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three or 3?

Nobody Seems To Agree If Netflix's '3 Body Problem' Is Worthy Of The Hype

Jared Russo
Jared Russo
Nobody Seems To Agree If Netflix's '3 Body Problem' Is Worthy Of The Hype
The adaptation of the sci-fi novels gets a Netflix big budget treatment from the "GoT" creators, and while some people say it's excellent, others have called it a total drag.
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Everyone agrees on two things: Liu Cixin's Chinese sci-fi novel "The Three-Body Problem" is almost impossible to adapt into live action, and the fact that "Game of Thrones" co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss began making it meant the pressure to deliver a good show was extremely high.

Early viewers from South by Southwest suggest a polarizing split. For the most part, the reviews are good, but there's just enough negativity in them that may dissuade the fence sitters.

"3 Body Problem" airs on Netflix this weekend, starting March 21, 2024, and stars Benedict Wong, Jovan Adepo, Jess Hong, Eiza Gonzalez, Alex Sharp, Jonathan Pryce, Liam Cunningham and Rosalind Chao. Here's what reviewers thought of the show.


The Good

Taking all the heady concepts from the novel and injecting them in between characters' interpersonal relationships makes this show worth watching. Majority of the positive reviews say that the source material is well-grounded, not only making it understandable, but more human.

The writing, casting and imagery all stand out, making it an enjoyable and entertaining ride.



The Bad

Not every big budget, CGI heavy sci-fi show is naturally compelling (like "Raised by Wolves" and "Foundation") and the critics who disliked '3 Body Problem' mostly pointed out they felt that the series lost a lot nuance in its translation.



The Ugly

The worst reviews really hold this up to "Game of Thrones" and think it's boring, ugly and somewhat insulting to its audience. A total waste of a cast, concept and IP, the most negative of reviews state that the show is "inherently middling" and has "tortuous plotting." Noah Berlatsky of the Chicago Reader said "the background material is weak, and the new ideas are virtually all depressingly familiar."

Ouch.



TL;DR

It's grounded in a solid sci-fi premise, but continually weighed down by flat, often two-dimensional characters and a weak script.

[Total Film]

"3 Body Problem" reworks Cixin Liu's mammoth book trilogy for a wider audience to great success, though it may annoy some viewers with its far-out sci-fi and speed-of-light plot machinations.

[IGN]

The Netflix adaptation of "3 Body Problem" sets a new standard for what sci-fi is capable of.

[Slashfilm]

It's an absolute page-turner that confidently switches modes and genres, acting as a strong comeback for "Game of Thrones" showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.

[Paste]


Watch the trailer:

Comments

  1. Peter Basch 1 month ago

    POSSIBLE SPOILER of the book: Just attempted to read the book. Got through 62%, after skipping quite a few rather tedious pages of exposition. A lot of backstory to come up with a reason why alien's planet becomes uninhabitable. Not climate change, not overmining, not pollution, not overpopulation. No, this time it's a freshman physics problem. And the characters were not, to me anyway, compelling. I will say the Chinese point of view and cultural background made an interesting difference from the exact same story told from a traditionally Western point of view, but it's a bit long for that to be all that compelling.

  2. Yash Tolani 1 month ago

    its a good moving but i feel lot's of more efforts required by the vfx team.

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