The new Netflix film The Takeover revolves around a software hacker Mel Bandison (Holly Mae Brood), who lands herself into deep trouble after blocking the operations of a criminal group. The film is directed by Annemarie van de Mond and is written by Hans Erik Kraan and Tijs van Marle. Primarily, the flick is available in the Dutch language, with English subtitles.
The cast of the film includes Holly Mae Brood as the professional hacker, Géza Weisz as Thomas, Frank Lammers as Buddy, Noortje Herlaar, Lawrence Sheldon, Walid Benmbarek and Susan Radder. Moreover, it has a running time of one hour and twenty-eight minutes.
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-The Takeover Review Does Not Contain Spoilers-
The film starts with a 16-year-old Mel Bandison hacking into the military operating system just to prevent a jet noise. The young hacker gets caught red-handed by Buddy, another professional techie, who spots the exceptional coding genius inside her. Years later, Mel becomes a seasoned online Robin Hood, who exposes corrupt individuals and organizations while transferring the money to their original source.
One day during her daytime job, she spots a random bug inside a facial recognization driven bus and immediately blocks it with a trojan horse. She leaves for a date with a guy named Thomas, having literally no idea about the impact of her actions.
Eventually, the bad guys behind the bug, make it their life purpose to kill and defame Mel for the rest of her life. Thereby forcing the hacker to race against time and expose the real elements behind the whole operation. Now, Will Mel be successful in her mission? Well, the answer is pretty obvious if you have watched enough genre movies like this.
At first, the plot of this hacker-on-the-run movie sounds like your average coding thriller, with the usual trajectory of the events. But if you look deeper, you will find that it is absolutely the case. There is a hacker with exceptional skills, a father-like figure whose fate is already sealed, and a guy who has no clue about the involvement whatsoever.
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The film is conventional right from the start and fails to add an element of intrigue. It performs all the typical genre pieces and succumbs to weak execution. Moreover, the film predominantly falls under the action-adventure category, rather than a hacking-based feature.
In fact, the parts where the hacking takes place are artificial and significantly dumbed down. Which makes the USP pointer another random segment of the flick. The only focus seems to be directed towards the thrilling chase and the dramatic climax.
However, the role of Buddy (played by Frank Lammers) is the only light in this otherwise dull show. His character, no matter how cliche, works towards the redemption arc and is mostly successful at it.
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The Takeover Final Thoughts
The film is a lacklustre show throughout its short runtime and does not generate any excitement. It is another rendition from the genre, with no time for original innovation. All in all, The Takeover falls well behind the bar of an intriguing movie.
You can stream the film on Netflix. Let us know your thoughts about the action-adventure film in the comment section below.
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