Mr. Robot: Season 1 [DVD]

Mr. Robot is a showed that aired on the USA Network from 2015 to 2019, and starred Remi Malek as Elliot Alderson, who by day has a job at a reputable cybersecurity company, and by night is a hacker who takes down bad guys. He is approached by a group of hacktivists called fsociety, whose goal is to take down a large, own-everything company called E-Corp, which basically uses the old Enron logo and is a metaphorical stand-in for any of the huge companies that basically run everything. Elliot has numerous mental issues such as social anxiety disorder and clinical depression and breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience. The show has a lot of twists and turns that play out over the course of the ten episodes. By the end of the season a lot is revealed and a lot is still unanswered, and you find out there is a lot more to the storyline than what you necessarily think there will be at the beginning of the season. For those who get the blu-ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. There are not a ton of special effects, but the cinematography is very well done, and the show goes from looking dark and gritty to sleek and polished, depending on where particular scenes are being shot. The extras include a few deleted scenes and a short gag reel. The most extensive extra is on the second disc, a twelve-minute making-of featurette that includes interviews with the cast members and showrunner Sam Esmail. Overall, the season is very good. Malek is great as the series lead, and it has a strong supporting cast including Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallström, Stephanie Corneliussen, Michael Cristofer, and Christian Slater. I cannot say much about the roles of any of the other cast members because to do so would give too much away. While the show does take some creative liberties, it does try to be realistic with the computer coding and the portrayal of hacking. It is really a show that you will know very quickly if you like or hate it. It definitely uses a serial storytelling format in which the episodes build on each other and more of the story is revealed as throughout the season. It does have some swearing, sexual content, drug use, and violence in it, so it is definitely not a family-friendly show. It is set in the real world as it uses video clips from actual events and utilized deep fake technology to have real-world leaders comment on the events in the show. I definitely put it in one of my best series of the 2010s along with series like Breaking Bad and The Americans. If you have not seen the show and are looking for a good dramatic series, this is definitely worth watching.

What a surprisingly delightful movie! Never thought I would enjoy yet another neo-dystopian anthem to today's occupy movement complete with masks and the requisite over-wrought slams against the all-pervasive government/corporate/monolith grinding the individual down to servitude, even SLAVERY!! while elevating a tiny class of wealthy, omnipotent and of course amoral managers (read the 1% and the Bilderberg Group) who are far too clever not to rule us. But I truly did. Our interest is peaked by a steady dose of "this-is-the-brilliant-Hacker-world" then sustained by a unrelenting barrage of well tuned acting, a taut script, good camera work, a wonderful techno soundtrack and more plot twists and flips than steel track roller coaster. It is an ever tightening, visceral addiction. Yes I am personally alarmed by the intrusive nature of today's Federal Government, no I don't think anarchy and revolution will restore our individual liberties, but so what? Season One is very, very fun and I give it Five Stars for outstanding entertainment!

Mr. Robot Season 1 I have to agree with other people other reviewers that yes this is by far the single best TV show currently on TV. Between the choices for the actors on the show, the twists and turns on each and every episode plus one and while certain scenes making you go did I just hear that line or see what I just saw on screen. It is truly intoxicating, grabs you and never lets you go making you want more and more until like me I watch the last 5 episodes back to back and so forth until I finish the whole season. Plus great job on the bonus material, laugh so hard at the gag reel and the making of Mr. Robot was also great plus have to agree with the creator of the show Sam that yes we as society need to interact more on a personal level, face to face, so forth plus question things about the world we live in. Maybe not get the answer we desire but least use our minds to bring up the questions we seek.

