue le détective de base (ça aussi, c’est n’importe quoi) et elle le suit sans aucune raison particulière ?… Franchement, qui a écrit ça ? ça m’a l’air fortement altéré… par l’alcool ou la drogue. Rectification : par l’alcool et la drogue ! vu la merde qu’ils font, vivement qu’on remplace tous ces « scénaristes » pretentieux et débiles par le chat qui a pété. En outre et enfin, évidemment, cette cyberpunkerie est aussi victime d’une wokerie que l’on doit à la corpo Netwoke dont les agendas sont décidément partout, y compris dans ce futur dystopique très merdique. Alors, suivre un gogo qui se réincarne dans un sac en plastique pour faire le Columbo de service, merci mais non merci, ça fait pas rêver ! sans déconner.

First season was good the second season was not, yes it has a lot of what you might call it 'Woke' but this is not the main issue but its the change of the main protagonist, i really like Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi it fits him very well and his acting was perfect for that role, and then comes Season 2 they changed it to the worst actor who i personally dislike Anthony Mackie which was huge disappointment and the absolutely terrible actress Renee Elise Goldsberry (Quellcrist Falconer) she was wooden the entire series i hated her so much, not to mention the second season was boring in storyline, characters and writingso for me Season 1 is 8/10 , and season 2 is 4/10

The show deserves a few stars for the cinematography, CGI, acting, and the general concept for the story. In this futuristic cyberpunk world, everyone has a computer chip in their neck that somehow stores a person's mind, thereby allowing it to be placed in other bodies. The rich can to afford to back up their mind to the cloud and grow clones of themselves. Everyone else is not so lucky. So if their "sleeve" (body) is killed they have to take what they can get as a replacement body. And if their chip is destroyed, they suffer "real death", since they have no backups. Where it fails, for me, is setting up the main character as some kind of elite soldier with a highly trained mind, and then having him act like little more than a meathead who almost never utilizes any of his special abilities. But far worse than that, is the rampant sadism in the show. This is not what people need injected into their minds right now (or ever). It's not "just a show". Everything we consume is a form of programming. It all builds up as part of a network in our minds. The more sadism you consume, the more that becomes a feature of your mind, and the more likely you are to have such thoughts arise in your mind. This is also one of those shows that heavily promotes drinking alcohol. I can't recall seeing anyone drink anything other than some sort of brown liquor. After our main character wakes up after almost dying, his sister doesn't hand him a glass of water, she hands him a glass of brown liquor. Alcohol is literally poison, which inhibits both your immune system and judgment (the two most important things for maintaining your health). I wish more writers could imagine a world where humanity becomes more reasonable and kind.

Very twisted, edge of your seat kind of show. The futuristic setting is original. I was happy with the outcome.

Rating only the first season. Could not get past the second episode of the second season, was much more boring.

Season 1 is a 10/10 no doubt. Season 2 was still excellent, just a little more contrived.

S1 is one of the best, if not the best series of all the Netflix originals, the actors and producers packaged and delivered a great story well. The second season on the other hand is just cheap and it's a pain to see so much potential wasted.

Season 1 is pretty good if you're in the mood for high Sci-fi. Rating: 8 Season 2 is just not good. Rating: 2 I'll average it out at 6.

Season one is incredible, season two not so much until it wraps up. Tries real hard to tell a futuristic story about what Imperial America has done to the Indigenous (and the Japanese, Vietnamese, Russians, Bikini Atoll, etc.) I would hardly call it "woke". It tells a story of rebellion against the imperial empire.

An interesting story, something different from your average show. Season 1 was a 9/10 for me, season 2 is more of a 2. It's a good thing that they've cancelled this show, instead of continuing with a third season they should remake season 2 first. Normally I'd say if you have nothing to do it's okay to watch a 'bad' movie or series, but in this case just don't... Just keep it with season 1 and forget that season 2 exists. Imho I think it's actually an achievement to start something so good and then just f*ck it up so bad.

