By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Netflix may be the butt of jokes thanks to its Netflix Original movies often looking not only cheap but were assembled according to a soulless algorithm for maximum appeal, and yet, sometimes, the streamer drops a hidden gem on viewers. In 2019, The Platform, about a dystopian future prison built vertically with food lowered through hundreds of floors for the inmates trapped inside, was a Spanish sci-fi thriller that caught everyone by surprise thanks to the imaginative premise and smart writing. Five years later, The Platform 2 debuted on the streamer, and its only purpose was to serve as a reminder that the first film was really good.
333 Levels Of Hell
The Platform 2 is 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, split between those who eat only what they need to survive and those who believe they can take what they want, often by force. It’s an on-the-nose way to present real-world class struggle in a sci-fi environment, with all the violence, anguish, and well-intentioned, well-meaning people that you’d expect, and this is where I’d normally say “but with a twist,” except here, there is no twist.
Perempuan, a woman who chose to join the Self-Management Center as an act of atonement, is at the center of The Platform 2, finding herself wrapped up in the simmering conflict among factions, complicated only slightly by the rise of a cult known as The Anointed Ones, who believe in solidarity among the prisoners, but enforce it through grotesque acts of brutal violence. While the first film relied mainly 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 for it.
A Return Trip
Most of the first film is echoed in The Platform 2, right down to “the girl is the message,” though it fails to capture the heightened drama and tension of Goreng’s descent into the depths of the prison complex. Perempuan launches an escape plan, but it ends with a revelation that is intended to be shocking and show how evil and manipulative the operators behind the prison are, but we’ve seen this before. I haven’t seen a sequel so derivative since The Hangover 2; at least that time, the film openly admitted they were doing the same thing over again, but since 22 Jump Street lampooned everything about sequels, none have been as blatant as this one.
At the same time, The Platform 2 may not be as good as the first and nowhere near as original, but the ramped-up violence and social commentary still made for a decent viewing experience. Great sci-fi reflects modern society through a futuristic lens, and sadly, stories of class struggle have been relevant ever since humanity first developed permanent dwellings. So, while we’ve seen this story already, it’s still worth telling, and fans of the original might enjoy the return trip, but for others, go watch The Platform first.
The Platform 2 is now available on Netflix.
