Review: Chariot
"Don't think. React."
It's the Eighties. Gillian is a glamorous young mercenary and she has just stolen a car. Not just any old vehicle, either, this is a high-tech, state-of-the-art supercar: very fast, virtually indestructible and with a built-in computer that can interface with the mind of the driver...
As she races along a high pass next to a lake she is pursued by thugs with guns. Bullets bounce off this fortress-on-wheels and, with a sharp manoeuvre, the goons crash into it and burst into flame. The driver smiles... until she crosses a bridge and sees a helicopter gunship bearing down on her. A missile destroys the bridge and the supercar falls into the lake, undamaged but with a drowning occupant. Gillian struggles to escape but in vain. There is a flash of light... and then darkness for a long time.
It's the present day. Jim is a hulking ex-con working in a scrapyard. His young son has chronic kidney failure and he and his ex-wife have little in the way of funds to pay for his treatment. Jim also owes money to the crime boss he sometimes works for as a driver.
One night at the scrapyard he is restoring a strange old car that has come his way when the boss and his hoodlums come calling to collect payment - or, failing that, punishment. Jim is about to get cut...
The car comes to life and runs down the lowlives. It then pulls up to Jim and the door opens... revealing nobody inside.
A pink neon hologram of a young, glamorous Eighties chick appears; it's Gillian, her mind downloaded into the supercar (the 'Chariot'). Trapped in the computer for forty years, she is now free, and ready to raise hell. She just needs a driver...
Chariot by writer Bryan Edward Hill and artist Priscilla Petraites is billed as a 'synthwave thriller' and draws strongly on the sci-fi and pop culture of the 1980s: think Knight Rider meets Tron meets Miami Vice.
Danger is coming. Gillian's sister and - back in the day, partner in crime - wants the Chariot for herself; or rather, the immortality offered by its interface technology. Gillian offers to help Jim with his problems in return for his assistance. She also finds him attractive. She has been alone for a long time. Bringing him into her virtual world she teaches him some kick-ass combat skills... and indulges in some simulated intimacy to cement their alliance...
Plenty of action follows, beautifully rendered by Petraites, whose polished style is suited to the vibrant Eighties theme. The sheen of that decade - surreal, glitzy, a little gaudy, immortalised by the unique electronic music of that era - exudes from Chariot like a nostalgic fever dream.
This is also a tale of redemption. Jim's life is a mess because of poor choices he made in the past. Gillian has had time to reflect on her own past, a thrill-ride of hedonistic violence. Reborn as a pink neon hologram in a supercar, she is still an amoral wildcat but part of her wants to try and make up for the things she has done before.
Can the Chariot be their vehicle to a brighter future?
CHARIOT from AWA Studios
Zak Webber
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