Do you remember Hunters, where Al Pacino & Co made absurdist comedy of (surviving) Jewish Nazi struggles? The series took place in the present, with flashbacks to the post-war period.
It’s a similar approach Christopher Nolan and Lisa Joy (Westworld) tries its hand at this post-atomic apocalypse, based on the game Fallout.
Also read Shoot a Nazi! In his first TV series, Al Pacino shines as a dedicated and uncompromising Nazi hunter.
The video game was released on the market back in 1997 and Hollywood moguls have for many years revolved around the idea of a film or series based on the role-playing game. Apparently the mastermind behind it FalloutTodd Howard, been meeting with film companies since 2008!
Fortunately, Howard, and Prime Video, chose to bank on the creators of the sci-fi series Westworld to turn the game into series. And after spending a good eight hours in this fascinating, dystopian world, we can conclude that, for the most part, they have succeeded well.
The series cannot escape the comparison with another game-to-series series, The Last of Us, also set in a post-apocalyptic world, where zombies have taken over what’s left of society, and two protagonists embark on a journey into the dangerous, uncertain. Lots of similarities here Falloutbut the series are also very different.
We are immediately transported to an idyllic atmosphere in the mid-1950s, in a pastel-colored, carefree environment in the hills surrounding LA. A wealthy family is celebrating a child’s birthday and for that reason has hired a well-known actor from the City of Dreams to entertain children and guests in his cowboy outfit.
In Bruce Springsteen’s epic song ”Western Stars” we meet the fallen cowboy actor who now makes a living from TV commercials and PR assignments. Meet Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), an incarnation of The Boss character. He drives around in his cool sports car, shows up (somewhat reluctantly) at the wife’s society parties, and pops into the studio now and then to deliver some one-liners in a simple commercial.
Then the apocalypse occurs, suddenly!, in the form of a rain of atomic bombs over the United States and the rest of the world. We then jump forward about 230 years, and encounter an (apparently) equally idyllic society, where the MacLean family dance their way through the sunset in the picturesque cornfield of something that looks suspiciously like Nebraska. It’s just that, as Jim Carrey in The Truman Showthe entire society lives inside an artificially created world, far below the surface of the earth.
Daddy, Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks), has invited guests to celebrate his daughter’s (arranged) wedding, and everyone is smiling, drinking and dancing – until the wedding night comes…
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
It turns out that the groom is not at all who he claims to be, but an intruder from the contaminated surface, out to rob and kill. And the gullible Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) must now fight for her life.
When the dust settles and the body count is over, naive Lucy decides to rise to the surface to save her father. Hank was captured by the rebel group calling itself the “New California Republic”, led by the enigmatic Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury, Homeland). The rebels hold court in their own right Griffith Observatoryin the Hollywood Hills – with a bleak view of a totally bombed-out LA.
On her way there, she must fight her way through, killing, maiming, shooting and ultimately decapitating a mythical man carrying a valuable resource. And of course she meets our cowboy friend from 1955, but this time in a completely different physical form and mental state.
Walton Goggins, “Fallout, Season 1” (Photo: Prime Video)
The zombie cowboy, who now goes by the name “The Ghoul”, only looks out for his own interests, and has zero respect for life and/or life. As he so succinctly, aptly tells Lucy when she asks who he really is:
Oh, I’m you sweetie. You just give it a little time.
Lucy has grown up in “Vault 33” all her life, protected from all the world’s evil and deadly radiation. In the idyllic society, they walk around with kilo-heavy “smartwatches” for radiation measurement, tracking and communication. And the inhabitants feel peace and no danger.
We are drawn into the dirty, unfair struggle between the underground, chosen, vault dwellers, far from the anarchy of the surface, and the lawless earthlings who will do anything to survive in the inhospitable, radioactive environment of the surface; where the cockroaches have grown as big as dogs. Only one rule applies there: Kill, or be killed!
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
Eventually, it is revealed that the giant, nuclear-proof vaults were built long before the apocalypse occurred – and then the protagonists must ask themselves the eternal question: Where does the money trail lead? And what in the world was that actually that happened in Shady Sands?
