The Takeover (I) (2022) User Reviews

A somewhat clichéd hacker thriller... fun enough if you can suspend your disbelief

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 18 December 2022]

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.

Disappointing and childish

[hugogsxr · 4/10 · 6 November 2022]

Since it was a Dutch movie newly released on Netflix we were curious to see this movie. But it turned out to be disappointing. The storyline is straight out of fairytale and has nothing to do with reality and therefore makes it totally unbelievable. Acting is mediocre at best and there is a lot of running and saying "f#@k" all the time.

It makes the movie one dimensional and more like a (bad) cartoon.

Sadly this movie fits in a long row of Netflix productions we're quantity trumps quality.

To end with a positive note: the city of Rotterdam gets a great promotion with all its highlights, so if this movie inspires you with inspiration to vist this citty something good came out of this production.

Take over by the numbers

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 16 November 2022]

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.

Was ist too difficult to hire a IT -Specialists

[sandrawerman · 2/10 · 4 November 2022]

The hacker at the beginning connects her computer via a hmdi cable. She randomly uses hacker words like mainframe. Instead of destroying or hiding her evidence, she prints it out and hangs it on a wall. Instead of sending a picture, she shows it on her cell phone. After she realizes she is being followed, she destroys her cell phone and steps on the SIM card instead of just throwing it away. If you have a little idea about IT you just wouldn't act like this hacker in the movie does, totally unrealistic.

It's a pity that in an age where everyone knows what an HDMI port is, such stupid mistakes are still made.

Bad comments, but not THAT bad a movie

[luc1971 · 7/10 · 18 November 2022]

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.

Typical Dutch acting

[mark-313-878103 · 1/10 · 2 November 2022]

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.

Rescue in Rotterdam!

[lavatch · 7/10 · 17 September 2023]

This was a good high tech film when two computer specialists team up to thwart a dastardly plan for the Chinese to take over the world's computer system and have access to personal data of law-abiding citizens. The film was made in the year 2022 at a time when China may have already attained that capability!

Mel Brandison is the computer whiz who unwittingly hacked into a program that momentarily sabotaged the software. But the result was also the disabling of a self-driving public conveyance in Rotterdam that is loose on the streets and is heading for the river. The race is now on to prevent a disaster in Rotterdam!

While there were good action scenes in the film, it was disappointing that the most colorful character, Mel's ol' friend Buddy, became collateral damage. But at least he taped a video message to Mel that was posthumously received.

There was good filming in the colorful locations of beautiful Rotterdam and a solid performance by the actress playing Mel. Tune in to experience her brilliant mind at work in which she goes into trances when she gets in the "zone"!

just terrible

[p2dr · 2/10 · 5 November 2022]

Other reviews here mentioned it already, the "hacking" is just terribly unrealistic and feels like it comes out of 90's movie when people believed and accepted everything shown on screen as hacking to be real. As an IT person, I am usually aware that movies will have to "adapt" to make it watchable, and therefor I can accept some shortcuts taken, but this is just straight up too bad.

Old IT repair guy plugs in laptop with 1 cable and random stuff scrolls on the screen while franticly smashing random keys.... 16 year old kid hacks military airbase from her own house with generic windows desktop pc... Right. But ok, sure, story purposes.

Then, as I am from Rotterdam myself, the opening credits were so weird, to me. They show the hero riding her bike through Rotterdam on her way to her next job, but with a very unlogical and impossible route (crossing the city river several times in several directions). Nobody from outside of Rotterdam will probably notice this and again this is probably for "moviemaking purposes" but it bugged me.

The acting is just bad and after the hero went into "3D hackerman space" with graphics from the year 2010 or maybe even before, I couldn't bare to watch it much longer. Throw in the random "hacker" words into the conversation while you can clearly tell the actors themselves really don't know what the hell they are talking about either, I ended my suffering. I skipped through the movie to see if it got any better at some point, but it was just more bad acting and bad unrealistic hackerscenes with bad hackerspace graphics.

Made it into 10 minutes of the movie and I really wanted to give this one a chance as it takes place in Rotterdam, has some familiar actors, and involves hacking and stuff, but man did it disappoint.

Would rate 1 star, but 2 because it takes place in my home town.

