[Vortex series Netflix Review] Traveling back in time investigating through the VR world with Butterfly Effects

Vortex The 6-episode French series, which aired on television at the end of 2022 before being released on Netflix. The future year of 2025, The police have advanced VR simulation technology that allows them to recreate crime scenes with incredible realism. Ludovic, a detective, is assigned to investigate a case where a young woman falls off a cliff at the same location where his wife died 27 years ago. In the VR world, he encounters his wife 11 days before the incident and discovers that it was a murder, not an accident. Together, they begin to unravel the mystery and search for the identity of the killer.

Vortex Trailer

Vortex series Netflix Review (No Spoilers)

The series revolves around a unique and fresh idea that combines a time-travel narrative with VR technology. In this story, time travel is only possible when wearing VR glasses that simulate a specific incident, restricting the experience to a confined rectangular room in the real world. The main characters from the future and the past can only meet during predetermined times, but they cannot physically touch each other because the past characters exist only as VR representations. This limitation adds an interesting dynamic to the series. The restricted time-travel concept is utilized effectively to create suspenseful and unpredictable events throughout the story. The main characters exchange information between the past and the future, altering the course of events each time they attempt to solve the mystery of the culprit. The series incorporates the concept of the butterfly effect, where time does not branch out continuously but rather remains a single timeline that changes based on alterations in the past.

Not just the limitations of using VR alone, but it also adds a twist that the protagonist, Ludovic, has recently remarried and has another son. Therefore, his efforts to prevent his past wife from dying become a destructive force in his current life as well. His past wife also feels heartbroken to realize that she died and her husband got remarried. It becomes a feeling that goes beyond just finding the culprit, as they also have to try to maintain the continuity of their current lives by preserving their family in both time periods. This includes the attempt to restore the altered life of a coworker to its original state, making the plot even more complex. And this is the final summary of the story, which is more important than solving the murder case, as the story concludes quite well.

The series tells a continuous story of a serial killer while playing with time. The killer has been hiding for a long time and plans the murders to appear as accidents. There are characters that raise suspicion from the beginning and are cleverly guided to follow the intended path. It is difficult to predict the identity of the killer, which is both a strong point and a weakness of the series. However, at times, the story tries to create characters and events that deceive the viewers too many times, making it seem unreasonable.

The CG in the series is done exceptionally well, primarily using VR technology that is prominently featured in the story. The VR scenes are created using large curved LED screens and filmed in a studio to achieve a lifelike visual experience, similar to the techniques used in the series “The Mandalorian.” Limiting the scenes to a single beach location in the murder case helps reduce costs and makes this technology highly suitable. The transition into the VR world is seamless and captivating, while outside of VR, the story takes place in a normal everyday setting without any use of CG. Even the eyewear in the series is regular glasses designed to simulate VR, rather than the headsets commonly used today.

Overall, this series does a great job of playing with time travel in a new and exciting way. While it may not be completely smooth in every aspect, if you allow yourself to get immersed in the thrilling narrative of a time-traveling manhunt and the complexities of family issues, this series strikes a fantastic balance and comes out exceedingly well. I highly recommend not missing out on it.

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