‘Snakes and Ladders’ Series Review: A Boring Game

Snakes and Ladders Avoid acting as lead cast or worse, annoyingly impersonal. Ironically, the adults, some painfully caricatured, come across as more juvenile. The series treats our protagonists as young adults who are well aware of the actions caused by their age-driven emotionalism and the repercussions that come with it, and that works both as a boon and a detriment to the series. I was delighted that, despite featuring a bunch of under-age teenagers as characters, this is far from a children’s adventure; There’s the usual level of violence and profanity for those used to Indian OTT content (a kid smashes an intruder’s leg with a hammer whose knee-jerk reaction is swearing under his breath) but thankfully they don’t feel forced. if Game of Thrones Kids can star, why put a cap on it?

But these spots of thoughtful writing — like the episode where the kids almost run away with their pranks only to be caught by one of their parents or the scene with a shot of a kid in a swing symbolizing a man’s wavering mind — are few and far between. Snakes and Ladders Suffering from an identity crisis. The film straddles between a full-on young-adult thriller and a genially written dark humor. It falls flat and does little justice to the genres it tries to toy with. The characters, especially those played by the adults, are painfully one-dimensional. The men are either willing to go to any lengths to survive or are do-gooders mostly clad in khaki trying to delve deeper into the mystery, while the women are clueless damsels in distress. The characterization of the lead cast isn’t particularly intelligent either – the most studious one wears glasses and stutters, and the only girl in the gang suffers from a medical condition.

A still from ‘Snakes and Ladders’ Photo credit: Special Arrangements

The series treats its characters and scenarios as large cogs in a machine rather than small pieces of a puzzle that must fit perfectly to reveal the bigger picture. It fails to linger in its moments and jumps from one set piece to another. Instead of delving more into the psyche and moral compass of the adversary’s troubled kids, the series takes the easy way out with a convenient payoff that makes the gang’s journey challenging and even a little dark.

The less said about the whole gangster segment, the better. Also, what about that Rolex-esque season ending? The series owes nothing to its veteran and known actors like Naveen Chandra, Nanda and Manoj Bharathiraj. It’s even more painful, considering Naveen’s previous collaboration with Prime Video resulted in a much improved product. Inspector Rishi. Snakes and Ladders The standard that Platform has set with its other thriller films and what appears to be inconsistent writing and tonal inconsistencies ensure that the dice falls short of what is loaded against it.

Snakes and Ladders is currently streaming on Prime Video