Item: Brave New World
Rating: 7
Author: Alex Maidy

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Synopsis: Based on Aldous Huxley's groundbreaking novel, Brave New World imagines a utopian society that has achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself. As citizens of New London, Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne embark on a vacation to the Savage Lands, where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion. Bernard and Lenina are rescued by John the Savage who escapes with them back to New London. John’s arrival in the New World soon threatens to disrupt its utopian harmony, leaving Bernard and Lenina to grapple with the repercussions.

Review: Dystopian stories are nothing new, but Brave New World was one of the first and is regarded as one of the most impactful. Having served as the inspiration for the sub-genre for almost one hundred years, Aldous Huxley's classic novel has since become a title people recognize but a story many are unfamiliar with. With Universal's launch of their new streaming service, Peacock, a lavish adaptation of Brave New World is here with contemporary updates in an attempt to give a fresh spin on a very familiar tale. With many recognizable faces including SOLO's Alden Ehrenreich, Game of Thrones' Harry Lloyd, Downton Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay, ANT-MAN's Hannah John-Kamen and Demi Moore, this is a dystopian tale reinvented for Millennials replete with lots of sex and violence. While there are some fairly engaging moments through the series, it feels overlong and struggles between satire and engaging drama.

Since the original novel was published in 1932, Peacock's adaptation has made some changes to the source material that encompass modern technologies ranging from amusement parks to social media. The savage people were portrayed as vaguely Native American in the novel but in this series are more in line with white trash and blue-collar Americans. There is a very familiar class struggle at the core of this story that will remind many of everything from George Orwell's 1984 to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. The biggest difference is where those stories outlawed art and freedom of expression, Brave New World outlaws privacy and monogamy, leading to a show chock full of orgies and adventurous sex. The caste system in the utopia of New London is comprised of Alphas, Betas, Gammas, and the lowly Epsilons, and all citizens are continuously logged into a network that records their every move while the dose themselves with a mind-control drug called Soma.

Brave New World starts with a look at these two disparate societies: the refined New Londoners who have sex pretty much anywhere and with anyone and the Savage Landers who are considered wild because they listen to music, raise families, and fall in love. In these realms, we follow Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay) and Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd). Lenina is a scientist and a Beta Plus while Bernard is an Alpha Plus. When Bernard witnesses a suicide and Lenina feels emotionally connected to a colleague, the two take a vacation to the Savage Lands where they meet John (Alden Ehrenreich), a young man who is embroiled in a simmering revolution amongst his people. Along with his mother Linda (Demi Moore), John ventures to New London where he sees life through how the other half lives.

While John comes to terms with the restrictions of conformity, Bernard and Lenina begin to see their acceptance of their society begin to crack. Over the nine episodes made available for review, the series dives headfirst into establishing these worlds as being not too different from our own and yet still futuristic. A dystopian view of where our future may take us, Brave New World still needs a lot of time to get going. The first episode feels like it is trying to ape Black Mirror with some satirical approaches to storytelling and a less than serious tone before shifting in episode two and beyond. It takes four episodes before the series begins to find its footing and by that point, we have dealt with so many supporting characters that many viewers may find themselves losing interest. But, I assure you, if you stick with this series it does continue to incrementally improve.

This series has all of the hallmarks of a prestigious BBC or Sky production, especially with the primarily British cast. Both Jessica Brown Findlay and Harry Lloyd are solid in their roles, especially Findlay who gets to shine in a substantial role. Demi Moore is also excellent in one of the best performances I have seen from her in quite some time. The only performance here that is underwhelming is Alden Ehrenreich. I was excited to see him after enjoying his turns in both SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY as well as HAIL, CAESAR! but he just doesn't fit in this series. At first, I thought he was playing John the Savage as a naive young man thrust into a foreign world but as the episodes progress, he feels out of his element as an actor compared to his more experienced co-stars. Ehrenreich is not a bad actor but he took me out of the story during scenes that should have been much more intense.

Brave New World is summer viewing at it's finest: decadent and sexy with just enough depth to keep you engaged during the hottest days of the year. Definitely, for mature audiences, the series doesn't take the source material quite as seriously as it deserved but certainly tells an engaging story for a new generation. The cast looks good even if Alden Ehrenreich seems a bit miscast, but maybe that makes him the perfect fit for the role of a man who cannot find his place in either of the worlds he finds himself a part of.

Brave New World premieres July 15th on Peacock.