Believe it or not, three years have passed since the arrival on Netflix of the third season of Stranger Things, the famous TV series that sees as protagonists a group of just adolescents struggling with a dark parallel dimension full of terrible pitfalls, which seems to have targeted the small, fictional Indiana town of Hawkins.
In the aftermath of the violent battle of the Starcourt Mall, which had ended the events of last season in a rather traumatic way, Stranger Things 4 is preparing to strike like a typhoon on the renowned US streaming platform with other 9 episodes of rather substantial duration (we are talking about more than 60 minutes per episode, with some that even exceed the threshold of an hour and a half, ed), which resume the story threads exactly where we left them from.
We have previewed the first set of episodes, the one that will be released in a single solution on May 27 and we can finally tell you – obviously without any kind of spoilers – about what you should expect from this new work of the Duffer Brothers that tries to answer. to an age-old question: is it worse to face the infernal creatures born from the Upside Down or the high school years? The answer probably lies somewhere in between.
After having dealt a notable blow to the dark dimension thanks to the heroic deeds of Billy Hargrove and Jim Hopper and with the elimination of the powerful Mind Flayer that allowed to seal the portal in the last episode broadcast in 2019, we find all the beloved protagonists of the series struggling with the problems dictated by a sudden move to chaotic California and, above all, by the difficulties in integrating in an often hostile environment like that of high school.
We find Eleven, aka Jane Hopper, who seems to have completely lost her powers and finds herself leading, perhaps for the first time in her life, a completely ordinary everyday life made up of school and friendships, just like any teenager. Except that, as often happens, a group of bullies has caught the poor girl’s weaknesses and enjoys harassing her with jokes in bad taste and real physical violence.
Fortunately, the spring break is upon us and it is an excellent opportunity to organize a reunion with Mike, Lucas, Dustin and all the others, also marginalized by the distortions of a social scheme that divides the ‘popular’ and the ‘outcasts’. Lucas, on the other hand, became a skilled basketball player and started hanging out with the more ‘in’ types of the institute while Mike and Dustin found refuge in the Hellfire Club, a group of Dungeons & Dragons players led by the charismatic Dungeon Master Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), metal guitarist with bizarre ways, indeed the most pleasant addition to the already large cast of Stranger Things.
In short, life goes on among a thousand obstacles and complications but, at least, the threat of the Upside Down finally appears to be dormant, like a nightmare that belongs to a distant past, buried in the folds of time. Unfortunately, however, the ‘tranquility’ is doomed to last a short time: a series of heinous murders shock Hawkins County and seem to be attributable to the monstrosities that once came from the parallel dimension.
Here begins a daring investigation that will lead to the discovery of unimaginable secrets, some of which risk radically changing the conception we had of the city, of the experiments carried out on Eleven and on the other boys and, above all, on the relationships between the various characters that we learned in to know and to love.
Obviously we have limited the story of the plot as much as possible to avoid any kind of anticipation but we can reassure you about one thing: that of Stranger Things 4 is exactly the kind of story we were hoping to find in this new season. The rhythm of the narration is always well calibrated with scenes that wisely alternate lighter and dialogic moments that allow you to enter more into the intimacy of the relationships between the protagonists (ending up becoming even more attached to them, if possible) and others with strong emotional involvement. with sequences that mix action, violence and visual effects of good workmanship taking care not to lapse into the free or the most vulgar fan-service.
Of course, there are still some small forcing at the level of the script, some perhaps a bit difficult to digest if you do not fully immerse yourself in the so-called ‘suspension of disbelief pact’ but we appreciated how the Duffer brothers have carried out practically all the sub-plots that make up the complex mosaic of Stranger Things, wisely dosing its minutes without getting lost in excessively verbose dialogues or superfluous scenes. The writing is dry, precise and punctual: if you love this world and these characters, you can only remain in suspense for the entire duration of this new adventure.
It must be said, however, that we have not yet had the opportunity to see the epilogue of the season since the last two episodes have not yet been made available, therefore we cannot know how they intend to conclude the story. As we have seen so far, however, we can be quite satisfied with the work done by the showrunners, both in terms of narrative and, of course, of technique and visual effects.
The reasons can be many, starting from a pharaonic budget (we are about 30 million dollars per episode, double for example compared to the one allocated for the last season of Game of Thrones, just to put things in perspective), up to to reach a maturity by the cast that has literally grown under the eyes of the spectators, from the kids who were six years ago, at the dawn of the series, to the adults they have become today.
Without stressing the skill of already widely established actors such as Winona Ryder or David Harbor, it is the boys who play the lion’s share, with a good performance staged by almost all of the performers. We are not talking about Oscar-winning material, mind you, but it is still a rather high level that allows the public to identify with the events and characters enough to experience this story in the best possible way.
Also excellent direction that, as in any self-respecting modern series, passes the baton alternating between the Duffer Brothers, already creators and showrunners of the series; the talented Hungarian-born filmmaker Nimród Antal, already known for directing the 2007 thriller Vacancy, the sequel / reboot of Predator written by Robert Rodriguez in 2010 and the never-too-acclaimed concert film Metallica: Through the Never in 2013; Canadian director Shawn Levy, recently hit the headlines for films like Disney’s Free Guy or The Adam Project distributed by Netflix itself.
It is a careful direction, able to scrupulously follow both the exchange of words between the characters, effectively emphasizing the lighter moments and the action scenes, present here in greater numbers and on a much larger scale than in the past. And there are also many tasty quotes to the great horror cults of the 80s such as Halloween, Hellraiser or Nightmare on Elm Street (there is also a brilliant cameo by Robert Englund, unforgettable interpreter of the monstrous Freddy Krueger) that will make the joy of fans of the genre.
The construction of the atmospheres is also good which, thanks to scenographies always up to the situation and a truly disturbing imagery assisted by an excellent direction of photography, manages to pack some very evocative shots, especially in some specific situations that we do not deal in detail only for do not incur the risk of spoilers but which, we are sure, you will recognize immediately, already at first glance.
A note of merit, at the bottom, goes to the musical selection that brings back some immortal songs from the 80s and places them in strategic points of the narration to enhance their expressive power. The result, in some cases, is truly applause.
Ultimately, this first part of Stranger Things 4 has been able to strike the right chords and delivered us just the kind of product we were hoping to find. If the last two episodes were to maintain these quality standards, we would be facing a season that will remain engraved in the hearts, eyes and minds of the spectators for a long time. Are you ready to return to Hawkins and discover the perplexing origin of this new threat?
#Stranger #Review #Devil #lives #Hawkins