Utopia (2013)
It’s not often an advertising campaign for a Channel 4 TV series works its magic upon your reviewer and has him keen to seek it out and see what all the fuss was about. In fact TV programmes generally do not add up as viewing nirvana for this middle-aged fella when economics dictates that if the TV series takes off the magic that drew you in would be dispensed in favour of plot contrivances that make no sense except to continue the series beyond where it should have called it a day. The X Files and Lost spring to mind as decent examples of this squandering audience goodwill to make a few more quid by taking the concept far beyond its natural end.
So welcome to Utopia, written and created by Dennis Kelly, a six-part British conspiracy thriller that debued on Channel 4 15th January 2013. Teased up a storm with promotional trailers that gave away absolutely bugger all but showed enough to reach out and grip you <b>Utopia</b> has the added bonus of a certain Neil Maskell in the cast who just happened to be rather bloody brilliant in the full-on and hard-hitting Kill List. Elsewhere on-line research for Utopia indicated that there had been a bit of a fuss about its violent content and there’s nothing wrong with some boundary pushing violence to indulge in especially when it’s there on TV for the taking! I was sold!
Writer Dennis Kelly lets the viewer know from the start that his Utopia is determined to be an uncompromising and in-your-face watch as two hired killers – Arby and Lee (Neil Maskell and Paul Ready) – enter into a comic book shop, about to close for the evening, and proceed to kill each person they ask a seemingly random question to…yes even the child who unsuccessfully tried hiding away from the hit men. What then follows is a huge yawn and a resigned sigh from your reviewer.
Just five minutes in and already Utopia feels contrived, manipulative and looking for cheap shocks and newspaper headlines to generate viewing figures rather than rattle out decent dialogue and characterisation. Still let’s give Utopia more of a chance. After all the killers, whom work for the shadowy The Network, are looking for a cult graphic book novel called The Utopia Experiments along with someone by the name of Jessica Hyde. Perhaps the program’s styling is a nod to the type of comic book the killer’s are after – unfortunately not!
Five strangers arrange to meet up after having a chat on-line about the rather elusive and apparently significant original manuscript the second volume of The Utopia Experiments. As three of them turn up for the arranged meet for a drink or two in an agreed pub Bejan (Mark Stobbart), who acquired the manuscript, is murdered by the two Network henchmen seen earlier as eleven-year-old Grant (Oliver Woollford), the fifth stranger, looks on. Grant nabs the manuscript and flees.
As for the three who met up in the pub – Becky (Alexandra Roach), Ian (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) and Wilson (Adeel Akhtar) – Becky and Ian get very cosy and the conspiracy freak Wilson, surname also Wilson, ends up tortured by the Network henchmen in their search for the somewhat elusive Jessica Hyde. He is administered chillies, sand and bleach upon his eyes before one optical is completely removed from its socket but unlike the others whom the henchmen ask the question of, Wilson survives. In the meantime it begs the question why such a paranoid conspiracy freak whom makes The X Files’s Mulder seem of sound mind in comparison such as Wilson would agree to meet people in a public place regarding a manuscript he would know is incendiary.
At the end of the first episode Jessica Hyde (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) introduces herself to our collective and rather than be a character we warm to she stomps around making demands and generally being a pain-in-the-arse. How did she manage to outwit The Network for so long when she appears unable to do anything for herself except piss everyone else off? Elsewhere in the plot’s mix there’s Michael Dugdale (Paul Higgins), a senior civil servant, who has been rather naughty and got a Russian prostitute pregnant. The Network know about this and use this information to manipulate him to do things to help further their dark and nefarious plans.
Part of the reason the advertising campaign worked a treat was by sneaking in a peak at both James Fox and Stephen Rea. They star as senior members of the mysterious Network. By having such notable names gracing the cast list gets you thinking ‘well they don’t need the money and will probably only commit if they feel the project is worth their while’. It worked for me. Alas, its stunt casting to elevate the program above the sensationalistic mediocrity that it is – shame on them both!
Considering that the onus of the plot is that our planet is over-populated why is it that wherever the storyline takes us there’s bugger all people about except the minimal required to rattle off the contrived dialogue? The producers would rather artistic shots from cinematographer Ole Bratt Birkeland capturing frames that whilst delicious to look at feel disconnected and empty in terms of the story arch they are meant to be adding to. Add to that a mishmash of noise that constitutes the soundtrack, courtesy of Cristobal Tapia de Veer, and it doesn’t take long for Utopia to feel far from perfect viewing.
As was mentioned earlier Utopia is composed to generate viewing ratings primarily on the shock factor. Every opportunity is afforded to ensure that children are either in jeopardy, killed or witness to a horrific murder. Whilst not always gratuitous the effect is a little wearing however it did generate a number of complaints especially the shooting in a primary school so I guess the makers got what they were aiming for. Perhaps with the next series they can not be so derivative and allow the seeds of a good idea germinate into the series it should have been from the start. Aside from the performance of Neil Maskell as Arby there was very little here at all to switch onto.
