• 167.760 movies
  • 10.877 shows
  • 31.238 seasons
  • 626.081 actors
  • 9.154.936 votes
Avatar
 
banner banner

Playtest (2016)

Drama | 57 minutes
3,32 208 votes

Genre: Drama / Scifi

Duration: 57 minuten

Alternative title: Black Mirror: Playtest

Country: United Kingdom

Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg

Stars: Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Wunmi Mosaku

IMDb score: 8,0 (54.769)

US
UK

This movie is not available on US streaming services.

JustWatch

Playtest plot

Cooper (Wyatt Russell) wants to find himself and decides to go backpacking in various countries. He eventually ends up in London and has so little money that he can no longer travel home. Through Tinder, he meets Sonja (Hannah John-Kamen), who gives him the tip to sign up as a VR tester for a mysterious game developer so he can earn some money to return. His first experience is a kind of "whack a mole" with a cute cartoon character, then he is asked to go to an abandoned house for the next test.

Reviews & comments


Guest

  • messages
  • votes

Let op: In verband met copyright is het op MovieMeter.nl niet toegestaan om de inhoud van externe websites over te nemen, ook niet met bronvermelding. Je mag natuurlijk wel een link naar een externe pagina plaatsen, samen met je eigen beschrijving of eventueel de eerste alinea van de tekst. Je krijgt deze waarschuwing omdat het er op lijkt dat je een lange tekst hebt geplakt in je bericht.

* denotes required fields.

Pay attention! You cannot change your username afterwards.

* denotes required fields.
avatar van Onderhond

Onderhond

  • 87387 messages
  • 12346 votes

Very mediocre.

Creating some fear around video games is already something they did in the 80s, the only thing this Playtest adds is... well, nothing really. Because connecting games directly to the brain is not exactly original. The technology looks a bit more modern, that's about it.

The effect is otherwise poor. Annoying main character, the horror never feels sharp or dignified (little that could realistically frighten you) and the progression towards the end is so tried and tested that you are more likely to gape than be amazed. The film has nothing of substance to say and otherwise looks fairly sterile.

What makes things like this so popular is a complete mystery to me. These types of genre films are usually unabashedly put down, but in even crazier TV form it is apparently interesting again. Apparently it is also difficult to explain, because the pages of these films often remain very empty.

Bad and boring nonsense. It's that it only takes an hour.

1.5*

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van Shadowed

Shadowed

  • 9886 messages
  • 5928 votes

OK.

Once again an episode that doesn't exactly feel like Black Mirror. Indeed, this seems to be mainly a cross between a light horror film and Black Mirror. Some BM elements are clearly recognizable, but otherwise this seems to be a somewhat different film.

Russell does a fine job, but is a somewhat miscast character at times. His actions are sometimes a bit strange and that nervous laughter could have been a little less loud. The rest of the actors and actresses are okay, but nothing memorable.

The film is indeed a bit more of a horror movie this time, especially in the middle section. Shortly afterwards it starts to bump back into Science Fiction/Drama. The real Black Mirror atmosphere is especially recognizable in the beginning, with a somewhat slow but effective introduction.

Towards the end the film starts to become a bit more chaotic, but you get through it just fine. It is a bit less original, but it remains quite fun and therefore receives a passing grade.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van flaphead

flaphead

  • 773 messages
  • 927 votes

Pretty nice. The run-up is too long, because I started to seriously wonder when the BM content came in. Well, when the 'adventurers wanted' app came up for a video game developer, it quickly became clear what the big deal would be. From there the main character also becomes just too jovial; I understand that this is to make the contrast greater with the predictable fear he is about to undergo, but it could have been less. The fun part is that you keep wondering what is real and what isn't, but it doesn't go very deep. Of course the twist - you know it's coming- is fun and they peel it off in 3 layers. To the point where it's more funny than disturbing. But the technological detail is funny, although we've seen it before.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original