vikennimtick
* EDIT: I urgently have GOT to add severe corrections to the following text, but reading thru it, you'll see I do by myself uncover the lies of this movie, when I write that Mitnick "just accessed some data":I read thru the other comments. Many people realize that this movie is a clear exploitation of our completely innocent hero Mitnick by authors who wrote a book without knowing him or his story at all, or if they did, they simply lie to us all. This movie is propaganda that doesn't admit that it is such, but then, propaganda always cloaks itself. Only at the end of the movie some thoughts about "regret". Not enough by far. I can only join most good folks round here in saying to you: Distrust this movie, watch it, but then watch the truth, namely "Freedom Downtime". I thank all the ones who spread the truth here. Thanks for not letting us all fall back into the third Reich! Go see the movie "The Serpent's Egg", also, as a warning from the danger of fascism. EDITEND *Somewhere, at two thirds of the film, I realized the critical view, the critical stand the direction takes, also against the government.Right before the end, after he visits Mitnick, our Nakamura or so starts to seriously regret what he did.The world is now at an abyss. We will fall into it if we let that fascist and covert exaggeration of the by itself good concept of thought and idea property rule on undeveloped.Info DOES NOT flow freely thru the world. This is NOT right and leads to a state that we already reached where only rich people can obtain knowledge and education.The whole patent system and concept is highly corrupt and willful.Although it protects the ideas and works of serious and sincere, REALLY honorable people, it turns this concept of protection upside down and restricts access to culture to people who pay for it any given price.And prices are too high. WAY too high. A single DVD, 20 Euro, that's some 20 dollars? Too high.This movie has GOT me at the end. I am happy that out there, there are some ethical, good directors of movies. There ain't a lot of em.There are many different "hackers". Most of em are good. Only really few have clearly destructive intentions, and THOSE are the ones spamming the net with all those cute viruses.Peter Sellers did a movie against the movie industry, the name's "The Party". If Sellers would have known his OWN movie would become a central aspect of the illegality of obtaining it without paying, he would TURN in his grave.I agree we should pay the CREW of the movie, all the people that worked in it, and also the folks who gave the money to realize it SOME substitute and reward for their brilliant work.But twenty dollars for a DVD? Even 10 Dollars? Too much. Too much!It's like the taxes in the times of the Sheriff of Nottingham.Too much. Simply too much.But we only stand up when we OURSELVES got nothing' to eat. Before that, we DO NOT stand up against injustice, even fascism.As Mitnick said: He could take huge amounts of money from accounts he's got access to. But he does not do it. So why is that FBI cop so keen on busting' him. Because the in itself corrupt hegemonic system has to protect its interests. Which are: Makin' dough. A LOT of it. I hope by here, you see a glimpse of self-contradiction in our everyday life.What they did to Kevin Mitnick is a shameful injustice. What? He just accessed some data?When he caught that other phone call, I wondered why he doesn't go out and protect that lady. He could maybe find out who was calling. No, not the case. He was just scanning for cellular calls on some frequency, by the aid of the descrambling apparatus attached to his cellular.One could use that for the good. The problem: Big Brother. WHO is controlling those controlling machines?This also leads me to the fact that democracy is not only way too capitalistic - in the last years, there have sprung out economy con men, partially "network marketeers" and others, by the tens of thousands, even more.The governments are not acting strongly enough to catch the guys that REALLY make money by unjustified and cheating means.They go for the ones they CAN catch.Good guys get busted, the real bad ones not.THAT is the message of Hackers 2. I remember that was a part of Hackers 1, too. *EDIT: This last sentence is total BS, sorry I was so stupid to believe in this movie. Also Hackers 1 tries to justify the criminalization of ethical, rebellious and intelligent people by the state authorities. EDITEND*Those movies want to show the audience that hackers are mostly very ethical people who just use their means for their convictions. *EDIT: Also that last statement is untrue. The movie does a good job between not too obviously demonizing hackers and between in fact doing exactly that, for example, when Kevin is shown having trouble getting along with a girlfriend. EDITEND *Which are WAY better than the convictions of some government-related forces. They just follow orders, they don't judge by themselves what they're doing.Good movie hint to continue in your rebellion against the system:"The Falcon and the Snowman". Excellent. About a government computer systems employee that becomes an accomplice to some friend of his who goes to the Russians to try and sell them some information from his friend.
raypdaley182
Ignore the listed title, this is actually Hackers 2, the supposed sequel to the Johnny Lee Miller film. It's actually nothing of the sort. It's not a sequel which is one of the reasons the Hackers 2 eventually slipped from the title and it became known as Takedown.It's a good film from the science & technology aspects. If you enjoyed Hackers or Sneakers you'll most likely find some interest in this.It's more technical and there's a lot of plot to follow.Personally I enjoyed it but it could have stood alone without the link to the original Hackers movie. The cast are mainly unknowns (to me at least) the hacks are very good to watch, and the plot does follow a decent enough logic.Worth it if your into computers.
sourcec
To be honest I watched this film purely for the fact that I am very interested in Hacker Culture/History.. and to my dismay, this film is far from the truth. However it does have its good sides.. it's portrayal of hacking itself and of people with an over-enthusiastic interest in computing for one. Where other hacker-orientated Hollywood movies show flashy tron-like graphics to depict gaining root on a system, Takedown shows you how it is. And the other good thing about this movie is just that... its a movie. If you ignore the fact that the majority of its plot is based on biased views from people who either disliked Kevin, or never even knew him, it's watchable. It contains all the aspects of a Hollywood movie that grab the viewer.. an original topic, a fast moving storyline, a so-called criminal that you really feel sorry for, an unjust American legal system, and a so-called victim who is just as bad as the depicted criminal. If you can easily switch off, this film is for you, but if you care about freedom of information, moral values and the fact that everyone has the right to a fair trial... go watch Freedom Downtime.
dima-12
Joe Chapelle`s TAKEDOWN is avery important film. sadly it was shelved and molested prior to unfair and unlimited release. The importance of this film lies within its` simplicity. Chapelle made a conservative Hollywood film that is just a story about people doing this and that. And there`s nothing nmore about it. There are no power struggles within it, no demographic scanning, no product placement. Just a true story about the demise of America`s notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick. It`s as simple as that. And TAKEDOWN takes us confidently down that route. Chapelle`s film isn`t perfect but it feels like a well-done solid and compelling story that tries to serve the plot and characters first aned never looks for any other kind of gratification. Simply put, TAKEDOWN is just a movie with no other non cinematic ambitions. And that`s a whole lotta quality in age when movies are supposed to be more than a theatrical event, when tie-ins and power shifts swallowed the very essence of filmmaking. Well, TAKEDOWN hits back big time, reminding us how movies are supposed to feel.
