“The Takeover” on Netflix is a 2022 crime thriller film that will drive you through the intangible world of hacking. The movie revolves around the life of Mel Bandison, who works as a professional software artist, but in reality, she uses her hacking skills to help people in need. Over ten years, Mel cracked several systems and transferred the money of many individuals to various charitable organizations as they were cheating the economy! Mel began her journey at the age of sixteen and became a master hacker! But her collaboration with the Rotramax company caused her major problems, which resulted in life-threatening calls and even manipulation of her personal data. As usual, Mel collaborated with Linde Van Erp, the CEO of Rotramax, for the final Eurocode detection of her company’s newly designed self-driving bus. This software checkup was necessary to avoid any mishaps that could hinder the database of the bus’ pre-set movements. Well, Mel began to look over its software functioning until she spotted a major fault in Rotramax’s mainframe. Moreover, she worked on this project for more than three months but still couldn’t find any errors. There was a pipeline attached to the confidential database of Rotramax, and all the secret information was leaking through the same pipeline. Meanwhile, Mel had to figure out a way to stop these hackers, so she temporarily set up a trojan horse that blocked their movements.
Mel needed more time to figure out the true purpose of this hacker. Back at the hackers’ set-up, everyone panicked since Mel’s trojan blocked off all their computers, and they couldn’t access a single one. Well, the problem was solved for the time being, and Mel decided to head back to her place. She spent the rest of her night hacking different companies that used illegal methods to gain money. Mel hacked into the software of a company named Ecoware disposal, and the CEO of this company made a new deal to dump four tons of toxic waste in the river. Along with her friends Jay and Yu, they accessed the company’s network and hacked all the computers. Well, they quickly emptied his credit cards and transferred all their crypto money to a charity.
For the final message, Mel always ended her mission with the specific trojan horse that signified ‘a middle finger’. But little did she know that this sign was going to drag her into unnecessary trouble! Once all the work was done, Mel drifted off to sleep, but her security alarms notified her of an intruder. She quickly checked the front door and saw that someone was trying to step inside. So, Mel decided to make a run and hide. Two armed men stepped inside her room and ransacked the whole place while taking photos of her wall. Mel attached the photos of all the companies that she had hacked into, and now the photos have been stolen by unknown men. As Mel tried to open the front door, the perpetrators heard the sound and chased after her. Luckily, Mel managed to save herself and decided to file a complaint against them.
But things took a devastating turn as Mel made her way onto the national news. The criminals morphed her face in a video that clearly depicted that Mel had killed a person, but it was not her in the first place. Again, she spotted the same men leaking all the photos of her house and presenting multiple clues to her secret hacking business. Mel escaped from the police station and decided to invade Thomas’ place. Well, she had met him through a dating application, and he was the last person to meet Mel. But they found her at his place and attacked both of them, so now Thomas was entangled in this maze. Well, Mel had to figure out a way to prove her innocence, and only one person could save her from this. It was her former acquaintance, Buddy. Buddy and Mel were close to each other! She found him at the age of sixteen, and together they worked to find criminal hackers who lured innocent people for money.
Together, they cracked into their data, turned in the criminals to the police, and returned all the stolen money to the victims. But Buddy breached the contract and used the money instead for himself. So, Mel didn’t support him with this and filed a complaint against Buddy. Well, since then, Buddy went into hiding, and Interpol couldn’t trace his location. But Jay managed to get his information, and now Mel and Thomas awaited Buddy’s arrival. Once he arrived, they headed back to his secret place, which was filled with various computer systems. Mel logged into Rotramax’s database, and Buddy began retrieving the information. Even though it was tricky, he managed to find the true perpetrator. Mel was constantly threatened by a man named Rogers, and he didn’t reveal any information, but he asked for Mel’s encryption code to break down the trojan horse.
But she was certain that the two men worked for Rogers. Meanwhile, Buddy figured out the details of the hackers, and everything was connected to Xiaoming. A software company that worked with Rotramax for more than four years. Well, Xiaoming specializes in facial recognition software conforming to all European regulations. The hackers that were hacking into Rotramax’s systems were working with Xiaoming and Mel’s trojan horse and blocked the entire functioning of different companies that were linked together across the globe. Once they’ve scanned faces, they can retrieve all their personal information to access bank accounts, financial details, medical data, and social media presence. All the information is forwarded to the Chinese government. The Chinese government needed to eliminate Mel to save their name, or else they would land in legal trouble.
Blackmailing Mel is an easy task since she’s a violent hacker, and people will not believe her side of the story. Mel decided to inform them of the whereabouts of officer Dries Daoudi, but they refused to entertain her. Before she could act on it, Rogers figured out their location and shot Buddy down. Mel was devastated by his death and regretted involving him in this case. But Mel had to move on and prove her innocence to avoid ruining her identity. Now, the only way to provide proof was through the scanning systems of the self-driving bus. If she broke into Rotramax’s database and found her facial scans, Mel could easily prove her part. But Thomas decided to inform officer Daoudi to help Mel since Rogers and his men could kill her. But Mel managed to escape before Daoudi arrived, and Thomas was arrested. Mel quickly made her way into Rotramax’s database room to access their system. Meanwhile, Linde and the other company staff were busy with the launching ceremony of the self-driving bus.
The scanner inside the bus scanned the faces of everyone that was present inside the bus, and their facial data was retrieved by Xiaoming. Before Mel could transfer those data files, Rogers placed a gun on her head and commanded her to encrypt her trojan horse. But Mel was smart; she switched off the main powerline and escaped the room. But, Daoudi arrested her while Rogers ran away. Rogers accidentally shot at the computer system of Rotramax, and the bus began malfunctioning. Mel managed to convince officer Daoudi, and they headed to the control room to fix the bus. The bus was heading towards the Erasmus bridge, and to stop it, Mel had to hack its local access point. But this process needed a lot of time to activate. Luckily, Thomas managed to get a hold of Buddy’s car, and his transceiver could stop the bus! Mel informed Thomas to access the bus and attach the transceiver to its receiver.
Thomas managed to step inside the bus and used his car to balance himself around the door. He attached the transceiver, and Mel manipulated all its access points and stopped the bus. Well, Mel was finally able to prove her side of the story, and the movie ended on a good note. Three days after this incident, Mel received an anonymous clip from Buddy. He had recorded a video that was to be transferred to Mel if he failed to access his system for more than three days, which would indicate that he had passed away. Buddy used all the stolen money for the betterment of Mel, he wanted her to work on big projects, and all the stolen income was spent on securing her future. In the end, Buddy was her biggest supporter, and even though they went through a rough patch, Buddy helped her to the very end and even sacrificed himself for Mel’s sake.
“The Takeover” is a 2022 crime mystery film directed by Annemarie van de Mond.
