MovieChat Forums > Takedown (2000) Discussion > Why was this movie banned in the US at r...

Why was this movie banned in the US at release?

posted 16 years ago by telzon66
10 replies | jump to latest

I was just wondering if anyone had some insight in to why this movie was banned in the US upon its release but not anywhere else. I have tried searching the internet and haven't found anything. The only reason I can think of is the "real" Mitnick contested this film because of the false information about what he did that was put in to the movie. I know Amazon sells it now, slightly edited and called Track Down, good thing I still have my warez of Takedown :) But, apparently Track Down has a couple edited scenes and one being, when Agent Gibson (Chistopher McDonald) says, "That Little Fkr" which is so damn funny because of the scene, and can't believe they would take that out, its the perfect line. Well, this will still be one of all time favorite computer based movies.

"Kevin, why do you do it?"
"The questions how, the questions always how."

[–] Leo_Rockway 16 years ago

0) This movie sucked, it used a real story and a real name to show only lies.
1) Go watch Freedom Downtime.
2) Hacking it not a crime.
3) Cracking it not stealing.
4) Since Kevin is free... FREE SOFTWARE, free as in GNU.

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[–] imback_591 14 years ago

leo rockway hacking actually is a crime because you are illegally gaining access to a computer system which does not belong to you to begin with if you need this explained to you I have lost hope for people at all

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] airfaith 12 years ago

erm, no, just people have begun using the work hacking for so many things that are similar but are not the same. saying "in the know" is not an explanation, and i fear for your mental capability in this case.

[–] trentcus 16 years ago

It was not banned. The Mitnick gang threatened a lawsuit if it was release in the US because they claimed it contained untruthful material.

[–] justin-154 16 years ago

I concur. My part in this was poorly portrayed by Jeremy Sisto. So Lance Petersen is actualy me, Justin Petersen. Google, you'll see.

Markoff and Shimomura had thier fingers all over this script. They just made up stuff when it didn't make sense. I'm surprised I was portrayed in the movie in the first place.

The film was full of nonsense. I didn't want it to get made either.

Mitnick is on the conference circuit now. Ask him yourself when he comes to town. ;-)

[–] trentcus 15 years ago

I read about three books from this era, which I have at home. One of them is "Takedown: The Pursuit and Capture of Kevin Mitnick, America's Most Wanted Computer Outlaw—By the Man Who Did It."

Seems it did you some credit towards helping locate Mitnick, if I recal correctly, or it could have been one of the others such as "The Fugitive Game: Online with Kevin Mitnick."

Probably in Takedown, and added you in as filler for the movie. "The world vs Mitnick" type of plot in the movie.

Didn't you write an article back in ~98 called "Getting Busted?"

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] biofh 10 years ago

Just to clear up this bit. The film was not banned, nor did Mitnick keep it out of theaters.

In fact, he and his attorneys were involved in getting some of the more outrageous parts removed (things he didn't do, like hacking into government systems or fighting with, much less interacting with, Shimmy). His attorneys _did_ initially threaten to sue based on the original leaked script before all that was removed, but the filmmakers agreed to cut things and paid a settlement so that they could have access to Mitnick for the production (Ulrich wanted to talk to Kevin about the part).

The Free Kevin movement did picket Miramax and other places but, in the end, the movie failed on its own. It was critiqued and previewed poorly, and in limited releases made little money and so it never gained wide distribution. So, it didn't go 'straight' to DVD, but it didn't take long before that was the distributor's only hope at gaining sales. It was never going to make it in theaters.

The film is dramatized and still wildly inaccurate. Mitnick hacked into a lot of places, gained access to a lot of resources, messed with a LOT of phone system switches and routers, and used false identities. But he was not a hacker that matched the myth that had grown around him. He didn't hack into NORAD. He didn't hack into the CIA. He didn't steal people's money. Oh, he had credit card numbers out the wazoo... but he didn't use them. He didn't rip off 'regular people'. Mitnick was a very talented social engineer and a more than competent network, phone and computer cracker. But he wasn't the villain he was portrayed to be. He was, in the end, a 'petty criminal' around whom a 'super-hacker' legend grew.

Oh. And this movie sucked.