Command Z

I’m kind of cheating a bit with this. Technically, Command Z is a web series, not a movie. But it’s directed by Steven Soderbergh, and totals up to about ninety minutes, so I’m counting it. Somewhat arbitrarily, I’ll give you that. But I find Soderbergh to be such a fascinating filmmaker, despite having seen shockingly few of his films. He feels decidedly less locked into viewing film as high art than many of his peers, while still clearly seeing movies as important. As such, he’s willing to produce populist fare like Magic Mike, as well as engage in experimental filmmaking such as shooting on an iPhone, which he’s done twice (although he wasn’t the first by any means). And here, he’s playing around with self-distribution, which certainly isn’t new, but feels like something a Martin Scorsese would never even consider. Soderbergh is invested in adapting with the times, even if that means he sometimes misses.

In the year 2053, Sam (Roy Wood Jr.), Jamie (JJ Maley), and Emma (Steven Soderbergh) are summoned to a sparse room by their employer, tech billionaire Kerning Fealty (Michael Cera). Fealty’s consciousness was uploaded to a computer, so he appears to them as a floating head on a computer screen. They’re here for an important mission: use the wormhole tech he’s developed to communicate with the past in an attempt to influence key people in order to avert (or at least lessen) climate change. Because as we learn through the character’s conversations, the sea levels did indeed rise and submerge many parts of the US (and presumably world), in large part due to the selfishness and short-sightedness of oil companies, billionaires, and private equity firms.

The plot consists of our three unlikely heroes using the tech to infiltrate the subconscious of people close to their targets and trying different strategies to influence their behavior for the betterment of humanity. The computer brings up someone whose mind they can jump into, one of them volunteers to plug in, and we then witness the interaction play out.

Thing is, all these interactions are incredibly boring. We see them from some omniscient POV, rather than using the conceit to keep the audience trapped in 2053 with our main characters. The targets are the most obvious caricatures of people who are truly harming the planet. They’re hollow, unrealized shells of human beings, which is the only way to explain a single, minutes long interaction measurably impacting the health of the world. The dialog is the simplest, most rote lines you can write, completely devoid of any amount of cleverness or wit or nuance or humanity. The relationships used to influence these monsters are somewhat clever: one’s a realtor/mistress; another is a dog, who they convince their target has ESP. But it all plays out in such an uninspired way it’s hard to care.

Which really is what can be said of the whole series. Tech bro CEO blows up in his own rocket on the way to Mars. Off-handed line about how unions no longer exist. Lame jokes about how Emma was late because she had to wait for a whale to be cleared off the tracks. Young Jamie espousing boundless optimism and energy and belief in change, while the adults are jaded to the point of apathy and reluctance to even try. A megachurch pastor who’s rich beyond imagination, and greedy beyond compare. A tech bro whose driving force is a failed relationship years prior.

I could go on. But the point is that it feels like Soderbergh scrolled through Twitter and Reddit to compile his script. These are all pet issues or jokes rampant on social media platforms, phrased in similar ways. The perpetrators of their dystopian hellscape are the exact types you’d expect, with their real-life analogs hanging in the background, even brought up explicitly: Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos, amongst others. There isn’t a fresh take, or fresh solutions, or any real idea here that even future tech will aid us. Soderbergh’s statement seems to be “We have the ability to stop this now, we just need rich people to get on board.” The one exception is that he also talks about getting the public on board with nuclear energy. Other than that, it’s all wind turbines and divesting from oil companies and the like.

Because this series mostly fails to wrap its propaganda in a story, instead landing as an endlessly preachy after-school special, talking about how everyone can do their part. At one point, we even see one of the characters pick up a bottle off the sidewalk to put in the trash. It’s full of references and confirmation bias catering to the leftist crowd (not that I think it’ll make an impact there, either).

The world-building leaves a lot to be desired, too. The vast majority of what I’ve been talking about is conveyed through exposition dumps, either from Fealty or the characters telling each other what they already know. There are some delightfully weird touches, such as a dryer being the machine for accessing the wormhole for some reason. But those oddities are also where the greatest frustration lies: so much is set up that is never addressed again, or else simply serves as setup for low-effort “jokes”.

The one recurring bit I actually enjoyed is the list of “For more information” cards at end of each episode. They cover topics like dogs, time travel, and God, and list three movies, such as Snoopy Come Home, Run Lola Run, and Evan Almighty. Some good jokes in there, as well as great films.

As I mentioned up top, I’m glad to see Soderbergh continue to try stuff, and to release TV and movies at a quicker pace than many of his peers. It just means that sometimes, it’s not going to work. And that’s fine! Artists are allowed to fail. As long as they take a swing and miss, I’ll critique the work while praising that they took a shot. In this case, I can also be pleased that my money goes to two good causes: Children’s Aid and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. So all in all, not the biggest waste of ninety minutes. Just far from the best.