Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century -- the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, the 30-year-old entrepreneur convicted of being 'Dread Pirate Roberts,' creator and operator of online black market Silk Road. As the only film with exclusive access to the Ulbricht family, Deep Web explores how the brightest minds and thought leaders behind the Deep Web and Bitcoin are now caught in the crosshairs of the battle for control of a future inextricably linked to technology, with our digital rights hanging in the balance.
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Reviews
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
First of all this movie deviates away from its title. There was some layman explanation about the deep web to set the stage for Ulbricht's story but the title should have been different as it misleads the reader.Secondly I think Winter did a good job with suspense as I felt I was attracted to the course of events and there were some unexpected turns such as the imprisonment for life in the Ulbricht's case.The big downfall is the one-sided stance that Winter took in this movie painting the government as the ones to blame for the victims of the drug war and that it is Ulbricht's idea that should be used as a substitute for drugs on the street! It does that and also includes a story of a minor who purchased meth from the deep web so the movie kinda contradicts itself! it only sides with Ulbricht's story and is not able to give the full picture! it sounds very like a pro anarchism pro free will movie that assumes all people are good!I think Winter should consider doing another movie to clarify what led the to life sentence for Ulbricht if he is to be an unbiased ideology-free director.
The Dark Web is a red herring title as the documentary here is almost in it's entirety about the dark net web site Silk Road and it's alleged founder Ross Ulbricht. Perhaps 10% of the movie speaks to the actual creation and on going nature of the so called "Dark Web". That said, the case involving Ross Ulbricbht is just as interesting, maybe even more important as much of how anyone's freedom in cyberspace will play out.If like me you've read several articles about Ross Ullbricht and The Silk Road you likely vacillated between believing he's a criminal or martyr. You'll be a bit more in the middle post viewing The Dark Web, even leaning toward thinking he's a naive idealist in the pursuit of a fantasy world with total freedom and non-oppression for all. No matter how guilty or innocent he may be he was convicted of, the fact that this idealism was tied to a lucrative drug trade, It doomed him. If he could have set up a marketplace for just about anything legally acceptable he would be a visionary. So, in the end you feel he was somewhat unfairly crushed by the powers that be, but he actually went too far by asking for it. Perhaps his goal to be a martyr was achieved as his ideas live on. In the documentary The Dark Web you feel less than impressed however. You really didn't learn much about the actual dark web and you are really conflicted as to if Ulbricht got what he deserved or was a victim of grossly misused judicial power. This is a confusing piece of film from the title to the end credits.
If you're looking for a movie about the Deep Web. This is not the movie for you. It was more about a guy getting screwed over by the government. It was nicely done and made it's point. But it never answered anything about the deep web. I was hoping for something other than the stuff that you can find on the web or you tube videos. As far as the government's war on drugs it's never going to win. People that want to get high are going to find a way to get high. It's just like if someone wants someone else dead it's going to happen and you can pass 1,000,000 new laws and it's not going to change a thing. I made my first rifle when I was 8 and that was without the Internet. Just a Public Library and the Dewey decimal system.
I really liked Alex Winter's Downloaded, as I thought it gave a very good synopsis of the Napster story. When I saw that he was doing one about the deep web, I was pretty stoked, especially sine this is a subject that is in it's early stages, unlike Napster. I heard Winter on Adam Carolla's podcast talking about it, and he spent most of the time talking about the Ulbrecht trial, which I was unfamiliar with. Still, since Ulbrecht was a major figure in the deep web, I thought it was going to be a substantial part of the documentary. I was mistaken. Ulbricht's story comprises 90% of this documentary, with various opinions on the war on drugs comprising another 8%. The remaining 2% actually talks about the deep web, and that merely serves to provide a framework and reference point for Ulbrecht's story. I hope that someday there will be a documentary about the deep web that isn't about one particular story or person, unfortunately this isn't it. That said, this is still really interesting, especially to people who have never heard of Ulbrecht's case or the deep web in general.