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

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User Reviews

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  1. brockcheese
    Dec 29, 2018
    6
    While innovative for a Netflix idea the main theming is from a very meta sense and often it felt heavy handed with it not letting you make certain decisions.
  2. buddhalou
    Jan 7, 2019
    6
    Kudos for taking a chance on the concept, which I'm sure we'll see more of, but I hope that in the future there's a bit more effort put into the other elements of the production aside from the gimmick.
  3. shoulderoforion
    Dec 30, 2018
    5
    "Choose your own" gimmicks aside, it was an ok episode, not great, not terrible, the 80's nostalgia make it better than bad. Hope the upcoming new Black Mirror season hits it out of the park, but basing it on last seasons disappointing eps, and the relative blandness of this entry, I'm not holding my breath.
  4. 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 overwhelmingly underwhelming, anticlimactic and overly disappointing.
  5. Cameron1959
    Dec 28, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I feel like this film had a lot of potential, yet threw it all away for the sake of gimmick. The concept behind it was great, but halfway through I got bored as things started to go off the rails. This film is praised for being creative and innovative, but I feel it should be judged for its content and writing just as much as the idea behind it. Compared to other Black Mirror episodes, Bandersnatch simply falls short, and I am a huge fan of Black Mirror so I was incredibly disappointed by this.
    I feel like the flaws in this story would become obvious if choose your own adventure stories become more common. I was also annoyed by the fact they kept throwing in simple philosophy about determinism into the mix to make the film seem deeper than it is. These elements should unfold naturally, not in drug-fueled ramblings that seem nearly comical in nature.
    Overall, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that enjoys deep storytelling, but if cheesy stories are your thing you might enjoy it.    … Expand
  6. Rtheom
    Dec 28, 2018
    6
    This was mildly interesting. It wasn't quite on par with the higher end stories of the regular Black Mirror season shows, and it wasn't really a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure", it was more "choose until you make the right decision and see a bad ending whenever you don't and start over". There was a lot of potential here, particularly for messing with the viewer, but it feels like they wentThis was mildly interesting. It wasn't quite on par with the higher end stories of the regular Black Mirror season shows, and it wasn't really a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure", it was more "choose until you make the right decision and see a bad ending whenever you don't and start over". There was a lot of potential here, particularly for messing with the viewer, but it feels like they went the cautious route because they were unsure how the audience would react to an "interactive" movie in the first place.

