Silk Road

 

In this day and age, there are a certain amount of millennials that believe they can make a ton of money with the stroke of their computer. There have been many films produced about the underground drug world, but "Silk Road" certainly brings that more into the virtual world than ever imagined. 

Inspired by larger-than-life actual events, this riveting crime thriller follows the rise and fall of Silk Road, the infamous darknet site that sent a seismic shock through the World Wide Web. Young, idealistic and driven to succeed, Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson), along with friend, Max (Daniel David Stewart) and girlfriend, Julia (Alexandra Shipp), creates the internet's first unregulated marketplace: Silk Road. But when it becomes a multimillion-dollar pipeline for illicit drugs, Ross is set on a collision course with Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke), a disreputable and dangerously unpredictable DEA agent who will use any means necessary to take him down...and I mean any!

Others to round out the cast are Jimmi Simpson as Chris Tarbell, Darrell Brit-Gibson as Ray, an informant of Rick's, Katie Aselton as Sandy, Rick's wife, Paul Walter Hauser as Curtis Clark Green, Lexi Rabe as Edie, Rick and Sandy's daughter, Will Ropp as Shields, David DeLao as Johnny Morales, Walter Anaruk as Adrian Chen and Kenneth Miller as H.T. Palmer.

This was grippingly directed by documentarian, Tiller Russell ("Cockfight" (documentary) '01, "Change Up" (documentary) '02, "Bad Boys of Summer" (documentary) '07, "The Last Rites of Ransom Pride" '10, "The Seven Five" (documentary) '14"Operation Odessa" (documentary) '18) plus TV and a short. This filmmaker has only one other theatrical film to his credit for directing, however he certainly has the ability to create scenes that start off as fairly tense, and have the tensity to increase with such realism. Truly, all the documentaries he has directed has served him well. This was also interestingly written by Russell ("Bad Boys of Summer" (documentary) '07, "CMT Big Break" (TV movie) '07, "The Last Rites of Ransom Pride" '10) plus TV, based on the article "Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht's Big Fall" by David Kushner. This story being based on true events actual made it much easier for this writer to write a cohesive script considering his documentary experience. It was presented to the audience as a flashback so we could experience Ulbricht's journey to his fall. You know he has to fall, hence the true story, it's how he was brought down that makes this story more captivating. Both Robinson and Clarke's performances were portrayed with such veracity and tenaciousness that will keep any audience on the edge of their seat. My only complaint with this is that it was a bit slow in a couple of places where approximately 5-7 minutes could've been edited, but it was still a powerful script nonetheless.

The one adage that surely comes to mind while watching this film is: "oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive". This 28-year old entrepreneur should have known what was lurking down the road: nobody ever gets away with shadiness, but greediness got the best of him and soon he became obsessed with Silk Road. This was released on 2-19-2021, but since I live in California where theaters are still not open, I bought it so as to critique it for you.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                        Rated: R                                            117mins.