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Arkangel is the second episode of Black Mirror Series 4, and is also the name of the tech company providing an intriguing trial device for worried mothers of small children.
They deftly implant a device inside your child’s head which helps track them – very handy if they go missing. It can also show what she’s watching. Damn, I wish I could have that in my head so it could record my day. It’d be like a dashcam in my head! It even has the equivalent of a V-chip for what the child can see, so when the filter is on, she can’t see anything violent or challenging and, thus, won’t become desensitised to it.
So, this episode show the potential benefits of such a device, but given that it’s Black Mirror, you know it won’t be long before it shows the dark sides of it all, not least how we can be far too reliant on technology.
There’s high production values, given the budget from the involvement of Netflix and Jodie Foster, directing, but since it boils down to a relationship drama with added technology, all too often, it does feel more like an episode of Hollyoaks, 20 years from now, which does impinge on what was otherwise a great idea.
Now a couple of things about the episode which I’ll put behind a spoiler heading for when you’ve watched the film.
Black Mirror: Arkangel is available on Netflix now. The series isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but you can buy a DVD boxset of Series 1 & 2 and the 2014 Special.
Score: 5/10
Running time: 52 minutes
Widescreen ratio: 1.78:1
Director: Jodie Foster
Producer: Nick Pitt
Writer: Charlie Brooker
Music: Mark Isham
Cast:
Marie: Rosemarie DeWitt
Sara: Brenna Harding
Trick: Owen Teague
Sara’s grandfather: Art Hindle
Anaesthetist: Angela Vint
Surgeon: Jason Weinberg
Russ: Nicholas Campbell
Sara age 3: Aniya Hodge
Pippa: Sabryn Rock
Young Man at Park: Edward Charette
Man Who Finds Sara: Carlos Pinder
Jasmine: Jenny Raven
Anthony: Paul Braunstein
Sara age 9: Sarah Abbott
Trick age 12: Nicky Torchia
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.