    The acting was serviceable, the overall plot was generic, and overall it was enjoyable, but hardly groundbreaking. If they do this again, hopefully they'll have the guts to really get into the viewer's head and make us think.    … Expand
  7. gabrieI
    Jan 2, 2019
    4
    Choices aren't totally gimmick, in fact they change how the story continues. I just feel that sometimes there are alternatives you think that don't need to be taken. Didn't like that if you choose the "wrong option", movie just tell you to go back and take the other alternative. Unfortunately my final was ridiculous.
  8. javimera97
    Dec 29, 2018
    4
    Please, ¿can people stop saying hoy innovative they think this is? Graphic novels, such as Steins;gate, have been allowing us to interact with the story and to decide how things will turn out for ages, but it's not until an american streaming service does it that people recognize it.
  9. Mathzin
    Dec 28, 2018
    6
    Yeah, all this buzz by being an interactive episode it's amazing and i truly loved this idea of choices. But i expected a connection in my choices and actions. Couldn't find that. The end it's just thrown at our face. They don't even try to explain why that action lead to that moment or action that Stefan taken. Actually a true mistake that can be forgotten by the glorious innovation thatYeah, all this buzz by being an interactive episode it's amazing and i truly loved this idea of choices. But i expected a connection in my choices and actions. Couldn't find that. The end it's just thrown at our face. They don't even try to explain why that action lead to that moment or action that Stefan taken. Actually a true mistake that can be forgotten by the glorious innovation that netflix made.… Expand
  10. Zukku
    Jan 9, 2019
    6
    It was fine. I like the innovative feel of being in control. But it felt as if there was no way. Whenever i wanted to to something, i never had the choice. I only had the choice of bad and worse. I guess others had good endings, and i really tried, but at first i think i got the worst ending. It felt too random and too fragmented. I never quite understood what the story was about.. TheIt was fine. I like the innovative feel of being in control. But it felt as if there was no way. Whenever i wanted to to something, i never had the choice. I only had the choice of bad and worse. I guess others had good endings, and i really tried, but at first i think i got the worst ending. It felt too random and too fragmented. I never quite understood what the story was about.. The guy? Insanity? Alternate universes? Us vs him? What is going on.… Expand
  11. TicTacTaco
    Jan 6, 2019
    4
    Has some interesting ideas, but ultimately, due to its very nature, it doesn't commit enough to any of them. It does have some cool moments, but they're few and far between. Too many of the themes are incredibly on the nose as well. The characters are fine, but nothing special.
  12. Daymo007
    Jan 8, 2019
    6
    interesting concept but I felt this movie lacked a decent storyline. Whatever ending you get you will feel a little underwhelmed when the credits roll. I still hope to see more movies like this
  13. Vitor007
    Jan 11, 2019
    5
    Complicated and without much sense. In this episode of Black Mirror, the setting of how choices are made and the options to go back to try other ways, make the movie totally lost. The difficulty many find in fully understanding the transmitted message is not trivial. The film was self-taught with this model that was presented to us. His script has potential, so the "fault" would be theComplicated and without much sense. In this episode of Black Mirror, the setting of how choices are made and the options to go back to try other ways, make the movie totally lost. The difficulty many find in fully understanding the transmitted message is not trivial. The film was self-taught with this model that was presented to us. His script has potential, so the "fault" would be the junction that Netflix tried to emulate. Maybe Black Mirror does not have adequate stories for these patterns of interaction. Both Black Mirror and interactive productions are good, but not as a "couple". For new interactive productions to be made, it is best that everything be rethought, without junctions with lack of cohesion. 5.8/10… Expand
  14. Mihael131
    Mar 27, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Black Mirror, a Netflix unconventional movie where it is eclatant Netflix is making a commercial for itself which is I can admit something very odd, not in a negative way but unusual. It's a part where Charlie is asking who is there and then he sees a message telling him what's Netflix. „I am watching you on Netflix. I make decisions for you“. It could spoil a movie, you just don't get that movie satisfaction when they make some obvious commercial inside. I didn't quite catch that, they shouldn't bring firm name into the movie. I consider it a minor mistake but it could cost them the ratings. Again they did the self-promotion when he spills a psychiatric with a cup of a coffee, it's a cut-out scene of a movie and he does not know where he is and it's continuous.
    Charlie is a person with the mental problem and he is writing code for a game which is unconventional and it's made by a book where the reader decides what will happen so he is transferring the book data into the game. It is pretty obvious from the start of the movie, someone is 'playing his life'. What he does into the game someone, later on, we found who, a woman who is renewing his game does playing his life. Basically what you are seeing is what happens when someone press a choice „take the meds“ or „go to the Collin“.
    He knows something is wrong, he knows what is literally happening but I just like to be old school and to get the movie in a conventional way. I don't like that supernatural things where there is a monster which by what he is referring is eating your soul, a Netflix woman who is playing his life. I just get he is ill. He is not well. Netflix part is a figment of his imagination, he made it. He is keeping getting awake from the bed every morning and all the plot is what he dreams. He had a trauma when his mother had died and he is not sane. There are no supernatural things, he is just a game programmer who got even more screwed up when he saw his friend jumping off the verge of a balcony. The part where is seen they both have LSD hallucination is just a drug effect. There are no other ways of your life. If you die, you die. The part where is he jumping of a building is a fruit de mon what he thought that way, it never had happened. He had never jumped off that edge, his friend did and got killed. Later he is still talking with him, but as I told it's fruit de mon, ain't happening.
    What is the most annoying part in the movie is continuous going through the memory lane and the scenes are recycled. It feels like when you are watching the one and a half long movie you are watching one hour and another quarter is getting back and back. Thus when I thought it's over they displayed Collin again, he had already done the suicide and there was a lot of happening and then he is missing, he is alive. I just wanted the movie to finish, it was so tiring to watch it all over again and again.
    The movie is all about what happened to the original author of the book which we conclude got possessed and when he decapitated his wife's head got great book inspiration, that happened to him. Have you all noticed the game god five out of five stars when his dad's head was in his room and the lowest rating when everything wasn't so screwed up. It's a type of movie for those who like imagination, supernatural things and who like to think a lot but at the average viewer perspective, I could even say it is dense for people who want to watch a normal movie.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
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
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Simon Parkin
    Jan 4, 2019
    70
    Bandersnatch’s do-overs lighten the weight of our decisions, which in turn lightens the gravity of the whole. It’s an exhilarating experiment, not least because it’s played out on such a major stage, and on one of Netflix’s prestige properties. Much of the episode’s success, however, relies on the clever marriage of theme and mechanism. Without this, the flimsiness of the supporting framework, more gimmick than revolution, would be exposed.
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  2. 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.
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  3. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Pat Brown
    Jan 2, 2019
    63
    Black Mirror‘s stories are often effective without being subtle. At their worst, they merely recapitulate omnipresent popular anxieties, but at their best they compel critical reflection on the technologies that structure our lives. Whatever assemblage of parts make up an individual viewer’s experience of Bandersnatch, it will likely be a mixture of both.
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