Takedown (2004)

From everything that I heard about the original script (which was "obtained" under mysterious circumstances and leaked to the world before shooting started), I was expecting this movie to be really, really awful. I was pleasantly surprised to see that either Miramax, the writers, and/or the producers took some of the hacker community's complaints seriously, and adjusted the script accordingly. The final script that was filmed is certainly more even-handed and fair to Kevin Mitnick than Shimomura and Markoff's horrible book "Takedown" was (for a much better treatment of the Kevin Mitnick story, read Jonathan Littman's 1996 book "The Fugitive Game"), and we should be grateful that this film didn't end up being the hatchet-job on Kevin that we all thought it was going to be.I was glad to see that the "trashcan cover scene", for example, didn't make the final cut, but a little disappointed that we weren't shown how large of a role that John Markoff played during Shimo's "manhunt" for Kevin, and then afterward; according to their own book, Markoff was present for many of the events that took place in North Carolina, and should have at least been shown in the scenes at the cell site alongside Shimo, Julia and the FBI agents.They also could have done more with the "Lance" character, who represented a real hacker calling himself "Agent Steal" that was working for the FBI, and who figured prominently in the arrest and conviction of another hacker named Kevin Poulsen. (Poulsen's story, done properly, would make for a great movie too, but I digress..) Another no-brainer, slam-dunk scene that should have been in the movie, but wasn't for some reason, was Kevin and Shimo's one and only face to face meeting, in a North Carolina courtroom shortly after his arrest, where Kevin uttered his now famous line "I respect your skills" to Shimo.I mean, it's no "Saving Private Ryan" or "Godfather Part II", but it isn't bad, either; in fact, it is a much more realistic and enjoyable movie than "Hackers" or "Sneakers" (to its credit, "Hackers" did have the lovely Angelina Jolie going for it), though not as much fun as "War Games", which is truly the "Citizen Kane" of hacker movies, or "Pump Up The Volume", which was more of a hacker movie than people realize, even though the "hacking" is done with a pirate radio station instead of a computer.As others have already recommended here, go find a copy of "Freedom Downtime", the excellent documentary about Kevin that was produced by Emmanuel Goldstein and the staff of 2600 Magazine, you won't be disappointed.

Although when i first watched the film i liked it. although i then found out the truth about the Kevin Mitchnick story. And this film is bull Pooh and doesn't portray the truth. if your interested watch freedom downtime i have seen it and they interview Kevin in it to get the truth don't go by the plot of this film. Also if anyone has any more information about Kevin and general stuff along these lines you can send to me greatly appreciated i thought id clear the rumour about it being a follow up of hacker its not can people please not make that assumption its not its an independent filmthanks Yoda_the_jedi Northamptonshire u.k

I feel compelled to first respond to everyone who can't get over the fact that this is a work of fiction. It's written by a biased party and I imagine underwent hollywood sensationalism. There certainly are a few little elements that arguably smack of a USA Original hacker movie, but I find these for the most part to be hackishly appropriate or reasonable hollywood compromises, so I don't see why anyone would be terribly upset. There's something called suspension of disbelief and most people at some point or another have to apply it to enjoy something.As for the film itself, I give it a solid B across the board. The acting and writing were pretty good. When Ulrich says "just have to know" and "because he can", it is easily the single best portrayal of a hacker on film that I know of, documentary or otherwise. *And the way Ulrich and Amanda Peet handled the failed intimacy scene is simply human*. I personally enjoyed the cinematography. It's very fast paced, and while I'm sure that's not for everyone, I couldn't imagine it any other way.Takedown is definitely a movie worth seeing. Even a must see for some.

I was for some time in this business, so know how goofy some of the science is. And the acting is on the cheesy side as you would expect. And I understand that the many elements of the truth have been stretched quite a bit, both by the original participants and the filmmakers.But there are some things about this are very appealing. For one thing, there isn't the ordinary fantasy of cool computer graphics that movies like to pawn off on the unwitting; its pretty much scrolling text, as it is in the real world.What's really missing is the sense of community that all the gangs in this drama have in real life. Moving ahead for all the gangs is a game that encompasses life, something that is played down here as the mano a mano angle is enhanced.I did like a couple things: Amanda Peet has a non-formulaic role and does well with it. Some of the tensionbuilding devices were effective: the gloom, the dutching, the thunder. And it was good that to some extent they showed the real cracker game: it is not so much a game of genius or ingenuity, but of the con.Someday, someone will make a movie that really does exploit the mathematics of elite computer types. These guys tend not to be hackers: programmers are the secretaries of the trade. I'm talking about the few score artists who exist, mostly in obscure corners.Ted's Evaluation: 2 of 3 -- Has some interesting elements.