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Parents' guide to, the takeover.

Common Sense Says
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Common Sense Media Review

Some gun violence, strong language in hacker thriller.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Some gun violence, blood, and fighting. People get shot a fair amount, and bodie

Frequent strong language includes: all variations of "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole,"

Any Positive Content?

The hero is Dutch, White, and a woman. The main cast is Dutch and White. A few p

Protect your friends and yourself when being hunted by an international crime or

Mel is an ethical hacker and tries to do good with her skills. Her mentor, Buddy

Parents need to know that The Takeover is a Dutch thriller about an ethical hacker, Mel, who stumbles into an international crime conspiracy. She's quickly framed for murder and hunted by police and criminals who want her dead. There's a fair amount of gun violence, fighting, and people being chased. Main characters are constantly under threat. A few times, people get shot in the head, and once, graphically, as the man's head snaps back when shot. A camera video of a man getting shot in the head is shown many times, but the film is grainy. Some corpses are shown with bullet holes in them. There's a lot of strong language, which includes: "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "damn," "Jesus," and the middle finger.

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Violence & Scariness

Some gun violence, blood, and fighting. People get shot a fair amount, and bodies often fly through the air. A few times, people get shot in the head, and once, graphically, as the man's head snaps back when shot. A camera video of a man getting shot in the head is shown many times, but the film is grainy. Some corpses are shown with bullet holes in them. There is police violence, fist fights, and people get kicked, thrown, hit, and hurt. Main characters are under constant threat, danger, and are chased often, on foot, in cars, etc. Men with guns break into a woman's apartment. Men threaten to kill people. A runaway bus crashes into many cars, and people get hurt.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent strong language includes: all variations of "f--k," "s--t," "a--hole," "bitch," "damn," "Jesus," and the middle finger.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Diverse Representations

The hero is Dutch, White, and a woman. The main cast is Dutch and White. A few people of color round out the supporting cast.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Positive Messages

Protect your friends and yourself when being hunted by an international crime organization. Ethically hack criminals.

Positive Role Models

Mel is an ethical hacker and tries to do good with her skills. Her mentor, Buddy, is also a decent person, even if he kept lots of money that was supposed to go to victims of crime. Thomas is also a good guy, just trying to help.

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

In THE TAKEOVER, an ethical hacker (Holly Mae Brood) uncovers an international crime conspiracy. She is soon framed for murder and hunted by dangerous criminals and the police. Will she clear her name and uncover the conspiracy?

Is It Any Good?

There's a lot to like in this quick, pacey, thriller. But The Takeover is also quite shallow and a movie that doesn't want the audience thinking that much. Illogical inconsistencies bring down the believability of a lot of what happens, especially the denouement where the film literally turns into Speed (the Keanu Reeves classic). Not very much is explained, either, regarding the actual conspiracy, how "the Chinese government" is exactly behind all this, or why Interpol isn't interested. Thus, the movie doesn't want a thinking audience, but nor is the movie made for the oppositely inclined. Surface-level thriller is written large across the board, so to speak.

Fittingly, the characters seem to be drawn thinly, with each person's role and purpose clearly delineated. No character ever surprises or does something unexpected, so they become simple functions of moving the story along. This is a little limiting, given that the film could've had more personality if the characters had more personality. Yet, this isn't the fault of Holly Mae Brood's performance as Mel. She does what she can with a very restricting script and thin character. But the story does move along quickly.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about violence in thrillers. Did the violence in The Takeover make it more exciting? Why or why not?

Would you have gone to the police like Thomas wanted to? Why or why not?

Do you think the film depicted hacking culture well, accurately, or convincingly? What are some examples you can point to that would support your answer?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : November 1, 2022
Cast : Holly Mae Brood , Geza Weisz , Frank Lammers , Susan Radder
Director : Annemarie van de Mond
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Netflix
Genre : Thriller
Run time : 87 minutes
MPAA rating : NR
Last updated : February 17, 2023

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Home » Movies » Movie Reviews

The Takeover review – an average coding thriller film

We review the Netflix film The Takeover (2022), which does not contain any significant spoilers.

