What Is the Story About?
Mel Bandison, an ethical hacker who hacks corporates as a part of her social work gets framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal involving a high-tech self driving bus. She must now evade the police while also trying to track down the criminals blackmailing her. Will Mel prove her innocence? Will she finally uncover the racket behind illegal data mining forms the crux of the film.
Performances?
Holly Mae Brood plays Mel Bandison, the main protagonist. She has the screen presence of an action hero when she kicks and chases and sells the nerd hacker character well enough. Geza Weisz is adorable as this confused guy caught in trouble for no fault of his. He doesn’t do much, but his Thomas Deen is quite believable. However, the chemistry between the duo is non-existent
Analysis
The Dutch cyber crime thriller directed by Annemarie van de Mond follows the story of Mel, a young ethical hacker who is constantly on the run, trying to free herself from a crime she gets badly framed in.
The story begins with a Young Mel Bandison who hacks a set of Netherlands’ defence systems at night so as to protect endangered seals where she strikes a deal with a senior hacker ‘Buddy’. This simple sequence in the beginning sets up Mel’s character for the audience. We know what she is, what she stands for and uses her talent for.
The screen cuts back to grown up Mel Bandison who now works for a corporate company that designs and builds the city’s first High-tech self driven bus. She goes on a random date with Thomas Deen, who presumably has clue about what Mel does. When we are deluded to think she no more juggles with her part-time humanitarian services, we see her working hand in hand with fellow ethical hackers at night in washing corporates’ dirty laundry. A terrible turn of events ensue when two hit-men end up chasing her. She approaches the police only to get falsely framed for murder. The rest of the film is all about Mel trying to prove her innocence and simultaneously saving the world from an underground illegal data mining racket.
The premise is pretty simple. There’s nothing in ‘The Takeover’ that one hasn’t seen before. The writing is very convenient and overburdened by logic lapses and clichés. The protagonist who is constantly on the run escapes everytime with ease. Her survival attempts are uneventful. There’s no struggle or no edge-of-the-seat moment in her tryst with coding/hacking either. She runs from one place to another, seeks help from her friends only to solve everything at the snap of a finger in the climax. Techno-thrillers are supposed to blow minds away in its technical detailing, but The Takeover script-writer has taken hacking too lightly for a film relying solely on the wonder that is coding.
Holly Mae Brood is the sole fulcrum of the film. She single-handedly pulls a lazy script out from ditches and elevates it as much as she can. Not only does she have have a great screen presence , but so is her action even in badly staged action blocks. Some of her best scenes are with actor Frank Lammers who plays Buddy. Sadly for Brood, her chemistry with Geza Weisz doesn’t click.
For a cyber crime thriller, it’s really disappointing that cyber crime is the least focussed part in the film. Although it does try to talk about ransomware, illegal data mining and its cons etc. , the writing wants the audience to take not all of it seriously akin to the stone-faced cops in the film. No grounds broken and no creative presence sensed. Not to forget how terribly written are the supporting characters.
Nevertheless, the film does one thing right. It has a very taut run-time and does’nt drag itself out. If you look at it closely, the film deals with the burning issue of illegal data mining. In short, The Takeover makes for a gripping straight forward premise gone wrong because of low-effort writing and lacklustre execution.
Other Artists?
Except that of Mel Bandison and Thomas Deen , every other character has an arc as thin as paper. Frank Lammers who plays Buddy, an expert hacker and Mel’s ex-friend brings some fun in the film, but that doesn’t last long. The Takeover also has a stone-faced cop played by Walid Benmbarek and a caricature villain in Lawrence Sheldon.
Music and Other Departments?
There’s nothing standing out technically in ‘The Takeover’. It’s a run-of-the-mill techno-thriller that exhausts itself creatively by doing nothing. Neither does the writing elevate its protagonist nor the music. The cinematography work is also just barely good.
Highlights?
Short Duration & no lag
Core Premise
Charismatic Protagonist
Drawbacks?
Silly scheme of Happenings
Screenplay
Under-developed Supporting Characters
Badly staged action blocks
Did I Enjoy It?
No.
Will You Recommend It?
Not really. Watch it only if you’re totally out of recommendations.
The Takeover Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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