Algorithm
Algorithm
| 19 July 2014 (USA)
Algorithm Trailers

A freelance computer hacker discovers a mysterious government computer program. He breaks into the program and is thrust into a revolution.

Reviews
joglide

In contrast to most reviewers here I found a lot to like in this movie though I assumed it was a very low budget Indie effort by people with some good ideas but virtually no money. So that means the location shots and atmospherics were remarkably good for the zero-costs and even if some people looked at the camera in the cheapo-film on the hoof public shots, mostly they worked, I had a real sense of San F as a darker and scarier place than I have ever seen. What else? The music is really good and adds a lot to the mood. The characterisation and acting was mixed, though I found the NSA/CIA/Homeland torturers quite credible. The main character is a nerd but then hacking geeks are nerds and the closing line of 'A month ago I was a god' says quite a lot - he is a kind of Gordon Gekko of hacking but his morals are all over the place and he wants to have a conscience. Result is that he carries his morals around like a dying albatross around his neck and we find his a jerk. But I found the hacking community believable if not very lovable - rip- off artists who pretend they are super heroes because they can steal and break and enter using their brain power. Overall worth a watch because it wakes you up to American secret police methods.

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asqureshi

I actually took a leap of faith when I decided to watch this film even after noticing a very low IMDb rating. That was worth it. Gone are the days of creating conventional out-of-the-world and unrealistic thriller movies. That is the job of a director and writer: you don't take your audience to some fantasy world in order to give them superficial, meaningless entertainment only. A good writer brings his audience closer to reality while engaging and educating them at the same time. Dialogues in the film, especially the thoughts of Will narrated during the film, were....... sublime. Another factor is: ending a film which is always the trickiest part. THAT is where the director (who is also the writer) proved himself brilliant. Therefore, I would say, "Excellent job, Jonathan and Stu. Looking forward to watching more movies by you guys".

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Lorax_0

I loved this, it's smart, well shot and best of all is free to stream on youtube. You don't lose anything by giving it ago and if you liked it you can head to the films site and throw the filmmakers a deserving donation, or not, your choice. Sure some of the acting isn't the best and there are a few weird shot choices but these are minor things for a movie that on the whole is very engaging and watchable. Anyone who says the hacking themes and dialogue is done poorly don't know what they're talking about, the film is endorsed by Steve Wozniak and it's miles better than every Hollywood portrayal of hacking. It reminded me of a lower key Mr.Robot without all the pilfering from a certain Brad Pitt movie. There's also a recent German hacking movie called Who Am I that obviously had a bigger budget but isn't as good or believable as this. From what I can see this was somewhat ahead of the curve too, coming out in 2014.

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webwiz-244-148031

I'm a technogeek, computer nerd, and lover of techno thrillers. So I understood the themes and message of this film. But it was done so poorly that I don't know if I'm just disappointed or confused as to why the movie was even released.About 30 minutes in, I started wondering if it was actually a cheesy parody of a "hacker" film. The dialog is poorly written and delivered with some of the worst acting I've ever seen. I felt like I was watching the product of a high school introductory film class. The cinematography showed promise with some beautiful shots, but then degraded into very questionable angles and layouts. There's a scene where we get to stare at the back of the head of the main character for an oddly long period of time. I wondered why the director didn't have the cameraman just swing around to his front.There were almost believable technical aspects of some scenes, but for a "hacker" movie with its overriding theme of "the NSA is watching everything", some of the technology in play should have been focused on more.In light of the Snowden revelations, and some other stuff that was later revealed to have gone on in the past decade or two, the premise of this film could have resulted in a great product. It's really a shame that the movie was so badly written, poorly acted, and shot so oddly.

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