Algorithm (2014)

the audience applauded

Simply Perfect

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

Even the story is quite slow but the movie does makes a lot of sense to computer science student, specially interested in doing hacking kind of stuff. The governments are using checking algorithms and hackers being curious or willingly to get into those and this is where a lot of innocent people get into trouble, even a government experiment like this one can cost some people a lot. Exposing things like shepherd can cost a lot of brilliant people their lives or some times mental abnormality due to the torture of governments agents. I like the idea" information is everybody's right and every should know the things they are being indulged in"

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.

When I started the movie the crude actions of the FBI agent seemed unnatural and I almost turned it off there, however I love hacking based movies so I thought "no let's give it a chance".Once I got into the story the acting was not as bad as I initially thought. Now I am no professional in either acting or films but I thought it was not that bad, now the story is a different subject.The initial beginning of the movie I thought was bland...a man wanting to know about his cheating partner however I could tell there was a larger story coming so I was interested.The main storyline behind this film, it was both clever and interesting to me. The use of information and technology throughout the movie explaining things to those who may not understand and also the main characters views on life which I consider somewhat accurate in my opinion, were both smart, useful and interesting in understanding the movie.During the breakout of their friend was one of the highlights of the movie as my heart was pounding when they were almost caught. Afterwards the twist of them being turned in by the friend they went to help them was gut wrenching and somewhat disappointing.What I mean by disappointing was I saw a different route the movie could have taken which was to fight the government and expose the wrong doings of those supposed to protect and serve.However I guess that the way the movie went would be more realistic. I look forward to watching any future movies this director makes.Overall I am glad I came across this movie and I will most likely watch it again.