Silk Road
2021
15
Director: Tiller Russell
Starring: Nick Robinson, Jason Clarke, Darrell Britt Gibson, Daniel David Stewart, Alexandra ship, Kenneth Miller etc
Overall rating 62/100
Silk road is about a philosophical twenty something Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) who creates a website called Silk road, a dark net website that sells drugs, while DEA agent Rick Bowden (Nick Clarke) goes undercover to bring him down. Silk road had some great moments, and for me worked best when it was the cat and mouse game between the main characters, but for the most part was just too mediocre too truly be memorable or worth a watch, so let's get started.
My first few positives would be the interesting opening monologue, the good set up of both characters, good character conflict to set up development to the main character. A good connection between the two main characters and a good amount of explanation into the main plot point. I thought the opening to the film set up some interesting themes to do with the main character of Ross, he was very against authority and wanted people to make their own decision on what's right and wrong, this was told effectively in an opening monologue that set up his characters wants and needs well and was a good start for the film. I also thought the film did a good job at setting up both of the characters, they established a good amount of background into both characters lives, what was holding them back, their flaws and set up their roles for the film very effectively. I also really liked the character conflict between ross and his father, this was an effective way to start the development of his character as he is trying to prove his family wrong and that he can achieve something by himself, I also thought the obvious tension between Rick and his wife about his troubled past also set up the development between their relationship fairly well. Next, I thought there was a good connection between the two characters, the film did an effective job at linking two possible separate stories together, with Ross setting up a website linked with selling drugs and Rick's job is preventing cyber crime, this was an effective way to set up the future investigation and cat and mouse game between both of the characters. I also thought the movie managed to explain the main plot point of silk road very well, it went into a great amount of detail about the black market and how it works, also explaining how easily people can get away with it with things like bitcoin it was quite frightening actually.
However, my first few negatives would be the oddly structured beginning with lack of explanation or depth to the characters, the lack of sympathy for the characters, therefore making it difficult to decide who to align with, and the lapses in the logic. I thought that the movie had a very peculiar structure in the beginning, I think they rushed into the main plot point of Silk road way to quickly, with a lack of depth or any form of proper development or set up to the main characters relationships, it just lacked key scenes and explanation that would of helped the audience either connect to the supporting cast or raise the stakes to the film more sooner. I also thought that it was difficult to know who to support or align with. Both characters were bad people and that never really changed throughout the film, this just made it difficult to align with, and due to the poor writing and lack of any form of depth to the supporting cast, it made it difficult to connect with the film. Finally, I also thought that there was some lapses in the logic with the character of Rick. He was described as being reckless and out of control, and messing up a previous case badly, so I found it very strange that he was still employed at the police and the fact that he was never found out when he went undercover was a bit ridiculous.
My next few positives would be the interesting main character, the unique dynamic between the two main characters, the clever characters and plot points. As well as the development to the plot and characters, and the fun cat and mouse game between the two leads. I thought that the main character of Ross was very interesting, you were obviously not supposed to support him, but you couldn't help but admire his cleverness and intuition, despite what he was doing being wrong it was interesting to go inside the mind of a character like this. I also liked the unique dynamic between both leads, they were both very clever and not afraid to play dirty, despite the issues behind this, I still found it an interesting creative decision to have two somewhat unstable and untraditional characters go head to head. I also thought that Ross as a character was very clever, he thought of every little detail to evade getting caught and to ensure his success, every time you thought something would go wrong he managed to fix the issue. I also really liked the development to the plot and characters, I think the slow mental breakdown of Ross as a character as he became more and more obsessed with the website and success was really well done, it just made the cat and mouse game between him and Rick that bit more entertaining, the more Ross became unstable the more mistakes he made. So therefore Rick could lay traps and cleverly get Ross into more trouble, the police investigation and this fun dynamic between both of the characters was my favourite part to the film.
My final few positives would be the performances, building of tension, the balance to the key themes as well as the satisfying ending. I thought that Nick Robinson and Jason Clarke did a great job here. This was a different more darker role for Nick, but he did a great job. Showing the darker side to his acting shows more versatility and he did a very believable and solid job, Jason Clarke also did a great job with what occasionally thin material he got, creating a great balance of unstable and somewhat likeable qualities to his character. I also loved the rising of tension, As Rick went undercover and Ross started messing up more and more it became unclear what was going to happen, I loved being on the edge of my seat not knowing who would get the better of one another. I also did like that the film balanced its somewhat controversial themes, showing the negative side to making such an accessible drug website and making Ross realise perhaps what he created wasn't a good thing. The ending was also very satisfying, Ross got what he deserved and Rick had a pretty good character arc as he managed to start to mend his relationship with his wife and daughter.
My final few negatives where for me the reason why this film couldn't achieve the greatness that it could have. There was rushed pacing with lack of clear explanation into things, a very clunky structure, annoying editing. And finally, a really passive supporting cast. I thought the movie had so many pacing issues it really effective the structure, it was way too rushed and was a massive, missed opportunity for the characters to have much more depth and for you to actually care about their different relationships. Because of this rushed pacing and trying to balance two stories that took a while to be properly linked the structure of the film felt very clunky. Just when you thought something more would happen or an interesting character moment would happen to Ross, it would cut awkwardly to Rick doing something not that interesting, it took me out of the movie on a few occasions. I also found the editing really clunky and annoying; they would often just freeze on a scene and do a really long-winded fade or graphic match to the next scene; it wasn't done smoothly or effectively and often was just very jarring and made the film even more jarring. The worst part of the film for me was its passive supporting cast, I didn't know hardly anything about them, so therefore didn't really care about their relationship with the main characters, taking away some possible emotional weight. But all of the characters were just so passive and did nothing to stop the main characters from doing anything, it was a massive, missed opportunity to add more conflict and depth to all the characters and was a massive let down for me.
Overall, silk road works best when it focuses on the cat and mouse game between the two leads and the investigation and development to the characters that comes with it. But the overall plot and characters surrounding it are just simply too mediocre and poorly written for the movie to truly connect.
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