An EU low budget version of Enemy of the state

[Elliot_Ghost · 6/10 · 5 November 2022]

The overall theme and feel (and some direct scenes even) is from enemy of the state. Thats one of my fav movies of all time, and i do enjoy similar movies. But this one was a bit too much :D

The biggest flaw is clearly that it was very easy to predict every scene. The main actress was charming though and the buddy element with the date was a nice extra. Acting wasnt good, but not bad enough to be super distracting either in most cases.

Overall though, it just felt cheap and off in too many ways. The polish and weight wasnt there. 6/10 is generous, but like i said, im a sucker for these type of movies ;)

90 hackes movie is way better than this

[yanaing · 3/10 · 5 November 2022]

90 hackes movie is way better than this.

They name Villain company name as Xiao Min. It's like company name is Mcdonald in states. All the hacking scene are like 80 movies. Some people just bashing on the keyboard and some random text running on the screen.

Police saw the evidence, but they still think it's fake. Her hacker group always wear the same cloths and headphone even tough it's a different day. Never show what's the connection with the bus company and china company.

Too little research on the hacking behavior. They just inspire on Hollywood movie and try to put together in the movie but it's fail.

Daft but I actually enjoyed it

[neil-douglas2010 · 8/10 · 28 January 2023]

Entertaining little Dutch thriller which doesn't outlast it's welcome. Holly Mae Brood plays Mel, a computer hacker who annoys the wrong people. She's framed for a murder she didn't commit and the only person who can help her is Buddy (Frank Lammers). It's all about facial recognition and what can happen when the technology gets in the wrong hands. Mel and her boyfriend Thomas (Geza Weisz) have to get the information that will prove her innocence to the police. She's chased by the murderous Rogers (Lawrence Sheldon) but gets away before the police capture him. It all ends in a runaway driverless bus and Mel and Thomas save the day before the bus crashes. Enjoyable little film, been done before but likeable all the same.

The PG equivilant of let's say "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 19 February 2023]

The Takeover (In Dutch with English subtitles) THRILLER

The intro has an infamous hacker called in to track down the location where the hack was coming from that's been shutting the air force. As it turns out, it was tracked from somebody who lives around the area, to a 16 yr old hacker named, Mel Brandison (Holly Mae Brood) and did it because the war planes were too loud scaring away sea otters. And as a result of that may have eventually led her to a job after the movie jumps 10 years later. She's then called to check the tech on the first self driving autonomous bus in the Netherlands that uses face recognition software. And it is there she is being introduced to the CEO of that comp. Linde Van Erp (Noortje Herlaar). And upon checking the software she sees a problem happening first hand preventing what it was from proceeding- giving whatever it was the middle finger. And it was during then it was tracked to her place of location but this time, it is not the police who were after her but hired gun men. At first she thinks it's because of her environmentalism but as soon as she sees herself being framed for a murder, when her face was plastered over someone else's via "The Running Man", she's forced to use her hacking skills as well help from a friend, Thomas as well as old acquaintances to sought the people or peoples responsible, starting with the head of the firm Mel prevented them from hacking the server of buses, by the name of Rogers (Lawrence Sheldon) from the UK. Exposing the company that sold the software to CEO Linde Van Erp.

Anyone who watches the news, should be aware about the controversy regarding Tik Tok should be the ones to like this film, that our personal data is not always safe that gov'ts like Russia or China have the potential to manipulate our elections and so forth. Therefore, we should be weary for some of these negative reviews could be the Chinese themselves to prevent us from seeing it, I'm just saying.

Did not get past the first 15 minutes

[faasie-52118 · 2/10 · 3 November 2022]

I did not get past the first 15 minutes.

The hacking scenes are probably created by someone with no computer knowledge. Just bashing at a keyboard and text scrolling on a screen. Would be funny if they would have done it on purpose and also have two people bashing at the same keyboard but it was meant to be serious.

She thinks of hacking as if she is flying through some technical fancy graphics.

The police (arrestatieteam) apparently has its guns just lying in the trunk of the car.

A photo of a guy is shown quickly through a webcam to prove he is not a creep

And the rest was also quite bleh so I didn't even try to see if it got any better. The English talking foreigner have a strange accent.

2 Sandra Bullock movies in 1 set in Rotterdam

[aagihakkeri · 4/10 · 14 November 2022]

Combine the plots of the Net and Speed, locate them in modern day Rotterdam and replace originals with worse acting and direction and you'll end up with this movie.