Soooooo sad to see this one go. Season 2 was very good. Season 1 was an absolute masterpiece. The depth. The tones. The futuristic grit. Mixing the familiar with the non. Using sci-fi elements to comment on today's issues. Around episode 3, I knew this show was meant for me.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I really don't care what the novel told, since I didn't read it and even if I did program makers are in my opinion free to tell their own stories. And us to criticize them for it. A comparison is valid, just to spite the makers if the source material is better, and here is the thing: I hope that novel was less boring than this. The first season was interesting because it introduced us to a new world with new things to explore. I liked the Poe character. I liked the sleeved idea less as it opened a can of worms that never got fixed. If you can just re-sleeve death stop to have meaning and if death stops to have any meaning, it should impact your society profoundly. But its impact isn't really explored and it feels shallow and just a cool feature to the story. Yes, it is suggested that only the most wealthy can pay for it, but this is never felt to be an issue. lead to revolts or whatever. Also the protagonist, while played by a likable actor, was pretty cliche. Some kind of resistance fighter that got brought back to life to solve a murder he had no stake in. His main drive is reconnecting with his lost love. It never is explained why this particular guy is resurrected, except well, that he is. The problems surface in season two where we see the main hero being re-sleeved twice in the first episode alone. Wait, wasn't this something only the rich could afford? So how come he can do it twice? It feels like he is just having a change of clothes. It is devoid of meaning and feels more like an excuse to shove in other actors or to have people killed without consequences. And the story. Well, the protagonist gets hired by a rich dude to protect him from unnamed killers, but he gets killed before the protagonist is back from being re-sleeved. So our protagonist has to solve the murder because that way he can find his lost love. Wait a minute:... that is almost beat for beat the story from the first season! But really. I don't care to find out who killed this person that I hardly know nor do I care if our hero finds his love because he probably won't as we need to allow for a third season. This quest is just a MacGuffin. What really made me stop watching was when they came up with the Yakuza. Seems the protagonist wasn't just a resistance fighter but apparently also in league with one of those groups. Oh and he hates the rich, except for the Yakuza boss: he respect him. The final nail in the coffin was when Yakuza boss started to reminisce about the past. Those were the **** know, murdering and murdering and murdering. And also drugs pushing, forced prostitution and extortion. Oh wait, not this guy of course. He never wanted that. Because you know, homicidal gangsters are in their hearts well-meaning good guys who are just misunderstood, or forced to do stuff against their will by society and the cops. Blame them, not us. Yeah, right.

Update: I've been reading reviews of season 2 and I've reevaluated the cause of the series demise. I was wrong to think it was too expensive... and yes, maybe it was too complicated for the average viewer... The problem was Anthony Mackie playing the role of mercenary Takeshi Kovacs. It did not work. This is not so much a knock against Anthony Mackie as realizing the difficulty of casting, writing and acting a lead role. All the elements came together when Joel Kinnaman played the role of mercenary Takeshi Kovacs. This should be a warning to producers... If you are fortunate to find an actor/writer combination for role that woks well, do not mess with it. You are unlikely to get lucky twice. ************************************************************* I had to watch the first season for a second time to fully understand and appreciate the story line. Amazing production value that must have cost Netflix a fortune. I don't think there is anyway a series this complex can continue to fit into a Netflix budget.

It's so meh and doesn't let you invest in any characters. You just don't care about the story it's trying to tell. Just meh !!

Season 1. Simply awesome. A huge world, brutal and full of violence. Interesting story line and the main idea of it. Now i want to read the books.

Amazing TV series, brilliant storyline and presentation, excellent actors and even better thrilling effect. My all time sci-fi series! Just perfect!!

-- NO SPOILERS REVIEW -- It is easy to understand why people are so conflicted in their opinions about the show - season 1 and 2 are completely different in tone, style and actors. I personally like both, but I completely understand why people who were hooked up by the first season were utterly disappointed in the second one. The first one while flawed was really brought to life by actors and had very good action scenes and provocative themes of Cyberpunk-Noir mix. I would give it 7/10 or even 8/10 if you agree to forgive pacing issues of the second half of the season and some presentation issues. Second season for me has more focused and less broad, completely different genre (Sci/Fi drama) and unfortunately with just okayish action scenes (my biggest complaint for the second season). It is also important to understand that season 2 starts after 30 years after season 1 and at that time main character is almost completely burned up and this is the main reason why second season is so different in tone and character but I would give it 9/10 without any hesitation IF you are okay with changed actors and theme. I hope this show would get its 3rd season and show makers would understand that changing actors might work for then, but changing genres each season is a risky road and will divide most of the fans who might not have broad genre interests.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Season 2 fails in everything season 1 achieved. I personally don't think anyone should waste their time on this.

Lots and lots of style with very light substance due to mediocre writing and really dreadful dialogue.

Tries so hard to be the new Neuromancer or Blade Runner, but in the end, falls flat on the face. Unlike in **** or Gibson's works, there is no vision, no poetry, only pretense and rattling old props. So the story leans on the woke garbage that is standard on Netflix today - women are bossy, make every decision and hit twice as hard in fight then men, men are bumbling wrecks stumbling around. There is nothing memorable after watching, just a foul aftertaste.

I have watched both seasons several times and absolutely love it. I must admit that I was not sold until I was a few episodes in, but I got completely hooked on the dystopian worlds and amazing visuals. In the first season, Joel Kinnaman is amazing. It took some time for me to grasp the complicated story and what was going on. There are a lot of technical and psychological references that are beyond me! I still really enjoyed the series and wanted to see more. When season 2 came out I was skeptical. I watched the whole season and now I crave even more. Bottom line is, if you like dystopian, futuristic sci-fi with heavy action, you will love this series. In my opinion, it's like a Blade Runner series set many years in the future with better effects.

