Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Dec 28, 2018
Metascore
61

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16

Critic Reviews

  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    Jan 4, 2019
    60
    Bandersnatch can be fun, if you’re entranced by its puzzle structure, or if you’ve always believed TV episodes would be better if only you could spend hours grinding through them again in order to watch 45 seconds of new footage. But it doesn’t make for much of a story. This is partly because the core plot is uninspired. ... It’s occasionally genuinely moving. But it’s not haunting in the way that comes from reaching the end of a story and realizing that the only “What now?” answer you get will have to come from you.
  2. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: David Fear
    Jan 2, 2019
    60
    This “event” gives us an admittedly unique experience but little to hold onto after the fact. It doesn’t even measure up to the bar the show itself has set.
  3. CNN
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Dec 28, 2018
    60
    The bottom line is that despite the promise of becoming a participant in the storytelling process -- and the allure of wedding games and narrative fiction -- a well-told tale, watched passively, still trumps a so-so one that fosters the game-like illusion of putting the viewer in the driver's seat.
  5. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Kelly Lawler
    Dec 28, 2018
    60
    I suppose there might be a path I could have taken that would have satisfied me more. And I also suppose Netflix would love if I went back and tried to find all five endings. But every ending should be satisfying. Every story should be equally strong. That's a hard hat trick to pull off with this kind of storytelling. But they certainly get a lot of points for trying.
  6. The Daily Beast
    Reviewed by: Kevin Fallon
    Jan 2, 2019
    50
    The interactive aspect of the viewing experience is seamless, and each adventure manages to be tonally unique and narratively distinct. But it turns out that when television starts to become a video game, the integrity of the story is muddied by the thrill of choice and control.
  7. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Tim Goodman
    Jan 2, 2019
    50
    I think Bandersnatch--yes, technically a movie rather than an episode for Emmy purposes--will rank somewhere below the middle of the pack when all is said and done.
  8. RogerEbert.com
    Reviewed by: Brian Tallerico
    Dec 28, 2018
    50
    So why do I feel kind of hollow at the end of “Bandersnatch”? It’s not really a game, in which you invest multiple hours and get deeply involved with the characters whose narrative you’re authoring, and it’s not quite a movie either. I tried to imagine watching someone else “play” “Bandersnatch,” making the choices instead of me, and it’s simply not as well-written or involving as the best episodes of “Black Mirror.” Several of the thematic ideas are underdeveloped no matter how you branch the story, and it ends abruptly.

Awards & Rankings

15
#15 Most Discussed TV Season of 2018
89
#89 Most Shared TV Season of 2018

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 277 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 192 out of 277
  2. Mixed: 46 out of 277
  3. Negative: 39 out of 277
  1. Theghostgamebr
    Dec 28, 2018
    10
    Giving less than an 8 for this movie is ridiculous. If you complain that it seems unfinished you are totally wrong, its obvious that it isGiving less than an 8 for this movie is ridiculous. If you complain that it seems unfinished you are totally wrong, its obvious that it is impossible to create an infinite range of possibilities because of your choices and netflix did an incredible work at dealing with it.
    On top of that its an amazing movie that you can watch more than one time. Strongly recommend.    … Full Review »
  2. MoviesForever
    Dec 28, 2018
    5
    I am not sure if this episode of Black Mirror is nothing short of genius or blatantly and shockingly bad. Despite, it is just overwhelminglyI am not sure if this episode of Black Mirror is nothing short of genius or blatantly and shockingly bad. Despite, it is just overwhelmingly underwhelming, anticlimactic and overly disappointing.… Full Review »
  3. saitama-man
    Dec 28, 2018
    0
    Ok Netflix, you tried.
    If it is an interactive product, the least you can expect is that each path has some kind of connection between your    Ok Netflix, you tried.
    If it is an interactive product, the least you can expect is that each path has some kind of connection between your decisions and something makes sense. Bandersnatch fails (and a lot) in that.
    Several endings that leave the viewer simply not understanding anything about what happened, much less how their decisions affected the story, aside from several holes in the script (which become so obvious that they do not even have to be listed). Bandersnatch seems much more an incomplete work and a film that was "extended" to become interactive than a really "special episode" Black Mirror. For example, one of the first decisions you make is simply not planned and takes you to an immediate end, that's not how you make an interactive product. Maybe if the project was better planned at the end the result would be better. The only positive point is the acting of the actors, but the poor execution of the plot can throw all this down the drain.
    Black Mirror deserved much more than that, unfortunately the result is totally disappointing.    … Full Review »
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