Takedown

Without going deep into the the story I can say that if you want to know about the real world under your computer and the privacy that never been out there you're In the right place. The movie Takedown will show you a small piece of hacking in the past and maybe the name "history of hacking" can be correct too.

you can find some of the items from the movie in the spy-shops around so in my opinion just for the knowledge the movie must be seen. In the movie there are some point who are too stuck ,and some time there is no point for long focus in one position. I can see by the movie the vision of the creator ,and he did understand the story and the "How" not like many times in movies without any contact to the reality ,however he failed in focusing too much on the technology and mess the option to show how really hacker feel against and from the authorities.

Enjoy

First of all, let's clear up some common misconceptions.

This film isn't "Hackers 2". You will find no CGI or parachute pants here. This film is about the capture of the notorious computer criminal Kevin Mitnick who used his technical skills and ability to influence people to gain access to things he really shouldn't have been able to access.

The thing that bothers me most about this film is the computer virus that Shimo wrote. I doubt that he did, and this makes Mmitnick seem worse by stealing it. The AI doesn't exist to put that virus around now, and it didn't 3 years ago.

The film in itself is a work of genius. This is the only realistic hacker film i have ever seen. Maybe because it was based on a true story and to put spinning DNA molecules on the computer screen instead of C++ would be a load of bollocks.

The acting is great; the pace of the movie is quick, especially in the part when the FBI almost captures Mitnick for the second time. The portrayal of the FBI in this film isn't very good, when they apprehended Mitnick, they didn't go in with 20 SWAT teams!

Kudos to Ulrich for his part as Kevin Mitnick, but as for Wong, I'm very surprised, where's the glasses and the geekyness? I know where, it got lost in the writing process, to make hackers look geeky and security experts look 'ard and sexy. In actual fact, security experts are just crackers in business suits. Kevin Mitnick did no damage, but they chase after him like he mass murdered a few police departments. I suppose they can't be totally realistic, and then the film would be an hour and a half of typing, with 30 minutes of chases and arrest.

I'm just glad there were no parachute pants ^_^

I know all about the Mitnick story, the "Free Kevin", the story from both sides. I'm well aware how the hacking scene thinks this paints an unfair portrait of hackers. Compared to what is usually painted, this doesn't really paint them too bad. Compared to the really atrocious movie "Hackers", this does a lot better at showing what hacking is really like. You don't hack with a Mac, you hack from a PC in different ways. You get to also see the other try & true techiques of Social Engineering & Dumpster Diving. While any true hacker could point out the blatant lies in the movie (Mitnick & Shimomura never met in person until after the arrest), it was cool that the film made some clear distinctions in terminology. If this movie showed actual hacking, it would of been a snoozer. This was able to keep it a bit more interesting without making it look cheesy to the semiliterate computer user. It's funny how this won't appear in the United States, maybe the US Government is afraid of the truth about how afterwards Mitnick was stripped of his constitutional rights. Watch this film, and be entertained, but don't believe it, as most of it is really fiction.

Not arguing technical details or realism, I feel what is presented in this movie is an all-too black and white picture of hackers, or "Crackers", as the hero refers to them. Great pains are taken to portray Kevin Mitnick as a temper-prone, reactionary, asocial neurotic, with nuances of sexual dysfunctionality thrown in as well. Whereas, the hero (Tsutomu Shimomura)comes off as being the shiniest star in the sky.

I would say this general portrayal is unfair, and nearly propagandistic in its intent. The movie really becomes a base for expounding the moral issues of hacking and 'freedom of information' in a society that survives on security. It is a clear warning, and it does NOT favor hacking or hackers.

I am appalled by that, because a more open picture of both sides might have been painted. "Hackers" brought the world to the standards of today, and daily test the security and limits of it... likewise, "programmers" continue to strive for safety, but also encrypt for greed, control, power, and politics. It is not all back and white.

Either a hacker OR a programmer are capable of accidentally, or intentionally creating havoc in a real world of banking, traffic lights, airports, and defense systems, although the chances seem less with programmers (unless you know about "The Singularity").

All I am saying is that this movie is VERY biased against hackers, it allows them NO redeemable social attributes, and it radically stereotypes them. It is intended to PERSUADE you. THAT, I regard as a THREAT to my own individual freedom of thought, and when you cross that line... alarms go off.

BEWARE of this if you haven't seen this movie yet.

Did "Big Brother" produce this film? ("Big Brother" is a reference to George Orwell's novel "1984") Regardless, the movie has good detail within a fast-moving and captivating plot.

Lastly, NO, I am NOT pro-hacker oriented. Mitnick is clearly a criminal with a long record of convictions dating all the way back to 1981... but, I don't like being told what, or how, to think about a whole class of people.

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.