Altered Carbon

Mackie is up to the challenge of playing Kovacs as an interstellar Philip Marlowe. And with Netflix throwing cash at the screen, Altered Carbon also succeeds at the level of breathtaking spectacle. After a stuttering first season, a would-be blockbuster has belatedly but emphatically achieved lift-off.

The distinct episodes help keep viewers invested when “Altered Carbon” goes too heavy on diegetic mumbo jumbo or changes its own rules to set up silly twists.

The philosophical underpinnings of a show about revenge, redemption, and the little tragedies that come from solving mortality, often give way to schlocky action and slick neon-soaked production design. But under Schapker’s direction, and a new cast comprised chiefly of extremely charismatic actors of color, Altered Carbon may have just found a way to cheat its own death.

Missick's addition to the cast changes up the chemistry in good ways, mostly owing to the actor's winning persona and its great fit with Mackie's Kovacs. ... The story itself its somewhat downgraded from a provocative examination of the role mortality plays in defining our humanity to a soap opera with a whole lot of gratuitous punching, kicking, and bleeding – much of it occurring in the premiere.

Mackie isn’t as stiff as Kinnaman, and there are interesting questions raised by the idea of what comprises a person. It still falls short of its potential, but Altered Carbon has probably done enough to ensure it runs for years to come. A lump of graphite, if not quite the full diamond.

The second round of the cyberpunk noir series will feel familiar to those who watched Season 1, as it's mostly a take-the-good-with-the-bad combination of sticking with what worked and not learning from its own mistakes. ... Altered Carbon has an amazing sandbox to work with, but the story doesn't always know how to play in it.