"Mr. Robot" is a multi-layered (and grim) look at life in what has become a global cyber society. It's a society that relies on information - and disinformation - for almost every facet of life and that makes it ripe for hackers who can get inside your (or anyone's, for that matter) computer and wreak havoc. They can steal your money, dig out the darkest secrets of your personal life, and wreck your career all with a few keystrokes. And if one of those hackers is driven by a strong sense of social justice and is also losing his mind? In that case, you can imagine that the world is in for a bumpy ride. What makes "Mr. Robot" a truly interesting television series? The acting - it has a wonderful cast led by Rami Malek - and, most importantly, its relevance. We live, after all, in an age in which corporations mine your data to sell you things you probably don't need; an age when nation states mine the same data in an effort to swing elections, discredit opponents, and boost their own images abroad. It's an age of online dating, online banking, online shopping (that's how I ordered this series) and - well - online everything. The result: It's an age of increased vulnerability. The producers and writers have done an excellent job of creating memorable characters, ranging from the psychologically fragile hacker Elliot and his small band of social justice warriors to the men and women of the gigantic corporation that has its fingers in virtually every facet of human life. They also developed a complex plot that I'm not sure works entirely well as a television series. Elliot is clearly disturbed but as this first season progresses we are asked to believe in his delusions as much as he does and that's difficult for me to do. Is he the leader of the group, for example, or is he a recruit? Did he come up with the whole idea of bringing down the world's largest corporation or is he merely one of the hacktivists trying to do that? Is his dead father really alive, or just a figment of his imagination? My point is that it was hard for me to believe in the narrative at times because I'm not as delusional (at least I hope I'm not) as Elliot. A great cast, an extremely relevant subject, and some strong secondary characters make this a pretty good - if, at times, almost unbearably grim - look at 21st Century life: 4 stars.

Wow. Not many shows can grab a person's attention in one episode. Usually it takes a few episodes to get to know the characters and understand where the plot is going. Not true for Me Robot. I was amazed at how quickly this series pulled me in and made it perfectly clear what to expect. This show is beyond amazing. It's gripping, intelligent, dark and edgy. It has an interesting concept and a true and accurate picture of American society. Truly love this show and happy that I took a chance on it. Great plot, great cast, great performances.

Wow! What a series! This show was packed with so many unexpected twists and turns--and every one made perfect sense--none were simply "tacked-on" for shock value--that I was reeling. An incredible achievement, MR.ROBOT tells the story of hackers who plan to upturn the entire banking industry by erasing all the financial records held by a company called "E.Corp". When they are done, there will be no records for most of America's citizens of who owes credit or how much they may owe to any bank or financial institution. The series shows the nuts & bolts reality of hacking--a far more creative and difficult a process than usually portrayed on movies & TV--and illustrates many of the dangers associated with the cyber world so accurately that it has predicted many types of cyber attacks before they took place in the real world. A truly fascinating show.

Good

Season 1 was AWESOME! I highly recommend it. However, after watching the season 2 premiere last night, it's an absolutely train wreck and not worth anything at all! Do yourself a favor and find something else to do with your time than trying to watch season 2. It turned from absolute awesomeness in season 1 to absolute disgusting, abhorent, rediculously confusing pile of crap in season 2. I've deleted it from my DVR schedule. I won't be bothered with my time to watch this s***! Hey USA network, thanks a lot for getting my hopes up. Eshmail should be fired ASAP!

Loved the concepts covered in this Season of Mr Robot. I came here, because of seeing Rami Malik interviewed on the Feed. mark Ferrell mentioned Mr Robot, so I got curious. And WOW, did this show sate my curiosity. I’ll admit, I didn’t understand a lot of the tech...but there ate enough breadcrumbs being tossed to those of us Non-Nerds to get what was going on. And Elliot’s struggle with his mind is well worth the trip. He deserved his Emmy for this performance! Just about to order Season 2....