This isn't the worst movie and I did manage to watch all the way through with some dozing off during the last inevitable action scene. To excuse my nodding I'd like to say that at this point the plot no longer makes any sense (if it ever did).

If you belong to the minority group of viewers you'll also notice that the cycling routes the main character makes are quite illogical.

The direction and editing are quite okay and the movie moves forward nicely. The acting is not cringeworthy all the time (at least to a foreign viewer) and there are some actually good scenes here and there.

A Riveting Techno-Thriller

[sufyaanrashid95 · 7/10 · 10 December 2023]

The Take Over (2022) presents a riveting techno-thriller centered around an ethical hacker who finds herself framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal. As she becomes a target of both law enforcement and the criminals blackmailing her, the hacker must navigate a treacherous landscape, evading the authorities while striving to uncover the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The plot weaves a compelling tale of suspense, intrigue, and high-stakes cat-and-mouse games, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats throughout. The protagonist's portrayal, brought to life by the talented lead actress, captures the character's resilience and determination as she grapples with the daunting challenges thrust upon her. The supporting cast delivers strong performances, adding depth and tension to the narrative as the protagonist races against time to clear her name and confront the shadowy forces working against her.

Visually striking, The Take Over captivates with its portrayal of the hacker's digital world, seamlessly blending sleek cinematography with a pulsating musical score that heightens the film's tension and urgency.

Director Simon Kinberg adeptly crafts a narrative that delves into the ethical dilemmas inherent in the digital age, skillfully combining elements of suspense, action, and psychological thriller. The film's well-paced storytelling and seamless editing maintain an electrifying momentum, ensuring that viewers are fully immersed in the protagonist's harrowing journey.

In conclusion, The Take Over is a captivating exploration of technology, power, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds. With its compelling characters, intense thrills, and a plot teeming with unexpected twists, The Take Over is a must-see for fans of gripping, high-tech thrillers.

WarGames meets The Net- 2022

[Robot_Chikn_n_a_Biscuit · 4/10 · 2 November 2022]

This movie will feel strangely familiar to many viewers, almost immediately. It has a "WarGames" opening, and continues with similar themes and ideas throughout. Rather than fighting a nuclear war, however, the 'heroes' in this movie are being hacked, themselves. Deja vu, this movie evolves into Sandra Bullock's "The Net."

What I liked- it seems fairly well acted, and directed. The English language dubbing was pretty well done. The English language dubbing actually matched the subtitles. Go figure?!

What I disliked- there really is no new material here. This movie script is clearly a mash up of "WarGames" and "The Net," made for a 2022 audience. Oh, and the writers threw in a bus chase/crash ala "Speed" for good measure.

People who have never watched those movies may rate this one higher than I did. I doubt it...

enjoyable action flick

[miles-93119 · 7/10 · 9 March 2023]

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.

Nonsense and waste of time...

[philipkuehnel · 1/10 · 17 February 2023]

This is what comes out when the scriptwriters and the director don't have a clue about hacking. Everything that is shown here is complete nonsense. A lot of letters in green letters across the black screen. Wow. The guy at the beginning connects his laptop to the network with an HDMI cable. Really? The server of the self-driving bus is on fire and thus inoperable, but the bus keeps on driving and accelerating. It even steers to the right and left again and again so as not to leave the road. The main actress says at the beginning that she has never seen the inside of the bus but has only written the software, but can tell the guy at the end exactly where to plug in this receiver so she can hack the bus.... I'm just going to give it up. I don't watch Netflix movies anymore. It comes to 99% anyway only trash around. Absolute waste of time!

an intense danish action film

[LetsReviewThat26 · 6/10 · 6 November 2022]

This was a pretty entertaining action movie. Quite a few ive seen on netflix have been a little boring or slow and the action has not been the best. But I felt with this that sure there was not a lot of action but the story was pretty good and the way it was presented was well made. Our main hero is melanie b. She is played by holly mae brood and is played well. Shes a hacker who gets caught up into a mystery after she is framed for a murder she didnt commit along with thomas, played by geza weisz. There are some pretty thought out parts in this film that flowed well and the action was actually good to. Overall a pretty decent netflix action film with some good acting.

Like going back in time

[timdegier · 1/10 · 5 November 2022]

It's kinda sad to see this movie and feel it's so bad. It had a lot going for it; the main actress is quite ok, I normally like hacker stories, it's based in the Netherlands. But wow, this movie disappointed.

