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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Netflix may be the source of jokes thanks to its Netflix Original movies often looking not only cheap but assembled according to a soulless algorithm for maximum appeal, and yet, sometimes, the streamer drops hidden gem on viewers. In 2019, The Stageabout a dystopian future prison built vertically with food lowered through hundreds of floors for the prisoners trapped inside, is a Spanish sci-fi thriller that caught everyone by surprise thanks to the imaginative premise and the smart writing. Five years later, The Stage 2 debuted on the streamer, and its only purpose was to remind that the first film was very good.
333 Hell Plain
The Stage 2 set in the same Vertical Self-Management Center as the original, with the same concept of food being lowered from top to bottom, and each month, prisoners are randomly assigned to a different floor . As with the first film, there are factions among the prisoners, divided between those who eat only what they need to survive and those who believe they can take what they wanted, often by force. It’s an on-the-nose way to present a first class battle in a sci-fi environment, with all the violence, angst, and well-intentioned people you’d expect, and this is where I’d normally say “but with a twist,” except here, there’s no twist.
Perempuan, a woman who chose to join the Self-Management Center as an act of reconciliation, is at the center The Stage 2finds himself wrapped up in the simmering conflict between factions, complicated only slightly by the rise of a cult known as The Anointed One, who believe in unity among the prisoners, but enforce it through actions a grotesque of brutal violence. While the first film relied mostly on intense conversations and a sense of discovery as viewers learned more about the brutal dystopia, the second took a more visceral approach to delivering its message, and the story suffered because of it.
Return Journey
Most of the first film is echoed in The Stage 2down to “the girl is the message,” although it fails to capture the drama and growing tension of Goreng’s descent into the depths of the prison. Perempuan launches an escape plan, but it ends with a revelation intended to be shocking and show how evil and manipulative the operatives behind the prison are, but we’ve seen this before. I haven’t seen such a derivative sequel since The hangover 2; at least that time, the movie openly admitted that they are doing the same thing again, but since then 22 Leap Street have lampooned everything about sequels, none of them have been as obvious as this one.
At the same time, The Stage 2 it may not be as good as the first and nowhere near the original, but the increased violence and social commentary still made for a decent viewing experience. Great science fiction reflects modern society through a futuristic lens, and unfortunately, stories of class struggle have been relevant since humanity first developed permanent dwellings. So, even though we’ve seen this story before, it’s still worth telling, and fans of the original might enjoy the trip back, but for others, go watch The Stage firstly.
The Stage 2 available now on Netflix.
