Takedown (2000)

Takedown: Directed by Joe Chappelle. With Skeet Ulrich, Russell Wong, Angela Featherstone, Donal Logue. This film is based on the story of the capture of computer hacker Kevin Mitnick.

“From everything that I heard about the original script (which was u0026quot;obtainedu0026quot; under mysterious circumstances and leaked to the world before shooting started), I was expecting this movie to be really, really awful. I was pleasantly surprised to see that either Miramax, the writers, and/or the producers took some of the hacker communityu0026#39;s complaints seriously, and adjusted the script accordingly. The final script that was filmed is certainly more even-handed and fair to Kevin Mitnick than Shimomura and Markoffu0026#39;s horrible book u0026quot;Takedownu0026quot; was (for a much better treatment of the Kevin Mitnick story, read Jonathan Littmanu0026#39;s 1996 book u0026quot;The Fugitive Gameu0026quot;), and we should be grateful that this film didnu0026#39;t end up being the hatchet-job on Kevin that we all thought it was going to be.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was glad to see that the u0026quot;trashcan cover sceneu0026quot;, for example, didnu0026#39;t make the final cut, but a little disappointed that we werenu0026#39;t shown how large of a role that John Markoff played during Shimou0026#39;s u0026quot;manhuntu0026quot; for Kevin, and then afterward; according to their own book, Markoff was present for many of the events that took place in North Carolina, and should have at least been shown in the scenes at the cell site alongside Shimo, Julia and the FBI agents.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThey also could have done more with the u0026quot;Lanceu0026quot; character, who represented a real hacker calling himself u0026quot;Agent Stealu0026quot; that was working for the FBI, and who figured prominently in the arrest and conviction of another hacker named Kevin Poulsen. (Poulsenu0026#39;s story, done properly, would make for a great movie too, but I digress..) Another no-brainer, slam-dunk scene that should have been in the movie, but wasnu0026#39;t for some reason, was Kevin and Shimou0026#39;s one and only face to face meeting, in a North Carolina courtroom shortly after his arrest, where Kevin uttered his now famous line u0026quot;I respect your skillsu0026quot; to Shimo.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI mean, itu0026#39;s no u0026quot;Saving Private Ryanu0026quot; or u0026quot;Godfather Part IIu0026quot;, but it isnu0026#39;t bad, either; in fact, it is a much more realistic and enjoyable movie than u0026quot;Hackersu0026quot; or u0026quot;Sneakersu0026quot; (to its credit, u0026quot;Hackersu0026quot; did have the lovely Angelina Jolie going for it), though not as much fun as u0026quot;War Gamesu0026quot;, which is truly the u0026quot;Citizen Kaneu0026quot; of hacker movies, or u0026quot;Pump Up The Volumeu0026quot;, which was more of a hacker movie than people realize, even though the u0026quot;hackingu0026quot; is done with a pirate radio station instead of a computer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs others have already recommended here, go find a copy of u0026quot;Freedom Downtimeu0026quot;, the excellent documentary about Kevin that was produced by Emmanuel Goldstein and the staff of 2600 Magazine, you wonu0026#39;t be disappointed.”