***WARNING SPOILER ALERT***
Whilst I have really enjoyed both seasons of Mr Robot (Amazon Original TV series) I can only give it three stars. There are two reasons for this the first being that at the end of season one we discover the real identity of Mr Robot’s character effectively the plot/concept has been completely ripped from the film Fight Club. Edward Norton’s character in Fight club was unable to sleep and his conscious effectively created a separate alter ego, this alter ego then set up the circumstances to blow up several buildings owned by credit card companies thereby erasing all records of credit card debt. This film worked on so many levels and was beautifully directed.
Mr Robot has stolen the whole concept except in this version it was brought up to date and used a hack to encrypt Evil Corp’s database which creates a major financial crisis because nobody can access their money.
The second reason is that whilst the acting is superb throughout I have to ask is there some sort of competition between the actors to have a more startled open eyed expression than anyone else on the cast. Rami Malek’s character I can understand he seems to be in a perpetual state of shock, however I see no reason for Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday and Sunita Mani to join in with this startled moose look. Christian Slater appears to be the only one that is allowed a full range of expressions upon his face.
I do however love the writing and the direction it twists and turns perfectly all the way through, extremely well paced. At no point was a I bored although Tyrell's character lacked a certain depth that made me question whether he would really thrown in with Elliot's character or not.
Incidentally in Fight Club there is a scene when Norton’s character is held by cops who are part of the revolution, they explain that they were told by Norton’s character to stop anyone from interfering with the plan even if it was Norton’s character doing the interfering. In the last episode in season two of Mr Robot, Elliot is shot by Tyrell for exactly the same reasons.
I suppose you could say that about any story which has a character with a split personality but still it is a complete rip off!
The irony is I like Mr Robot more than Fight Club.