The first three episodes are directed by Nolan himself, and they have good drive and dramaturgical development, even if they are excessively explicitly violent. If you have a sensitive stomach, there may well be a lot of blood, severed heads and torn limbs to digest.
Aaron Moten, “Fallout, Season 1” (Photo: Prime Video)
Lucy and The Ghoul also lack the emotional bond, and depth, that Joel and Ellie portrayed so exemplary in The Last of Us. We’re also introduced to the underdog soldier Maximus (Aaron Moten), who initially remains a somewhat diffuse character. Max has enlisted in the paramilitary group “Brotherhood”, where soldiers dress in giant robot suits and slaughter vermin that have good growth conditions after the apocalypse.
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The whole middle part of the series lacks a bit of momentum, gets too wobbly and has several side stories that just drag on. At first we also struggle to swallow the extreme transformation Lucy suddenly goes through, from a sheltered, completely naive existence, to bad ass action heroine.
Once again, we suspect that too much focus and emphasis has been placed on the technical, thereby overshadowing character development and emotional depth. In addition, there are also a large number of downright embarrassing special effects.
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
But then, in the last third, the plot expands, the characters get more to play with (not least Max and The Ghoul), and with more and more flashbacks from the time before the apocalypse, the story takes on a significantly greater resonance and tension curve. Layer by layer we dig deeper, and find out who was behind the disaster.
The whole thing is then spiced up with bizarre secondary characters, and the new, unbeatable (?), duo becomes Lucy and Max. But can they really trust anyone, and on each other?
Even though we’ve jumped a bit more than 200 years into the future, it’s as if everything stopped when the atomic bombs hit the hill. This gives the series creators great opportunities to play with the retro style, with an accompanying nostalgic soundtrack. Delightful, innocent songs that often stand in stark contrast to the violent and brutal action. But my goodness it works so well.
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
But what really makes the series, despite its obvious weaknesses, secure a top rating is the delightfully satirical, cheeky humor. Which is often delivered with a stiff look, as if it were the most natural thing to say; as when one of the underground dwellers, with a horny milf in the lap, exclaims “Now that’s a wet woman!” – seconds later the water runs!
Or when Lucy asks completely out of the blue if Max wants to have sex with her, which he rejects because he is afraid that the limb will become disgustingly stiff and “explode”. As well as the silly assistants at the “clinic” where Lucy is to have her organs “harvested” – blatantly funny, and aptly delivered.
Ella Purnell, “Fallout, Season 1” (Photo: Prime Video)
Overall, there are solid acting qualities in it Fallout. Many with years on the neck, but several relatively unwritten leaves.
Not least, we take our hats off to Ella Purnell, who makes a formidable acting effort in making the young woman with her large, naive doll eyes really kick ass. A complex character, with Purnell showing a solid sense of comic timing. Goggins is also frighteningly good at delivering his laconic, sarcastic lines, while relentlessly shooting at anything that moves.
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
Fallout has become a successful mix of western and sci-fi, as well as a good dose of zombie horror. We get some Twelve Monkeyslite Mad Max and Walking Deadas well as a splash The Island…
The series probably won’t appeal to as wide an audience as The Last of Us, as much of the violence is too explicit, as a conscious gesture to gaming fans. But the playful, cheeky humor grows on us, as do the outspoken characters. A sort of zombie apocalypse world’s equivalent of the superhero world Guardians of the Galaxy. We reward another game adaptation with top rating: 5 (weak) stars.
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Fallout will premiere globally on Prime Video on April 11, when all episodes will be released. And not only that, Prime Video has already given the green light for season 2. The review is based on all eight episodes.
Fallout, Season 1 (Photo: Prime Video)
Fallout season 1
Fact:
- Prime Video
- Release: 11. april 2024
- Regi: Christopher Nolan
- With: Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, Moses Arias, Kyle MacLachlan, Sarita Choudhury, Michael Emerson, Leslie Uggams, Frances Turner, Dave Register, Zach Cherry, Johnny Pemberton, Rodrigo Luzzi, Annabel O’Hagan, Xelia Mendes-Jones
- Genre: Sci-fi
- Country: USA
- Year: 2024
- Length: 8:00 h.
- Rating: 5
- IMDb
