Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It is a performances centric movie

Excellent but underrated film

This is the same, formulaic, paranoid, dystopian crap that's done over and over, but with a different McGuffin. Cumberbatch, is as always, excellent, but can't save the general unoriginality of this thing. Really sorry I rented the first DVD, will not rent any more of it.

This has got to be the most aggravating television series I've ever seen/watched. I don't know which is more appropriate as I seem to have watched it despite myself. You can't not watch it, you're bound to be curious as to what happens next, but it's a painful viewing. Yes, as in not very well made. Which is heartbreaking as there's clearly something there. The topic is fascinating, the plot potentially thrilling, the characters and the acting somehow more human and believable than it would be were it an American production. Benedict Cumberbatch inhabits this enigmatic geeky OCD character with a Jimmy Stewart-like everyman hero-ness about him while never oversimplifying him. Anamaria Marinca paints a sincere and passionate character in Yasim. Now, these two actors and these two characters and their story makes sense to me. The rest of the characters weren't as clear or good, which no amount of good acting could (or indeed did) save. The plot itself wasn't that hard to follow, but comprehending the motivation of the characters or being convinced by it was a bit of a stretch. Something somewhere in the making of this series went wrong. Strange thing is it's pretty hard to put one's finger on it. Was it the writing? But then what made me want to keep on watching? Was it the directing, the photography, the editing? I think the director should take some blame - all the bits didn't seem to tie in. The camera movement did at one point actually bother me - when the camera tilted diagonally to fit the heads of actors squarely into the shot (very bizarre). And the story could indeed have been helped along in editing. Watching it in 2012 I was never going to be harsh on how realistic it is or isn't. It's more of an exercise of thought, what could happen and perhaps make you question the things you willingly do in this day and age already, what this could mean. The ending was both frustrating and not frustrating. What happens to Michael and what Russell ends up being (by the way, what WAS he?) would be the frustrating bit. And the situation Stephen ends up in is mentally and emotionally deliciously excruciating.

It isn't difficult to be paranoid about the intrusiveness of the computers, cameras and new ways of identification. The possibilities of misuse and control are immense. Ergo, comes this more than slightly disheveled and confusing TV mini series. It bombards us with gadgets and technical lingo, and unfortunately most of the time forgets about people and their motifs, what makes them tick and bleed. In this world in near future there is no way of escaping, our all existence is monitored and recorded, under the guise of anti-terrorism and state security.I do not disagree with the concerns of this TV show, for me the problem with it is that it does not manage to fully connect us or make us care for the protagonists. In the end it is like a cold video game for lonely souls not unlike most of the characters of this moderately successful endeavor.

Could have been good, but poorly done. Plot too hard to follow to keep anyone interested. Computer story utterly unreasonable. It had possibilities, as government surveillance, big brother, and 1984 are all too possible these days, in the name of "war on terror". But this show fails to deliverInsane scene where super secret high tech computer is tapped and guy had to bang on router network. Not once, but repeatedly over many minutes. Unwilling to suspend disbelief over that and many others.Amazing lack of production values, looks like the whole budget was for a half dozen large LCD computer monitors.