Dark Web - Kontrolle ist eine Illusion

While the acting and dialogue was solid, this rather cliché and moralistic tale may leave some people with a sour taste in their mouth.

It may leave an even worse after-taste when the (totally private) "Federal Reserve" banking system, becomes its own bubble and then bursts, which is something that appears to have been building in the wake of the mortgage-bubble lead financial meltdown. If indeed these predictions are correct, and a worldwide economic collapse of far greater magnitude ensues, the US citizens will probably be told that it was all due to "Russia", "China", and "Hackers operating out of Russia and China...who may be on their respective government's payroll".

I listen to people who actually know what they're talking about and not talking heads with vested interests, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to smell the faint aroma of economic propaganda (or a "contingency story" for mass consumption), which may become stronger in the years to come if these economic predictions are correct.

Just some food for thought.

However, I digress. On with the review!

Why should I give this film a better-than-average rating when the plot was weak and the main protagonist knew less about protecting their online anonymity than I do? Well, to answer that question I should say that "social engineering" is also considered a valid form of hacking. People are always the weakest point in any system, hence they are the easiest way to bypass security without having to force your way through from behind a computer.

Even with the most sophisticated of proxies and other counter-measures, there is no way to ensure something won't be traced back to you online, just as there is no assurances of remaining unrecognized IRL on a camera, even with a disguise; The latter just happens to be far more efficient, and can often be achieved by using real-life proxies to do your data-collection.

The more real life proxies that are distributing the original data in a non-pyramid/linear, distributed fashion, the less chance of one person being caught as the "ring leader", which is the exact same principle one uses when using an online proxy network. The fact they did funnel information from proxies in bottom up fashion was certainly a major security flaw that would have easily have had them nabbed for credit card fraud under normal circumstances.

If you're into the guts of how people hack from behind a keyboard, then this movie is not for you...but if you want to see a totally different type of hacking at work (predominantly social engineering), you may get something out of this film in spite of its pitfalls.

I like a good hacker movie. This starts brilliantly - but goes nowhere and flounders around like a, er, flounder in a floundering thing.

As others have said, it's not so much about hacking as about scamming. It's full of very poor research and just plain wrong technical stuff. Sigh.

That there's 'something off' is so obvious but the characters don't twig. Uh oh... Dummies! Oh, and the film summary itself gives half the game away.

Apart from that, the plot just did't hang together.

Writer/director - uh oh....

He tries to bring in a character arc where the protagonist learns the errors of his ways but, heck, it's enforced, not realistic given the character and, well, total dumbbells.

Add a terrible, contrived unrealistic and dumb ending and you've got a so-so movie for people who don't know Windows from door frames - no, strike that - for people who are still looking for the Any Key!

Yup, I'll say it again - Writer/director - uh oh....

The movie tried to portray how a life of a typical hacker would be with the usual suspects: a migrant who is rationally sleeping till a turning point in his family's life pops us which is generally related to finance. The usual suspects suddenly decides to awaken his sleeping cyborg and decides to be utilitarian just to end up in an existential circle. Also, it doesn't really reflect the mind of a hacker but rather a mind of someone who wants to get rich and regret later. Most of the hackers fight for a cause and they wouldn't back up. There are scenes in the movie that depict a hacker as being someone who rushes in his decisions and is not proactive about what would happen and does not assess the current situation on the spot in which the movie failed to give a close-to-reality snap on how a hacker react and assess a risk.

After looking for the movie Algorithm, i found another movie called Algorithm 2. i was surprised that there was a second part and set my expectations high. Later i discovered that it wasn't the second part of Algorithm but a separate movie called Hacker.

Although the big message is the same as in Algorithm, Hacker lacks on minor messages. And it lacks hacking. i think the producer has made the main point clear to me: don't mess with professionals unless u r one. u never know when and where u make a mistake and then they r after u. Playing professionals need years of experiences. If u want to run a marathon and compete with Kenyans and u r not trained then maybe u run the first kilometer and r wasted. Trying to play tennis against a pro as an amateur means not winning a single game — the odds r not with an amateur.

There is another message which is similar to the one of Algorithm but stated differently: If u want to change the world then steal enough currency and create a chaos with it because the one who owns the currency makes the rules. Although the real gangsters behind the currency system can't create new currency anymore they still have power because about ninety percent of world's population accept them as gods. They r dying out slowly and we can wait. Or we can act. But if we act then we can't use their tools because they r better on them. we have to use our own tools.

In the movie, one more point was made clear: weak men can be easily defeated by strong women. Once u start hacking something or someone, be very careful! u r being watched whether u know it or not or whether they know your intention or not. There r cameras everywhere. Every ATM has a camera and the characters in the movie didn't even cover their faces! And they were not discovered. Wasn't at least this suspicious?

The main character alex wants to use a tool that carries negative energy within — payback. Payback is continuation of violence in a violence vortex. If u want to stop violence then u don't pay back but stop it. One is only allowed to use violence while protecting themselves. In the movie, it wasn't about defense.

i don't want to spoil the ending so u can find it out on your own whether it will be left open or finite, whether they all die or not, whether they return to canonical world or go on with creating a better world.

Overall this movie is enjoyable. It is exciting and doesn't assume as much understanding of computer science than Algorithm. The story is linear and easy to follow. Characters r played well. Would i recommend it? As entertainment — yes, as a computer movie — no.

It was entertaining enough that I didn't turn it off, but barely. If you know anything about hacking or computers in general then you will laugh your butt off at these actors who just spit out hacker terms without knowing what they mean (and it's obvious). They should have just went the route of having these actors be "script kiddies" and use that as the platform. Maybe change the title to Script Kiddies as well. At least then it would be believable.