Crocodile
Year: 2017
Directed by: John Hillcoat
Starring: Andrea Riseborough & Kiran Sonia Shawar
Runtime: 59 minutes
Published: 13/09/23
Directed by: John Hillcoat
Starring: Andrea Riseborough & Kiran Sonia Shawar
Runtime: 59 minutes
Published: 13/09/23
London, where I live, has the most surveillance of any city in the world. You can barely take two steps without being within view of a CCTV camera somewhere nearby, and it’s all done in the name of providing the residents and visitors of the city with safety. But what if you didn’t need CCTV? What if you could jack into someone’s memories, and see exactly what they saw? Would a world where we are the surveillance be any better than what we have now?
Mia (Andrea Riseborough) is a renowned architect, but when she is visited by a ghost from her past, Rob (Andrew Gower), informing her that he wishes to come clean about a hit and run they were involved in fifteen years ago, Mia can’t risk her life and reputation for Rob’s peace of mind. So, she kills him.
Meanwhile, insurance investigator Shazia (Kiran Sonia Sawar) is looking into a collision between an automated vehicle and a pedestrian utilising technology that allows her to tap into people’s memories. An investigation that will unknowingly bring her closer to Mia, and to the potential discovery of the two murders she has committed.
Crocodile really is the embodiment of the paranoia of having other people know what you’re thinking about. Through Shazia’s investigation we see her uncover all sorts of unsavoury information in the minds of the people she is questioning. The problem is that not an awful lot actually happens in the episode. The opening scene depicts the hit and run that a young Mia & Rob are involved in, and then it swiftly moves on to Mia & Rob’s reunion fifteen years later and the murder that sets up the rest of the plot. But from then on it’s really just Shazia interviewing people about what they saw in relation to her investigation, which we know as audience members will lead to Mia, but there’s no unravelling mystery to it. There is tension, but rather than it being a fluctuating tension to keep us as the audience engaged, it’s hanging around in the background until it comes to a head in the episode climax.
Speaking of which the climax to the episode is probably one of the bleakest and most pessimistic Black Mirror endings of all time. I won’t go into spoilers, but it does verge on going overboard, it gets really nasty really fast, and it leaves you just feeling a bit empty inside.
Mia (Andrea Riseborough) is a renowned architect, but when she is visited by a ghost from her past, Rob (Andrew Gower), informing her that he wishes to come clean about a hit and run they were involved in fifteen years ago, Mia can’t risk her life and reputation for Rob’s peace of mind. So, she kills him.
Meanwhile, insurance investigator Shazia (Kiran Sonia Sawar) is looking into a collision between an automated vehicle and a pedestrian utilising technology that allows her to tap into people’s memories. An investigation that will unknowingly bring her closer to Mia, and to the potential discovery of the two murders she has committed.
Crocodile really is the embodiment of the paranoia of having other people know what you’re thinking about. Through Shazia’s investigation we see her uncover all sorts of unsavoury information in the minds of the people she is questioning. The problem is that not an awful lot actually happens in the episode. The opening scene depicts the hit and run that a young Mia & Rob are involved in, and then it swiftly moves on to Mia & Rob’s reunion fifteen years later and the murder that sets up the rest of the plot. But from then on it’s really just Shazia interviewing people about what they saw in relation to her investigation, which we know as audience members will lead to Mia, but there’s no unravelling mystery to it. There is tension, but rather than it being a fluctuating tension to keep us as the audience engaged, it’s hanging around in the background until it comes to a head in the episode climax.
Speaking of which the climax to the episode is probably one of the bleakest and most pessimistic Black Mirror endings of all time. I won’t go into spoilers, but it does verge on going overboard, it gets really nasty really fast, and it leaves you just feeling a bit empty inside.
The performances aren’t anything to write home about, but they aren’t bad. Sawar feels as though she’s just going through the motions, which might have been the point I suppose because she has a relatively mundane job in the grand scheme of things. Riseborough seems vacant, which again might have been an intentional choice given Mia’s state of mind, but it doesn’t give you a lot to cling to in terms of a character.
The episode doesn’t have anything distinct in its visuals either. I did watch it shortly after its release but remembered almost nothing about it in preparation for this viewing, and that’s one of the only Black Mirror episodes where that’s the case for me, and I think a lot of that falls down to just how little about it stands out.
Crocodile doesn’t stand out in any particular area. The story, whilst not bad is just kind of thin and doesn’t really fit into the typical Black Mirror mould. The performances all feel underwhelming, and maybe that’s intentional but either way I don’t think it works. Plus, there’s just the bland look of the episode. For something that’s so concerned about memories, Crocodile does just about everything it can to be forgettable.
There are worse episodes of Black Mirror, but unless you’re desperate to see every single one then you could probably give Crocodile a miss without losing much sleep.
The episode doesn’t have anything distinct in its visuals either. I did watch it shortly after its release but remembered almost nothing about it in preparation for this viewing, and that’s one of the only Black Mirror episodes where that’s the case for me, and I think a lot of that falls down to just how little about it stands out.
Crocodile doesn’t stand out in any particular area. The story, whilst not bad is just kind of thin and doesn’t really fit into the typical Black Mirror mould. The performances all feel underwhelming, and maybe that’s intentional but either way I don’t think it works. Plus, there’s just the bland look of the episode. For something that’s so concerned about memories, Crocodile does just about everything it can to be forgettable.
There are worse episodes of Black Mirror, but unless you’re desperate to see every single one then you could probably give Crocodile a miss without losing much sleep.