Simply A Masterpiece

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The first 3/4 of this low-budget film may appeal to mathematics and computer science nerds, but to an outsider, it is mainly a bunch of mathematicians standing/sitting around talking their specialized vernacular about some important mathematical breakthrough that could have astounding impact on humanity. As storytelling techniques go, this one was weak in my opinion: it didn't seem very well written and directed. I'm not just saying that just because there was no action at all—just dialogue. I'm saying there were a number of weaknesses: there was no hook to make me want to watch the whole thing (I had to force myself to stay with it), and there was no significant character arc to it. In fact I wasn't really sure who the protagonist was and who the antagonist was. I have to presume they were respectively all the mathematicians on the team versus the government. The actors were good and did their best to not let the film completely implode from countless blasé pages of script.I gather these persons recruited to work on the project must have felt somewhat akin to what the Manhattan Project team felt: excited, optimistic and patriotic about their objectives at first, but later pondering what hell they might very well be unleashing on the world. Toward the end of the film, it starts to get a little interesting and tense—a little! The implications and the risks of success become a little more apparent. But I had to force myself to wade through about an hour of boring static scenes filled with meaningless (to myself, as a non-mathematician) and seemingly endless lingo. Not really very interesting or compelling overall. I forced myself to watch the whole thing, hoping there would be an astonishing climax. It's not one of those "I want eighty minutes of my life back" films, but none-the-less, I cannot recommend it to friends as a good movie to watch.

if anyone is into computer science or mathematics AND into conspiracies AND into good philosophical movies, watch Travelling Salesman Movie, great movie. i know that's a lot of different stuff put together, but it's a great movie, and worth an hour and a half of pondering the implications of mathematics and its role in the world today, as well as the ethical and spiritual implications behind mathematics and working for the government.aside from more character development (not that the portrayals or writing for them was bad), there wasn't anything about this movie i didn't love. i have a degree in history and religious studies, and this movie definitely sheds a little light into things like the first atomic bombs, chemical weapons, cyber-warfare, and other similar activities where civilians may be called upon to lend their expertise to the government. and besides that, there's just some great tension and one liners throughout.you won't be disappointed. :)

As a graduate student in the field of theoretical computer science, I feel that I understand P vs NP as well as the makers of this film could hope for any viewer to understand them. I felt the treatment was more technically accurate than almost any movie I have seen about a mathematical topic, but it still fell short on a few key moments.Warning, the following contains spoilers.First, I was confused when they mentioned PSPACE in a few parts of the film. It made it sound like not only had they proved P = NP, but the main character had proved P = PSPACE, and was using this as his back door algorithm. I don't think this was the intent of the movie, but in any case it was a bit confusing. A second scene puts the main character in his office with a student and his colleague, and he mentions that he has an algorithm that goes on proving theorems and proving more theorems. It is a well known consequence of P = NP that finding mathematical proofs become trivial, for there is an obvious algorithm to check a purported proof in polynomial time. The world's most renowned mathematicians would have known this as well, and it doesn't make sense that it would occur as some kind of "revelation" to the main character and remain a secret he could use as leverage.Finally, I felt that some of the phrases used to describe general things (like the field of research, which is theoretical computer science or TCS) made the dialog a bit awkward. That being said, the movie had absolutely palpable dramatic tension. The lines were witty and sharp, the acting was very believable (and the characters actually had distinct personalities). Their power struggles were very exciting to watch. The color was also very well balanced. None of the Hollywood teal and orange crap that has become so standard and ugly.In all, I enjoyed the movie and the fact that it gave serious consideration to the most important problem in my field (and treated it fairly). My main criticism is that the plot should have more direct clarity. It's nice to leave a lot up to implication. But mathematicians are rarely indirect, and the best lines of the movie were the pointed, thought provoking comment.

and beyond. The release date as such (few days have passed since it's available for buying at the movie's website) is spot on.The movie puts the most emphasis on the philosophy and the moral dilemma of the main characters. Science plays the basic but secondary role as authors can't afford to go deeper into it as science hasn't solved the problem that is solved in this movie and I feel that is the right choice.In short, a team of four mathematicians has, based on their proof that P=NP, created a machine which can, among many things also break all most commonly used encryption and give the owner huge power in the networked world (overseeing all confidential communication on the internet, bank transaction, breaking into computer systems etc.). As the project was funded by US Govt., they lay right on all results and want to keep those findings classified. Of course, all of the mathematicians understand the short-term ramifications of their finding as well as the dangers of immoral use. They are confronted with a moral dilemma of delivery of the final solution and signing a non-disclosure agreement on all results or opposing the powerful adversary. How would you decide to act in a given situation? The movie is fairly slow into the first 10mins, but the momentum builds up from there on. Acting is very good from all main actors. The only somewhat unconvincing character is the (not so ordinary, mysterious) security officer. The script is troublesome somewhere as some things are left out(context, or sense sometimes as some stuff sound ridiculous) probably on purpose to leave the feeling of something that we couldn't understand as they're talking practically about a proof that has been only constructed imaginary in this movie and whatever they'd reveal about it, it would sound ridiculous as it would not be correct so why not simplify it and just create short fuzzy dialogue in order to keep the movie as tractable and engaging as possible.Overall: 8/10