One of the most talked-about new shows of 2015, Mr Robot has arrived exclusively in New Zealand on Lightbox today. Critics have called the paranoid cyber-thriller series “a modern classic” (Forbes) and “a welcome spark of inspiration” (Variety), the topical themes of which “understand the internet to the last chilling detail” (Salon).

The series follows Elliot (played by Rami Malek of The Master and Short Term 12) a vigilante programmer who is a cybersecurity engineer by day and a computer hacker by night. Recruited by an underground group of hackers to take down the very company he works for, Elliot struggles to resist the opportunity to destroy the multinational organisations that are running (and ruining) the world.

Our own US correspondent Catherine McGregor became hooked on the show after it was added to her summer programming lineup:

“During these dog days of summer the schedules are bleak indeed, with networks holding back most of their treasures in the hope of making a splash come autumn. Into that void, seemingly tailor made for pasty computer geeks avoiding the sun, stepped Mr Robot, a complex cyber-thriller featuring a nervy, charismatic performance by Rami Malek as socially awkward hacker Elliot.

Packed with anti-capitalist sentiment and “What is reality, anyway?” philosophising, Mr Robot owes an obvious debt to Fight Club and The Matrix, and you’ll have a blast checking off all the other film references, from V for Vendetta to A Clockwork Orange. But Mr Robot is unique: a claustrophobic, superbly directed oddity that has remained unpredictable until the very end.”

Watch the trailer below:

Click here to watch all 10 episodes of Mr Robot, available exclusively now on Lightbox

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