Action-crime-thriller Dutch film The Takeover is available for streaming on Netflix , and if you’re looking for something easy and simple to watch with a small intriguing kick, this is it. Directed by Annemarie van de Mond from a screenplay co-written by Hans Erik Kraan and Tijs van Marle, the Fiction Valley production stars Holly Mae Brood, Geza Weisz, Frank Lammers, Susan Radder, Walid Benmbarek, Noortje Herlaar, Marco Eradus, Lawrence Sheldon, Jenny Hsia, Jeremiah Fleming, and Anna Deborah van der Rhee.

Mel Bandison is a white-hat hacker who, after a good deed, gets into trouble because, collaterally, she causes the closure of an entire criminal organization. Framed for murder, our protagonist Mel must evade the police and track down the people who are framing and blackmailing her. The film has a run time of one hour and thirty minutes and has English voice-over and subtitles available.

Holly Mae Brood plays a strong protagonist and is well-performed. The story is simple, and the film left me wanting more drama and conflict. The film is mainly about Mel being chased by gangsters she has hacked around Rotterdam while trying to prove her innocence. There’s enough pace in the film to class as an action/thriller, but unlike a film such as Die Hard 4.0 , the intensity was missing. Maybe this is because she is a “good” hacker, a modern-day online hero, hacking to help people rather than being a criminal hacker. In fact, the hacking parts of the film are very dumbed down, and the focus is more on the chase and climax. The short run-time doesn’t allow for much growth, or innovation, which makes the film lack any substance.

The film has the standard typical action-thriller film tropes; we have a young hacker with exceptional skills, a father-like figure, and a clueless but cute guy who adds nothing but slight comedy to the film. Oh, and the evil villain is British. I love that classic. All three main actors work well together and have good chemistry. The only real character redemption arc comes from the character Buddy, without whom the film would have been totally boring.

The cinematography and graphics are simple, which makes the film feel closer to reality, but really for a film about hacking, you want strong visuals to see and feel the pressures of an online hack/attack. You hope the film is building to a dramatic climax; this ending was decent and did have the most action in the film. I won’t ruin the ending for you, but please watch and let us know what you think.

Overall this film makes for an easy Sunday film night watch. It’s conventional from the start and failed to fully captivate and engage me as a viewer, but if you’re wanting an action-thriller that is less dramatic Hollywood showstopper material and more like real-life this could be the film for you.

What did you think of the Netflix film The Takeover (2022)? Comment below.

Article by Romey Norton

Romey Norton joined Ready Steady Cut in June 2021 as a Film and TV writer, and since then, she has published over 400 articles for the website. With a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Leeds in 2017 and acting experience on screen, Romey uses her Film and TV knowledge to bring informative and detailed content for online publications and podcasting.

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The Takeover Reviews

But The Takeover is also quite shallow and a movie that doesn't want the audience thinking that much.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 9, 2022

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The Takeover film review: Fastpaced hacker thriller can’t avoid genre cliches

If you dig action thriller stereotypes served with a twist of hacker suspense drama, the film is good enough for a one-time watch.

Cast: Holly Mae Brood, Frank Lammers, Geza Weisz, Susan Radder, Walid Benmbarek, Noortje Herlaar, Lawrence Sheldon

Director: Annemarie van de Mond

Language: Dutch with Hindi and English audio options

Hacking, facial scan abuse and data theft mingle with old-school murder and blackmail in Annemarie van de Mond’s Dutch thriller, which unfolds as an uncomplicated potboiler despite its twisted undercurrent pertaining to cyber intrusion of privacy. The Takeover spins a story of suspense that would mostly seem familiar, though the film is fast-paced enough to keep you engrossed all along. You spot influences as varied as Eagle Eye , Enemy Of The State , The Net , Swordfish and — in its breakneck finale — a busload of stunts that might seem like a cyber-age update to the Keanu Reeves -starrer Speed . The overall mood is almost a trifling one, as if underlined by the pop electronica beats that backdrop the early title scenes.

