Review of The Platform (2019) by Theredsky — 31 Mar 2020

The Platform came out of nowhere on Netflix last week and I decided to watch it. I thought it was good. It wasn’t great but it’s better than most films being released on Digital or on Netflix. If you have seen the 2013 film Snowpiercer, then you might detect some similarities between the two.

I thought this would be an issue at first but by the end of it, I realized it wasn’t too similar to Snowpiercer. Their themes about class and wealth are similar but each film does their own separate thing with those ideas.

The Platform takes the themes of class and wealth and says that everyone has a shot at being at the top while Snowpiercer uses those themes for the poor in the back and wealthy at the front. As the film progresses, the similarities start to disappear and its originality starts to shine.

The characters are interesting to watch develop and learn about this prison. The performances, for the most part, were decent. We are only introduced to about 4 other characters that interact with the lead and they all did fine.

The lead actor, Iván Massagué, did a great job though. He successfully manages to portray someone who doesn’t understand what he put himself through with this prison. There are certain points where the main character is in severe pain and his reaction to it is very disturbing.

That’s also something I like about the film, it’s very disturbing. There is a lot of blood and very gruesome moments that could be hard to watch for some. I highly recommend not eating food during this.

The film excels in some of its technical aspects but falls below average in others. The score was good although repetitive and sometimes overbearing and the editing was not great. It was choppy and rushed and took away tension from certain scenes but the cinematography and visuals are great.

This prison has multiple levels with a hole just in the middle so the food cart can come down. Whenever characters peer down the hole, it looks very really as if this place actually exists. There are points in the film where we do see dead bodies and they also look horrifyingly real.

Overall, The Platform is a brutal story with decent/good performances, great visuals and cinematography even if it can be a little confusing with choppy editing and overbearing music.