The Takeover

I always find it amusing, when US "critics" write about "realism" in a European production, whereas approx. 75 per cent of Hollywood productions are everything BUT realistic. This goes also time and again and often enough for poor acting and directing.

The pace in this flick from the Netherlands ist OK, the acting maybe average, direction is OK, the storyline could be worse, agreed.

And, so? It's not a Hollywood-blockbuster (whatever THAT is supposed to be) and we do not have the humongous budgets over here to pull a flick like TOP GUN MAVERICK.

Nuthin' personal though, so chill.

Greetings from good 'ole Europe.

Good lord is this bad. The acting is painfully forced, the hacking scenes are not even remotely realistic. Like a scrolling terminal that is too quick to read, and the guy is hammering away at a keyboard. I'M HaCKinG!! Ugh so bad.

At one point the protagonist say's she is going to have dinner with "a guy" and her lady friend (Who we never see again) ask's "is it a creep?". The protagonist then shows a mere photo of the guy at which point the lady friend says: "Oh, so not a creep" It is suggested that because the guy is cute, he's not a creep. Good lord...

The tropes, the cliches, It's all just painful to watch. I did it, so you do not have to. Skip this one.

No pun intended - also numbers not taking over ... I think. But my impossible to follow train of thoughts aside, the movie is quite easy to follow. Actually so easy that some got bored (I see you and I totally understand) - this is not really a movie that will have many surprises for most viewers.

If you like thrillers though you may not care too much. European thrillers - now there are way better ones than this one. Still there are some interesting choices in story and characters development. Cliches are being thrown at us, but that is something to be expected. As is the ending and many other things here ... again, do suspend your disbelief and go with the flow ... if you can.

This Dutch cyber-thriller is centred on Mel Bandison; an ethical hacker who has been employed to check the software on a new driverless bus system. She discovers it has been compromised and her work to correct this upsets some very dangerous people. Soon she has been framed for a murder and is on the run from both the police and criminals. If she is to clear her name and find safety she will have to work with other hackers to find the evidence that proves she was framed.

If you've seen just about any other movie featuring hackers you'll spot plenty of genre clichés here. Whether or not you can enjoy the film depends on whether you can suspend your disbelief and ignore the more far-fetched moments for ninety minutes or not. I enjoyed much of the film and thought the tension ramped up nicely towards the end. There isn't much violence and if it weren't for the excessive swearing this would not be unsuitable for younger viewers. The acting is decent enough; Holly Mae Brood is solid in the lead role. Overall I'd say this is far from a must see but it passes the time well enough if you are nostalgic for the hacker films of the '90s.

These comments are based on watching the film in Dutch with English subtitles.

I've tried so hard lately to find good movies on Netflix or Hulu and most stuff I've seen is just crap, especially nearly all action movies. For The Takeover I thought the plot and story were good, the pace was good, and it stayed interesting from beginning to end. The acting was fine and did not distract. This was an entertaining movie with a great central actress.

The criticisms I'm skimming through are uninteresting to me. I don't care about the authenticity of "the hacking scenes." I was expecting something cringe-worthy but it never came.

It's not winning any Oscars but I found this interesting and entertaining for what it is. As long as you don't come in expecting Mad Max Fury Road you can have a nice 85 minutes. I liked it.