What have the creators of the incredible Matrix trilogy done for us lately? Cloud Atlas was engrossing in the theater, but doesn't stand up so well upon repeated viewings. Jupiter Ascending was reportedly terrible, and Speed Racer was definitely a piece of garbage. V for Vendetta isn't bad, but suffers from the same ham-fisted ponderousness that has crippled the Wachowskis' ouvre since the end of the unfairly maligned Matrix: Revolutions. Now comes Sense8, their new Netflix series, which... seems like it's certainly worth a try?
Naveen Andrews from Lost features prominently in the trailer, which evokes themes familiar to Wachowski fans: consciousness expansion, individual vs. collective identity, supernatural forces, and sliding across the floor shooting guns from each hand (try to ignore the cameraman on the right side of the frame). The story revolves around eight strangers in eight cities around the world who find that they can share knowledge, sensory input, languages and, apparently, hot tub orgies.
The series is a collaboration between the Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski, who created the science fiction series Babylon 5 and wrote the script for the 2008 Clint Eastwood film Changeling. Netflix describes the 12-episode season thus: "One gunshot, one death, one moment out of time that irrevocably links eight minds in disparate parts of the world, putting them in each other's lives, each other's secrets, and in terrible danger. Ordinary people suddenly reborn as 'Sensates.'"
All 12 episodes of Sense8 debut June 5th, just a few days after Jupiter Ascending becomes available for rent on iTunes. June 5th is also a Friday, fwiw.