The writing for this show is at times abysmal. Instead of world building and deep character development, time is filled with cliche interactions, basic tropes and fight scenes. It's a shame, the source material is very interesting and I'm personally a huge fan of cyberpunk, but this one feels like it was thrown to the interns.

Altered carbon season one...GREAT! Altered carbon season two...RUBBISH! Anthony Mackie’s character has the depth of a teaspoon that’s been flattened with the weight off a terribly written script. It feels cheap. It feels rushed. Such a shame.

2nd season is crap. The same old boring story re-re-re-rewritten as in any other mindless tv series or movie. The arc of Poe is the only thing worthy of mentioning.

It's really nice sci-fi TV show, however they have changed the tone of second season. Is less darker and less focused on main story. Also, Netflix had to added a lot of PC tones, which adds nothing to the story, but slow downs the pace. I liked cast of Season 1 better.

Season 1 - 8 - good Season 2 - 1 - disaster Average 4.5 - sad it ended this way. Season 1 - 8 - good Season 2 - 1 - disaster Average 4.5 - sad it ended this way.

Ordinary. Full of tropes and stereotypes you've seen a million times. Nothing special here really. Biggest issue I have: it lacks imagination (which is a huge fault in a sci fi). I'll give you an example: Po as an AI is exactly like any other human in the show's universe. The writer couldn't imagine how a fully functional general AI would be, so they just wrote it/him as a human in a hologram. Also changing actors for the same character is a big mistake IMO. the actors act the characters in very different ways, as if it's a completely new character. Gestures, accents, everything changes when actors change. You might as well think the 2nd season is about a completely new character, and you would be correct to think so.

Season one: Very good, hard sci-fi, a little old school (in a good cyber-punk way). Season Two: Not good. Dull. Only pew pew pew and bad ones too. Sadly.

Season 2 review: Unfortunately quite dull writing, cheesy lines and mashed up story. No hint of the grit, cynicism or any meaningful exploration of the theme of immortality and its consequences in the first series. The love story introduced in the first season comes to bite now, I find it hardly believable. Envoy intuition and total absorption in the moment close to 0 (unless narrated in a dialog a couple of times). The show is more about nostalgia and fear of memory loss. Father-son sort of relationship exploration that goes nowhere. Main "evil character" is more annoying, not really being a threat to anyone. Every part of the plot is foreseeable as it sticks completely to cliches, no real surprises. Plot ruined, atmosphere ruined. And that is without even starting to compare it to the original source material.

The problem with writing a review for Altered Carbon is that Season 1 and Season 2 are two different shows. Season 1 is gritty, very well acted, and has a compelling story (it gets muddled towards the end). Overall very enjoyable, and i'd give that 9/10. Season 2 **** polar opposite.. bad acting, except for the actors it brings with it from Season 1, the sets look like sets with 20 extras, not something "real". This is entirely the wrong role for Anthony Mackie, he is terribly miscast. The story is simple enough, but dialogue has gotten simplistic, gone is all nuance of the world. Gone are the complex characters of season 1, its become inhabited by cartoon villains and soap quality actors. In short, its downright terrible.. if i am VERY kind, and try to have the good season 1 in mind, i'd give it a 3/10.. and that is probably being too generous.. I rated the series as a whole as 8, on the strength of its debut season...

Even better watching it the second time through! Great action, effects are best watched at night on a big screen. Enjoy!

Enjoyed Season 1 and thought it had the fantastic potential for growth, quite similar to Westworld Season 1 -> 2. Unfortunately, just like Westworld, Season 2 of Altered Carbon wriggles around in what should be a more profound realization of the Sci-Fi created in Season 1, become reductive and bland. There are glimmers of proper development, but they're overshadowed by two-dimensional characters in which we vest nothing. The spectacle and illusion are beautiful, but that's about it.

The main conflict of the series could be solved with [memory recording], which is already used in the second episode, which would prove Kovach innocent ...

Perfection, there aren't any shows like it. Is like blade runner mixed with a little cloud atlas.

Disappointing. An uninteresting story line, dull/generic fight scenes that happen way too often, characters you don't care about played by actors lacking in charisma, and it brings nothing new to hard sci-fi. About the only thing this has going for it is the production quality, which is above average for a tv show. I can only guess that the source material ****, which would make it nearly impossible to make a show worth watching.

Finally a deeper look into this Cyberpunk like future. Hood action and intelligent villains makes the story better than most recent sci-fi. Anthony does a great job in the role as well.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Not terrible but it does miss the mark on some of the important things that made the novel good. Not just talking details, but about some of the little things that made the characters likable.

I wonder which scifi and cyberpunk series the press considerate better than altered carbon, since they put a 6. In it genre is the best ever!

Amazing!!! Amazing!!! Amazing!!! Amazing!!!! Amazing !!! Amazing !!! Amazing!!! Amazing !!!