Review: Altered Carbon

By Dave B.

​I’ve heard a lot of criticisms of Netflix’s Altered Carbon from professional critics. The show currently holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Well, the critics are wrong. ​

Altered Carbon is fantastic. I’ve never read the source material, so I don’t know how true the show is to the book. I also don’t care. The TV adaptation has compelling characters, lots of action, and a high production value. It was also fairly thought provoking on the subject of what may happen when society finally conquers death. Its vision of that world isn’t pretty (unless you’re unbelievably rich, of course).  

There are only two criticisms that I think are worthy of being addressed. First, Altered Carbon is very violent and contains a lot of nudity. These aren’t issues for me personally, but if you have a problem with those, best not to watch. Second, the show has been criticized for being long and I have to agree. It is. But it was long in the best way possible! After both episodes 5 and 7, I remember thinking to myself, “Wow that show was intense. I wish there were more episodes!”, and fortunately there were!
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In my opinion, Altered Carbon is a great addition to Netflix’s original programming and provides a welcome rejuvenation of the cyberpunk genre. 8.5/10