Well, it is with some difficulty that I'm going to write this review as, having just finished watching this 1st 'Season' of this relatively recent TV drama, I'm still reeling from the effect but spurred-on by the overwhelming and positive experience it was. I can't remember exactly what attracted me to the 2015 first season of 'Mr Robot', but some reviews seemed positive enough and the seemingly novel subject-matter of the storyline interested me enough to give it a try; with so little on terrestrial TV enticing me, and having ditched satellite TV, I can be more selective/buy 2nd-hand discs more readily to 'fill the void' ! On release, 'Mr Robot' received critical acclaim and was nominated for/won multiple awards. I'm a bit behind, as Season 2 has already aired and as it has recently been renewed for a 3rd season I've some catching-up to do ! Despite not feeling able to properly outline the plot of this TV drama myself, I still feel able to state that the synopsis on the Amazon product webpage is essentially valid but a little inaccurate, potentially misleading and contains elements of 'spoilers'. So, here's the 'official' synopsis from the back of the DVD box which I think is more pertinent : "Cyber-security engineer by day and vigilante hacker by night, Elliot (Rami Malek, 'The Pacific') finds himself at a crossroads when the mysterious leader (Christian Slater) of an underground hacker group recruits him to destroy the firm he is paid to protect. Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs he believes are running (and ruining) the world." You should also note that things occur largely in New York and it's surroundings and the '15' viewing certificate for 'strong violence, sex, sex references, drug use, strong language' - this is from the back of the DVD box, whereas (oddly !) the BBFC website has different details ! On DVD everything looks and sounds as good as you would expect of a modern release, but even more pleasing is that it is all so good in 'just' standard definition. It's also worth adding that there is a dominant, noteworthy and often powerful musical soundtrack which makes the most of the DD5.1 audio; for me, it's a bit of a 'throwback' to the musical style of 'Tangerine Dream' and the like - but that's no bad thing IMHO !!! So, I cannot see why an 'upgrade' to Blu-ray would be worth it per se - BUT do note that the HD offering does include a UV copy.... Very soon after starting to watch the first episode I realised that this show was unusual and, thankfully had plot themes of a highly original nature - the overall feel is VERY dark and humourless, but for me the most significant elements are the central acting performances, 'cerebral' plot themes and that the intense screenplay doesn't 'spoonfeed' help with the story. This is despite the fact that one can get the impression that explanation IS provided, as the lead character of Elliot (played supremely well by Rami Malek, who proved himself capable of playing 'odd' in 'The Pacific' !) often narrates his thoughts to us. HOWEVER, the programme is not filmed from his viewpoint so that usually occurs only when he appears - the rest of the time things play out as 'normal', with us witnessing events and only learning from what is portrayed/broadcast. An additional factor which serves to confuse are the frequent periods of 'flashback', rarely flagged as such so you have to spot the clues to realise the scene is from the 'past'. I like to be challenged by films/shows so, ultimately, the intensity and complicated nature of the screenplay/plot and 'action' in 'Mr Robot' is right up my street; whilst the content is (largely) dissimilar to the supreme viewing experience I had with the excellent 'True Detective' (Season 1 ONLY !), the result after watching is equally as good. Having said that, due to those complexities (AND likely personal shortcomings !) I do feel that this show challenged me more and I was regularly struck with a feeling that I had either misunderstood something or missed something significant entirely, as though when reading a book you turn 2 pages instead of 1 and continue reading in ignorance OR the book has been compiled incorrectly with some of the pages mixed-up a little ! Irrespective of the reason, just as soon as I felt I was ever getting to grips with all the story specifics a twist or new revelation would muck things up, usually creating a new direction for my thoughts about things - or at the very least scotching an appreciable portion of what I THOUGHT I'd sorted out ! The action is obviously related heavily to IT, hacking and technical equipment in general BUT a knowledge of the intricacies is not required as whilst they might be the origin of most plot developments, it is the intention or result of the action that is the pertinent aspect and what also covers most of the dialogue concerning plans, present activity and any 'aftermath'. Three additional elements of the story are just, if not more, significant : the persona of the characters, their relationships and how they interact. Firstly, there are quite a few 'odd' personalities (including mental illness issues) and/or personality traits on show here, which drive most things but also make things something of a challenge to comprehend, but most importantly 'deal with'. Make no mistake, as captivating as this show is those 'darkness' and humourless aspects I mentioned before are bolstered significantly by most characters being really quite unlikeable; the worst aspects of human behaviour are regularly on show with cruel, ruthless, violent, cold traits from people often devoid of compassion or an appreciation for others. Most of the time it is clear who the 'baddies' are, but it is also quite possible that you will see unacceptable behaviour or attitudes from characters initially deemed as a 'goodie' - sometimes it's a matter of perception related to our own personal 'boundaries', other times it is incontestably bad. As I mentioned before, there are twists but there are also a LOT of shocks, as you (for example) don't see an event 'coming' or think what you suspect might happen 'surely couldn't possibly happen' - BUT it does ! This means the show is also not without an element of sadness..... [If you've seen the TV show 'Fargo', based on the Coen brothers film, then it might prepare you for those aspects - 'phasers' are also present here, similarly set to either 'stunning' or 'weird'...!] The screenplay is the foundation for all of this, but clearly the quality of the acting performances are crucial. Rami Malek, the lead, once again plays a dysfunctional/disturbed character to great effect but the '2nd tier' of performances are just as accomplished - it is notable that the gender spread amongst them is about 50/50, but with males leaning towards the 'badness' end of the spectrum and females usually, but not always, the other way.... Martin Wallström deserves a special mention for portraying a character so flawed and despicable. The production-values are very good and noteworthy for relying a lot on clearly 'real' locations and surroundings; the technical aspects of the plot don't need much in the way of CGI or equipment 'wizardry', just usually computer/tablet/phone screen graphics - so everything is well-founded in the real world. Finally, the long periods of discussion, reflection or pulsating action (which isn't 'just' people tapping on computer keyboards) is embellished with that dominant musical soundtrack of, IMHO, an '80s style - it works to great effect. I've attached a photo of the case back with all the disc info as Amazon omits it. You will be able to see from that photo that there are disc extras, but they actually quite 'skimpy' - no commentaries, just deleted scenes and a final disc 'making of'/retrospective featurette. Irrespective of how one might view the final moments of Season 1, as Season 2 has already aired and Season 3 is on the menu there is clearly more mileage to the 'Mr Robot' story. I for one am hooked and, just like the impressive and recently-watched (and reviewed) first season of the TV series 'Billions', I have computer keyboard prepared to snap them up on DVD when I feel that the time is right !

