Incorporated

For fans of speculative fiction, Incorporated will feel familiar. For those who read the news with an eye toward the worst, it might feel inevitable. But even when the central story fails to spark major interest, the world that’s been built is enough to keep us engaged.

The production values are high, the acting efficient, the story teems with twists and turns.

Not all of the characters pop, but Incorporated keeps things moving at a smart pace.

While Incorporated aims to create a personal story in the midst of this swirling sci-fi setting, it ultimately comes off as bland and boilerplate--though its greatest trick is that it remains eminently watchable.

Incorporated looks great. It's intriguing and has moments of excitement, but lapses into tedious scenes that'll make you want to hit the the fast-forward button on the remote.

Incorporated is just one of another grim dystopian futures we have become so fond of. Hey, it could be dead-on, but it really doesn’t have a lot to offer. There will be a few parallels to today, and it is mildly diverting as a thriller, but we have seen it before, even if it is the future.

Scenes of cage-match violence are regularly inserted to break up the boring office scenes of people sitting across from each other at desks, jawboning about corporate strategies. The result makes the future seem like a more extreme version of the present, which, in turn, is simply depressing.