Mad Genius (2017)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Movie was very hollow and pointless. what's worse is all the fake positive reviews.

It's not a perfect film, but the overall theme is thought provoking and the film deserves more credit than what some of the 1-star reviews say... A for effort, and the main guy did play a convincing Mr.Robot ish character

My quick rating - 3,4/10. I have to save people from reading obvious "fake" reviews on IMDB. This movie attempts to try and fool you, and if you don't think for a minute in this movie, you will be fooled. Into being entertained that is. In an attempt to be weird, just for the sake of being weird, the movie is a complete mess. Unfortunately the plot itself doesn't lend a hand to the sub par actors and give them something to work with. Without giving anything away, a guy wants to "hack" (using that term very loosely) the human mind to save the world. In doing so, with the electronics you most likely dropped off last time you recycled electronics, he finds himself and his best friend (oh, big plot point, does he exist?) trying to solve this plan, again, hacking your mind. Now since this movie doesn't rely on any theory, science, computer knowledge, etc. you just have to assume he is doing something. But of course, the bad guy (no plural, budget couldn't afford that) wants to stop him. Then again, is there a bad guy. If you are going to make a movie that relies on wondering these things, please write in some part of it to explain. It isn't that this movie is confusing, it is just so poorly done and trying to rip off by far better versions of the "all in your mind" idea, that this just falls so flat. I am unsure the makers of this movie were even sure which way they were going with this. Do yourself a favor, and don't bother with this one, you'll end up just being "Mad" P.S. If you worked on this movie, good for you, but don't jump on here and write BS reviews praising this as the new coming of Fight Club, etc. It makes you look dumb, and not everyone can see through the nonsense reviews so quickly. I knew it was coming after the first 10/10, but after seeing a few back to back, I figured the crew sat in the same room and passed the laptop around in a circle to get them done.

I loved this film. Small budget or not, it was refreshing to see something so unique. When have we ever seen something set in the seedy underground tech world of downtown LA?!?! I love the look of the film and the ambitious high concept. So great to see Scott Mechlowicz in something again. He's always so brilliant. Faran Tahir has never been more terrifying. I've loved Spencer Locke since "Monster House". And newcomer Chris Mason is a leading man with edge. And those piercing blue eyes!!! Bravo to everyone involved for making a movie so different from everything else out there. I highly recommend this film.