Esta serie fue la sorpresa. La vi y prácticamente me tuvo enganchado de un tirón hasta que terminó. Rami Malek está espectacular, la serie tiene unos momentos memorables y puedes verla sin problemas y sin pensar en segundas o terceras temporadas.

A mio parere si tratta della miglior serie TV mai realizzata. Soggetto geniale che rimanda vagamente a fight club. Rami Malek sembra nato per questo ruolo, il disagio del personaggio di Elliot è ben reso non solo dall'interpretazione ma anche dal tono di voce, che consiglio vivamente di apprezzare in lingua inglese. Christian Slater è sempre una garanzia, credibilissimo nel ruolo dell'anarchico sovversivo. Da ultimo la colonna sonora...pezzi azzeccatissimi e mai banali. Il cofanetto è arrivato in un paio di giorni, ben imballato ed in perfette condizioni. L'unico rischio in cui potete incappare è quello di non staccarvi più dal televisore! 😄

Un véritable chef-d'oeuvre, aussi bien scénaristique, visuel que sonore. L'ambiance pesante, et cette ambivalente descente aux enfers / montée en tension se diffuse tout au long des 10 épisodes avec un final époustouflant, qui ne donne envie que d'une chose, enchaîner sans attendre sur la deuxième saison ! (ce que j'ai fait, personnellement) Rami Malek est absolument incroyable dans ce rôle tortueux, sa présence et son jeu d'acteur crèvent littéralement l'écran. L'empathie que créé son personnage envers le téléspectateur est incroyablement puissante. Mention spéciale également à Christian Slater, son rôle lui colle parfaitement à la peau. Même si je ne suis qu'une âme parmi tant d'autres qui ne donne que son avis personnel, jamais aucune série ne m'avait autant scotché que Mr. Robot et je ne peux que la recommander. Il est vrai que le thème choisi peut rebuter, notamment les moins accros à la technologie, mais cette série ne se résume absolument pas à un piratage informatique et mérite vraiment toute notre attention. Et contrairement à ce qu'on peut croire, la lenteur de certains passages est un plus indéniable pour cette montée en tension, quasiment palpable, qui s'imprègne au plus profond de nos tripes ! Jusqu'à la délivrance du dernier épisode... La société dépeinte dans cette série, ultra connectée...donc très fragile et facilement manipulable, très proche de la réalité est à glacer le sang...1984 n'est pas loin. Big Brother is watching you ! ps : série récente oblige, le rendu sur blu ray est absolument magnifique. Aucune hésitation à avoir !