The plot centres on ethical hacker Mel Bandison (Holly Mae Brood), who works with a small like-minded group that tracks criminal hackers and then turns them over to the cops. The leader of the group is Buddy (Frank Lammers). Mel’s job requires her to hack into systems, run security checks, deal with delicate data and retrieve stolen data for clients. Action in her story starts soon enough when a couple of strangers break into her home one night, obviously intending to kill her.

Mel escapes and goes to the police station seeking protection, but is in for a shock. It seems like she is wanted by the police and she soon realises why. Horrified, she finds herself staring at a news TV footage that shows her killing a man. Chased by dangerous people out to kill her and wanted by cops for a murder she never committed, Mel is now on the run. She realises she must clear her name but time is not on her side.

The whys and wherefores of Mel’s plight, of course, have to do with her job as a hacker, and the basic challenge for screenwriters setting up a narrative around a technical subject as hacking is to keep the storyline lucid enough for the lay viewer to grasp and yet avoid getting too dumb about it. The film’s writers Hans Erik Kraan and Tijs van Marle try finding a solution by introducing a character that is far removed from the world of hacking, and throwing him into the thick of action. So, Geza Weisz as Thomas Deen, Mel’s awkward date from the night before, gets dragged into her misadventure. Thomas’ significance as a sidekick in the screenplay is mainly restricted to wailing for explanation on the technical jargon that Mel and her pals exchange. In turn, these technical aspects are explained for the benefit of the audience, through dialogues of the hacker ‘experts’ on screen.

The narrative gets Mel on the run quite early, within less than half an hour. For a film with a tight runtime of 87 minutes, you would think the actual story, meant to unfold over the final hour, would be packed with spectacular action and twists. It isn’t, and that is the film’s big shortcoming.

Interestingly, the story, which banks on the topic of cyber privacy and personal data theft, manages to set up a Chinese connection in the villainy that it sets up. We understand early on that Mel has inadvertently messed with some very powerful people while trying to execute a hack job to protect one of her clients. A Trojan Horse she introduced to safeguard her client’s interest affected a multinational firm named Xiao Ming, among others. The firm uses facial scan technology to collect personal data from its global consumer base and then passes on the same to the Chinese government. This particular aspect of the script could have led to a cracker of a thriller. Instead, the narrative merely uses it as a plot pusher, to line up the requisite quota of villains in Mel’s story.

Director Annemarie van de Mond’s execution is quite basic: It is about raising a few problems for the protagonist in the first half and then tying up the loose ends in the second. Although the narrative maintains pace all through, the film could have done with a lot more smart twists. Neither the storytelling nor the directorial treatment of the film reveals ambition to push the generic envelope. The Takeover has it all, from choreographed stunts to FX-loaded chases. Yet, it is all too formulaic and reminiscent of a countless such sequences seen on screen before. If the film was meant to be a generic tribute, it doesn’t fulfil the criterion simply because it lacks in imagination. Technically, the film is salvaged by Willem Helwig’s cinematography, which renders an authentic vibe to the action scenes, and Fatih Tura’s crisp editing that ensures there are no boring spells all through the runtime.

To set up drama of convenience, the makers primarily bank on the cliche that every time Mel is being chased by someone she will outrun the villain/s against all odds. The film moves on a linear track that solely focuses on the suspense quotient, so despite its feel-good vibes there is little room for humour (“In movies, the hackers they show are thinner and younger,” Thomas tells Mel, upon seeing the chubby Buddy in the odd comic scene). Neither is there much scope for romance, unless you count Mel and Thomas discussing codes amidst psychedelic lights. It is a screenplay that doesn’t offer challenging roles to its cast, though Holly Mae Brood as Mel exudes bankable screen presence. Brood tends to overdo herself in the odd scene of melodrama but she sure strikes a neat kick in the action sequences.

