CinemaBlind’s Review – 90%
The much anticipated Prime Video series adaptation of the popular RPG video game series Fallout is finally here and I am so happy to bring you the good news that it’s great. While I am not familiar with the video game, I can say this about the series it’s unique, visually satisfying, and has a good enough story to keep you interested.
Fallout is a dystopian post-apocalyptic series created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The Prime Video series shows us the aftermath of a nuclear war that decimated the Earth. 219 years later, we follow the story of a young woman Lucy who ventures out of her ideal life as a vault dweller to save her kidnapped father and comes face to face with a dangerous world outside of the vaults.
In simple words Fallout is great and while it does have some flaws, they are not that noticeable because the great characters and the visual spectacles make up for them. The world in Fallout feels very thought out and real, and real is a word that can’t be used to describe many dystopian post-apocalyptic series. The CGI in this series is top-notch and when even big-budget blockbusters have wonky-looking visuals, the Fallout visuals team should be commended for their wonderful and imaginative work.
Aside from the visuals, Fallout is entertaining because it has what Prime Video’s The Boys had, violence, dark comedy, and gory fun which is immensely entertaining if done right, and Fallout does it right. The Prime Video series has many moments of body parts blowing up or creatures swallowing live humans that not only look great but are created in a way, that feels funny as well as dreadful at the same time. The series also does a great job of creating the three factions look and feel different from where our main characters come from.
When it comes to the performances Ella Purnell gives us a great leading performance of a character that is naive but strong, and as she spends more and more time on the surface her world views are changing. Aaron Moten is also wonderful as Maximus, a young man traumatized because of his childhood, who wants to do the right thing but doesn’t have the power to do so. While Purnell and Moten and great in their respective roles Walton Goggins steals the show for me as The Ghoul aka Cooper Howard. Goggins’ character has lived for over two centuries as he was alive before the bombs fell and he was a Hollywood star but in the present, he is a mutated gunslinger with a missing nose and a penchant for shooting people’s limbs off. Fallout also features many guest stars in small roles including Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Emerson, Leslie Uggams, and Dale Dickey.
The only fault I could find in Fallout is that it doesn’t have any emotional weight in its first four episodes and while we do understand the motivations of the characters, it still doesn’t feel as heavy as it should. But, that is rectified after the main mystery of the season is set up in episodes 4 and 5. After that, everything comes together really well and the series starts to fire on all cylinders.
So, if you loved the game Fallout is for you, and if you haven’t played the game like me. The series might feel overwhelming in the beginning, but that feeling quickly goes away as the characters and the world of the series grow on you. Fallout might not be perfect but it is still so close to perfect, that you can’t help but love it.