Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 7, 2016

Mr. Robot looks deeply into the way technology has merged with, amplified for the better, and darkened for the worse, modern society. It's also an intense and detailed human drama. Series Creator Sam Esmail's show is dark and disturbing as it deals in the way humanity has evolved, superficially, but remained much the same, at the core level, in the modern age. Power and ambition remain center in the technological world, but even as more information permeates every facet of human life, it seems that the saturation has only allowed those who control it to trample on the people with more efficiency than ever before. The show follows a group of hackers operating in the dark, on the outside; the evil empire-ish corporation that wants to play puppet master with the world; and the middle men working what they believe to be the good fight in protecting the darkness. Intermixed with all three is Elliot, a young man who finds himself a key player in the world's social and digital fate.

Elliot.

Elliot (Rami Malek) is an asocial tech genius who suffers from physical depression and emotional disconnect. He works at the cyber security firm Allsafe, a company that earns 80% of its business digitally safeguarding E-Corp, a tentacled business that has put its mark on everything from food to technology. Elliot calls it "Evil Corp," speaking ill of the people who run it and the business practices that stomp on the little guys. But he's an equal opportunity hater. He hacks people's personal lives by night and, when he uncovers wrongdoings, he takes it upon himself to expose their sins. He's approached by the enigmatic Mr. Robot (Christian Slater), a man who heads up an underground hacking outfit known as "fsociety," to join in a planned attack on Evil Corp that will reset global debt and free the world of its virtual shackles. Meanwhile, at E-Corp, scandal has brought down the company's Chief Technical Officer (Bruce Altman), and the megalomaniacal Tyrell Wellick (Martin Wallström) will stop at nothing to ensure that he's slotted in as the replacement.

Mr. Robot sets itself apart not so much with what it says but how it says it. The show proves immensely thoughtful in character details, story arcs, and its careful representation of the world. There's an endless seriousness to the show. It tackles the issues of modern society -- issues that are plain as day to those with eyes open and easily masked by the surrounding noise to the people who choose to get lost in the evolving Matrix -- without needless humor or overwrought drama. The show is sharp as a knife and unapologetically so. It's rhythmically dark and steady. It feels very real, tangible, and tactile. It's raw but enjoys a polished roughness about it, a sophisticated grit to its cadence and story. It's legitimately edgy but also enjoyably cool. It's superbly acted, intelligently written, and expertly directed. Mr. Robot has it all.

At its center, the show takes on a very conspiratorial tone. It speaks against the phony façade of modern life, the all- encompassing digital footprint of social media, and the vacuous existences that emerge from them, essentially the "sheeple" lifestyle that's arisen in a world that's meant to look easy, open, and friendly but is but just another step towards the willing total enslavement of an oblivious populace that cannot see the digital, and ultimately, real-world vulnerabilities that will rise from a dependence on, and lifestyle centered around, a digital illusion. The show is at its most fundamentally insightful and best when dealing in these issues, a little less so when it gets its hands dirty with some of the seedier inner workings at E-Corp, which is essentially, and again for the conspiracy-minded out there, some awful amalgamation of Enron, Apple, Google, and Monsanto.

Then there's Elliot, the show's balancing act. Mr. Robot is largely the story of how the world has affected him, shaped his life and direction, and how he's combating it as a "vigilante hacker." More interesting than his hacking, however -- which offers him a treasure trove of information on others, making him an interesting figure who is completely absent any real social skills but who knows what drives people better than they do -- his how he internalizes the world in which he lives and deals with it in his everyday actions, particularly as he closes himself off, literally, by hiding himself under a hoodie. He's forced to exist in a world where neither reality nor the digital façade suit him, largely because they've become one and the same and both lead to a nefarious place he knows all too well. He's the modern, real-life embodiment of Neo, the man who is awake in the simulation, the man whose eyes are metaphorically open to the literal darkness that surrounds him. But he's no superhero. His social ineptness allows him to root out all of the noise and get to the point, to find the truth, to look beyond the supposed glamor of modern life and expose the endlessly sinister world underneath. That is, of course, if he can find a balance and path in his own very confused life, a confusion that runs deeper than the drugs he consumes can heal and stems from a past he cannot outrun.

Mr. Robot's cast is fantastic. Rami Malek shines as the unassuming lead character who is both brilliant but obtuse, fluent but awkward, and holder of other physical, emotional, and psychological traits that the show exposes in its later episodes. His ability to precisely convey a veritable whirlwind of a character defined by a mountain of uncertainty piled around his unique skill at the keyboard is an acting feat few could accomplish, and even fewer with the organic polish Malek brings to the role. Christian Slater is superb as the title character, and the performance takes on a new level of subtlety and finesse when secrets are revealed later in the season. Portia Doubleday and Martin Wallström are excellent as well. The series further enjoys terrific production design and direction that takes full advantage.

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season shines on Blu-ray. The 1080p transfer presents with excellent full-frame clarity, allowing the viewer to soak in all kinds of varied backgrounds -- the messy treasure trove that is the arcade, the almost glossy white Allsafe interiors, the upscale E-Corp offices and employee homes, Elliot's run-down apartment, and various city street areas. Textures are refined and intricate, whether frayed clothing or high dollar suits. Facial details are revealing, down to the finest lines, pores, stubble, and heavily applied makeups. Colors, like the details, are varied and true by location, and the show uses contrasts to reinforce ideas. Black levels and flesh tones aren't problematic. Mild background banding and noise are present but never much of a serious issue. This is a quality all-around transfer from Universal.

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season features a robust and well defined DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The series' music dominates most episodes. There's a sort of industrial-meets-80s synth style to it. It's potent and prominently spaced, yielding immersive surround definition and hugely aggressive, but balanced, bass. Various environments spring to life with a myriad of little sound details: city streets, Allsafe office din, background sounds at the arcade, coffee shops, restaurants, and other locations come alive in every scene. A few discrete effects are prominent. Heavy door knocks near the start episode four, for example, are well placed and naturally presented. Dialogue delivery is satisfyingly clear and well prioritized, with an exception of mild shallowness when Elliot and Mr. Robot speak on a Ferris Wheel in episode one. Also of note is that the "S" word is silenced around the 30-minute mark of episode two, odd considering the same word is repeated throughout the show, never mind several uses of the "F" word as well.

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season contains deleted scenes on both discs and a gag reel and a featurette on disc two. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

Disc One:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): EPS1.1_ONES-AND-ZEROES.MPEG (0:21) and EPS1.3_DA3MONS.MP4 (1:52).

Disc Two:

• Deleted Scenes (1080p): EPS1.6_V1EW-SOURCE.FLV (10:42) and EPS1.8_M1RROR1NG.QT (0:30).
• Gag Reel (1080p, 5:16).
• M4K1NG_OF_MR._ROBOT.MOV (1080p, 12:13): A look at the core plot details, Creator Sam Esmail's work on the show and presence on the set, Esmail's writing and background in the material, ensuring technological realism in the show, production design, the Mr. Robot character, and the feelings and ideas the show hopes to elicit and raise, respectively, in its audience.

Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mr. Robot is the best, and smartest, new show on television. It's thought provoking, honest, and believable. It intermixes raw humanity with cold technology remarkably well. It's smartly written, wonderfully constructed, and a pleasure to watch. Performances are terrific and the story is consistently engaging. Mr. Robot: The Complete First Season's Blu-ray release yields high end video and audio. Supplements are skimpy, about the only drawback to an otherwise superb, must-own release. Very highly recommended.