The Takeover is worth your time if the hacker-verse intrigues you. The film is engaging in the way it sets up action drama around the concept. A runtime of 87 minutes was never enough to delve deep into the cyber mystery the storyline sets out to explore, and the makers have been practical enough to restrict the drama to formulaic physical action of an on-the-run caper. If you dig action thriller stereotypes served with a twist of hacker suspense drama, the film is good enough for a one-time watch.

Rating: * * & 1/2 (two and a half stars out of five)

Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist, and film journalist based in Delhi-NCR.

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Cast & crew

The Takeover

Follows the struggle of Maya, a stubborn defiant vampire, in a volatile battle between her own kind, humans and davvers. Follows the struggle of Maya, a stubborn defiant vampire, in a volatile battle between her own kind, humans and davvers. Follows the struggle of Maya, a stubborn defiant vampire, in a volatile battle between her own kind, humans and davvers.

Trent Harris
Cameron Wingo
Samantha Wesley Schanz
Dojo Turnbull
1 Critic review

Top cast 31

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How long is The Takeover? Powered by Alexa
November 1, 2022 (India)
United States
Atlanta, Georgia, USA (on location)
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Runtime 1 hour 19 minutes

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COMMENTS

The Takeover (2022) Movie Review – An enjoyable thriller as ...
The Takeover has all the elements of a typical thriller movie — a feisty female protagonist, snarling British villains, an international government involved in a conspiracy and one truly unnecessary romance.
The Takeover (2022) - Rotten Tomatoes
Framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal, an ethical hacker must evade the police while trying to track down the criminals blackmailing her. Watch The Takeover with a subscription on...
The Takeover (2022) - IMDb
The Takeover: Directed by Annemarie van de Mond. With Holly Mae Brood, Géza Weisz, Frank Lammers, Noortje Herlaar. Framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal, an ethical hacker must evade the police while trying to track down the criminals blackmailing her.
The Takeover (2022) - User reviews - IMDb
The Take Over (2022) presents a riveting techno-thriller centered around an ethical hacker who finds herself framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal. As she becomes a target of both law enforcement and the criminals blackmailing her, the hacker must navigate a treacherous landscape, evading the authorities while striving to uncover ...
The Takeover Movie Review - Common Sense Media
In THE TAKEOVER, an ethical hacker (Holly Mae Brood) uncovers an international crime conspiracy. She is soon framed for murder and hunted by dangerous criminals and the police. Will she clear her name and uncover the conspiracy? Is It Any Good? There's a lot to like in this quick, pacey, thriller.
The Takeover review – an average coding thriller film
We review the Netflix film The Takeover (2022), which does not contain any significant spoilers. Action-crime-thriller Dutch film The Takeover is available for streaming on Netflix, and if you’re looking for something easy and simple to watch with a small intriguing kick, this is it.
The Takeover - Movie Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets.
The Takeover film review: Fastpaced hacker thriller can’t ...
Hacking, facial scan abuse and data theft mingle with old-school murder and blackmail in Annemarie van de Mond’s Dutch thriller, which unfolds as an uncomplicated potboiler despite its twisted undercurrent pertaining to cyber intrusion of privacy.
The Takeover Reviews - Metacritic
Framed for murder after uncovering a privacy scandal, an ethical hacker (Holly Mae Brood) must evade the police while trying to track down the criminals blackmailing her.
The Takeover (2022) - IMDb
The Takeover: Directed by Trent Harris. With Mary Tabor, Samantha Wesley Schanz, Dojo Turnbull, Wes Holland. Follows the struggle of Maya, a stubborn defiant vampire, in a volatile battle between her own kind, humans and davvers.