Director: Tiller Russell
Starring: Jason Clarke, Nick Robinson, Alexandra Shipp
Running Time: 112 minutes
Synopsis: It's 2011 in Austin, Texas. Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) is a young man drifting through life with strong libertarian views. After starting a relationship with girlfriend Julia (Alexandra Shipp), he launches a dark web marketplace free from government scrutiny. Using anonymous browsing and cryptocurrency, Silk Road becomes the go-to trading platform for illegal drugs and weapons. Separately, grizzled DEA Agent Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke) is reassigned to cybercrimes, and eventually starts to investigate Silk Road. But Rick has personal troubles of his own and cannot get his supervisor's attention.
What Works Well: Based on actual events with added artistic flourishes, this compelling biography explores the outcomes of unconstrained commerce enabled by burgeoning technology. Ulbricht may have initially held utopian objectives, but unimaginable money generated by an anything-goes ethos leads to dark places. Nick Robinson portrays an absolutist running an empire from a laptop and quickly in over his head, and Jason Clarke provides a sturdy counterweight as the DEA agent forced into a late career pivot and not beyond temptation. The private family lives of both men inject texture into the too-wild-for-fiction drama.
What Does Not Work As Well: With the emotions of the two central characters taking precedence, some critical details underpinning Bowden's investigation and the FBI closing in on Ulbricht are hopelessly muddled.
Key Quote:
Ross Ulbricht: Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to change the world.
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