Travelling Salesman

Interesting situation. Stereotypical characters spouting rhetoric. Quite the movie about 45 minutes in. I would suggestion watching something else. The historical references don't seem correct, just repetitive. Hope this helps others find a more interesting movie.

This film is about a four theoretical computer scientists who have just proved the conjecture P=NP in the context of a classified research project funded by NSA, DHS and the like. Such a discovery (which incidentally and just to pacify you is not believed possible) would have an enormous impact on our current digital world, in particular would make cryptography breakable and -therefore- terminally undermine the very foundations of any form of security and privacy on the Internet. The entire spectrum of consequences is hard to predict and, surely, in "capable" hands such knowledge would be quite a powerful weapon. This is rendered well in the film, as is the ensuing conscience struggle for the scientist: to comply with the government's demand of absolute silence, or make the result public at the risk of being branded as traitors?

When (s)he says that this film attempts to present a certain "travelling salesman problem" as if everything else depended on it, I suggest user "qqwe qweetr" does not understand what (s)he is talking about. Indeed the situation depicted by the film is plausible, even possible (though extremely unlikely), the screenplay and the dialogues are competent, and the whole package is intriguing if you understand the context. Given that, the film is not a particular good piece of cinema, sounds a lot like a theatrical piece, and surely most details (and therefore of the plot) will go over the head of the typical viewer. However, for a film made with $10,000 this is quite an achievement. Chapeau!

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

I believe it is a travesty that this film has such a low score on here. The only thing I can attribute it to is that today's viewers have an attention span of a raccoon trapped in a treasure chest. I suppose the fact that I am a very big fan of this type of film--and what I mean by that is chock full intelligent dialog--may also have something to do with that. There are two other films that have always been in my top 10 favorite films list because of this attribute and they are 12 Angry Men, and The Man From Earth (not to be confused with the man who fell to earth.) Basically a few people trapped in a room for most of the movie discussing a monumental mathematical proof that has huge implications for just about everything and everyone on the planet, and the moral responsibility they have as they are in cahoots with the government through funding. If you have an attention span, love existential and philosophical discussions, or just enjoy movies that make you think then you will love this film as I did. Please help this film get the rating it deserves.

15 August 2016. This movie isn't so much about science fiction as it is about the geopolitical implications of a potential breakthrough in mathematics that may have world wide national security implications. The audience is dropped into a conference room with very little introduction and there begins an increasingly hostile discussion regarding national secrets among supposedly some of the brightest mathematicians in the United States and a representative of the government. What transpires is mostly a lot of philosophical and moral dialogue, debate interspersed with a few surrealistic scenes that leave the audience wondering what's going on here.

For the most part, the talking heads discussion is an apt description because most of the discussion appears to mimic to some extent what may have occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis during President Kennedy's administration except with the threat much less imminent. It's hard to get emotional involved in the movie especially with nearly an all male cast, devoid mostly of heart felt emotion and literally mostly focused on rational logic.

The culmination of this movie is perhaps the only real emotional appealing scene, but even so it fails to really capture the angst that so many thrillers have achieved in the past such as Fail Safe (1964), The Good Shepard (2006), Bridge of Spies (2015), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Breach (2007), Transcendence (2014), and The Machine (2013).