Mel Bandison (Holly Mae Brood) is a computer genius. He checks software programs for bugs and in his spare time finds criminal hackers and wrecks them. She also cares about the environment. When she was a 16-year-old girl, she hacked into an air force base system to protect the seals from harm. Like Angela Bennett on The Net and Angela Childs on Kimi, Mel becomes a computer programmer on the run from a dangerous conspiracy/organization/men. The problem starts when she finds a conduit in the software for a self-driving bus and disables it with her "middle finger" Trojan virus. Now, some men are after her, as well as Thomas (Geza Weisz), a man with whom she had an embarrassing date.
Who are these men? What are your reasons? Can the police be trusted? The answers may not surprise you at all. You see, The Takeover doesn't just obediently walk on clichés, it also walks apathetically. It's one of the laziest movies of the year. To talk about it is to turn off your enthusiasm for cinema or life itself. The Takeover is like that "middle finger" virus. Give the audience a finger for spending their time on something so painfully mediocre. It will find its place among the piles of Netflix garbage that the streaming service churns out with an alarming pace and fervor.
Director: Annemarie van de Mond
Writers: Hans Erik Kraan, Tijs van Marle
Stars: Holly Mae Brood, Geza Weisz, Frank Lammers
Consider the other movies The Takeover reminds you of: The Net and Kimi. Both movies had a techie running from one place to another. They didn't have solid turns either, as the material was pretty predictable. However, the main ingredient that made those movies so easy to watch was the performance of the lead actress. Sandra Bullock has a seductive charm that rises above the bad stuff. Even if the situation around her seems absurd, she takes it very seriously, so we believe in her. At Kimi, we enjoy watching Zoë Kravitz's mannerisms. Little details, like how she moved her hands after using sanitizer, helped portray a person with certain traits and gave her character credibility. In other words, we care about Bennett and Childs and we want them to overcome all obstacles.
Unfortunately, Mel lacks charms. You can't blame Mae Brood because she does everything she can with her role. But there's not much the actress can do when the movie simply requires her to give expressions of concern and sadness. In most of it, she runs or hides from bad guys or stares at computer screens as she runs her fingers across the keyboard. The film uses Mel as a functional device to carry out the tasks of the script. Thomas decides to help her and she eventually falls in love with him because that's how a cliché like this usually progresses. There is no hint of a romantic spark or chemistry between the two actors. They just go through the motions.
Mel has a mentor figure named Buddy (Frank Lammers). They were close to each other once, but she found out something about him and reported it to Interpol. So Mel is on the run too. However, The Takeover is so bland that all of this information does nothing for Buddy and Mel's relationship. When he reappears later, she seems like a new character. He can delete the prologue and edit this thread, and The Takeover will remain just as boring as the current version. At least, in the modified edition, I would have one less cliché to recycle. I'm talking about the "If you're listening to this, then I'm dead" message. Like everything, this scene is invoked with more laxity and less dedication.
The final parts of The Takeover resemble a Speed-like thriller. If you're still reading this review, you'll assume these scenes lack that edge-of-your-seat element. Since the movie is close to the finish line, you predict that the self-driving bus will stop near the flyover. This is not the kind of movie that likes to shock. The sequence also goes back and forth so quickly that you don't register the dangerous situation of the passengers. On the other hand, if you get this far in the movie, you'll be logged out or probably scrolling through your phone. The bus is saved in the end, but nothing stops The Takeover from crashing into the wall of cinematic disaster.