I'm actually a ethical hacker myself for about 20 years and somewhat got hooked by watching "hackers" when I was a kid. I didn't really understood at that time that virtually everything in that movie was fake and had nothing to do with hacking. Later, a lot of movies became better at makes the hacking scenes more realistic. Not good, but better. This movie did not. Everything was as fake as it can be. It was like watching the movies from the 90's again. And the sad thing is I don't understand why. We have quite of lot of good hackers in the Netherlands; why not consultant them (or listen to them if you did...). Even people not in IT can see most of what your showing is super fake.

For me, the above made the movie a bummer. If they would have made the hacking scene's better, I would likely want to see any next film. But now, it's sadly something I never wan't to see again, even if they do consult an IT person in the next film.

Ok "Family-friendly thriller"

[tofikisuli · 8/10 · 6 February 2023]

This thriller was rated age 13+, so we could watch it together with my child. We enjoyed it: Nice having a female protagonist who solved problems independently and together with a team. Also, being able to "look at a book beyond its cover" was a good lesson in this day and age: E.g. We were just as disappointed as she was that her boyfriend-to-be could not cook, but we were as happy to find they could overcome their initial judgementalisms and incompatibility issues, find common ground. Though the details regarding the realities of working with computers, etc. Were obviously unrealistic, this is quite often the case with techie movies anyway, so I wasn't too bothered by that. Lots of running involved, perhaps a bit too much, but I suppose that was needed to maintain the pace of the movie. (I will have to skim through the beginning of the movie again because I want to find out the make of her bike.)

Decent by unsatisfying

[smaugmra · 6/10 · 22 December 2022]

There was a feeling of incompleteness in the script do too the writing of the two characters that originally were hunting Mel. It could have been done quickly and easily within the conclusion, but was never presented to the viewer. I do not know if it was an issue of runtime, but for such a relatively short (87 minutes) movie, they easily couild have tied up those loose ends in less than 1 to 3 minutes to let us, the viewers have the satisfaction of seeing them get their just deserts as well. Sure, they were ancillary characters, but by not tieing up those loose ends, and bringing that last resolution into the movie, it left a hole in the plot.

Mediocre "hacker" dystopia

[xabiag · 2/10 · 6 November 2022]

Great show for those feeling nostalgic about "hacker" movies from the 80s where anyone involved had never seen a computer in their life.

For the next one I would appreciate if they could consult experts, or even amateur hackers for portraying a picture that is remotely related to real life scenarios. Please refrain from casting terminals full of lines while "hackers" just smash the keyboard and solve problems in seconds.

Apart from the unrealistic scenes, the acting lives up to the overall expectations on the movie, making the whole experience unbearably predictable.

The only reason why I haven't given this movie 1/10 is because of the scenery recorded on Rotterdam, which will definitely increase tourism.

As realistic as a flying cow

[martijndeest · 1/10 · 9 November 2022]

From an IT point of view this movie is total crap. A server room that's unlocked, a autonomous bus controlled by a single point of failure server and the bus goes berserk when that server burns down. Speaking of burning: a server room without fire control? On top of that all the screens you see are a load of crap, nothing to with programming. Main character shuts down the lights in the server room (or the entire building) from the same console in the server room. The setup ran by the expert hacker looks like it was taken from any scifi movie.

On top of that just bad acting and a bad scenario.

Only watch this if you've got nothing better to do.

Could have been a great movie

[samana-18197 · 4/10 · 2 November 2022]

I am dutch and living in the Netherlands. I was excited to watch the movie. And almost very quickly very dissapointed.

What i really really hate is when they decide to choose a dutch actor to play a character from another country with a bad accent. It was so annoying. Rogers was also annoying and they should have chosen better actors for these parts.

Nice to see actors like Ferry, Holly Mae and Walid. If the storyline was more credible, maybe the actingwould have been different(stronger and better).

Story/acting could have been tighter so that the main character was taken more seriously in the movie. Some really predictable scenes and cheesy scenes. But i really like genre hacking movies. And this is a disappointment. Everything goes so fast, too fast. Or to slow and predictable.

Beautifully shot scenes in Rotterdam. But normally we don't take the boat in Rdam as often as it is suggested. It's very busy in this city with people(day and night), but very few to see in the movie.

Hope someone or the same director does a do-over within this genre because it is nice to see dutch thriller movies/series with credible cybercrime in it.