Silk Road

R

Released Feb 19, 2021

1 hr. 56 min.

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

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for Silk Road: Trailer 1

List

52%

66 Reviews

Tomatometer

39%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Inspired by larger-than-life actual events, this riveting crime thriller follows the rise and fall of Silk Road, the infamous darknet site that sent a seismic shock through the World Wide Web. Young, idealistic, and driven to succeed, Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) creates the internet's first unregulated marketplace: Silk Road. But when it becomes a multimillion-dollar pipeline for illicit drugs, Ross is set on a collision course with Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke), a disreputable and dangerously unpredictable DEA agent, who will use any means necessary to take him down.

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Premiered Jul 04

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Critics Consensus

Silk Road draws intriguing parallels between its oppositional main characters, but doesn't do quite enough to develop the story surrounding them.

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Jack M

Ok so where to start is the most difficult. I was aware of the Silk Road when it was happening 10 or so years ago. Earlier this year I came across a podcast which stirred my interest in the subject again. Since that I have listened to many podcasts and have recently just completed the book American Kingpin by Nick Bolton. This is a fantastic listen and if you have the slightest bit of Interest in the Silk Road then it is a must read or listen. Because of the amount of material I had consumed up to that point I made a point of holding off watching this film to see what they did with it. What a huge let down! In all the different sources of media while reading about this since January the story, overall is quite consistent and is very intriguing. This film has taken what could have been a very good movie and made a complete mess of the story. Nothing short of a mess and if you know nothing about Silk Road and come to this movie first then it's an injustice to the actual story which is fascinating. If you are reading this and want to know more about the subject and haven't watched the movie ….. Don't. In every source for the story there is one guy who goes by the title of VJ and his influence on DPR is significant with so may aspects of Silk Road but he is not even mentioned in the movie. I am assuming that this is a legal issue but without him it weakens an already poor telling of the story. All in all a vey poor movie on the subject if like me you know the full story. They could have done so much more with this but have failed in every aspect.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/23/24

Full Review

Richard B

The movie does no Justice to the actual nonfiction of the real life story. The book is 1000x better than this film. I don't know if the director read the book. This movie is way off to what actually happened. Great story in the book translated to an awful awful movie. Pretty painful to watch.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/18/23

Full Review

stoner j

Absolutely underrated gem of a true crime drama with excellent work showing both sides of the criminal and the cops investigation of it, awesome movie!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Wolfgang G

Silk Road – Gebieter des Darknets (Originaltitel: Silk Road) ist ein Thriller von Tiller Russell, der auch das Drehbuch schrieb… Der junge, ehrgeizige Unternehmer Ross Ulbricht gründet eine anonyme und unregulierte Darknet-Website, die sich schnell zum illegalen Marktplatz für Drogen entwickelt… Wenn ich den Film sehe, fällt mir „The Social Network" mit Jesse Eisenberg ein... In „Silk Road – Gebieter des Darknets" geht es um Ross Ulbricht und um seine Geschichte, die etwas langatmig ist. Gutes Drehbuch und Regie Tiller Russell. Die beiden Hautdarsteller Jason Clarke und Nick Robinson haben mit ihrer Katz und Maus Spiel eine gute Leistung abgegeben…

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The abuse of prescription drugs is raging across the globe.... Mass murder by Big Pharma and law enforcement turning a blind eye... Film doesn't do any justice.... Maybe it will open some eyes to some that don't understand how serious this genocide is..

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Gosh, what a crappy director. I noticed 5 errors of continuity already within the first 15 minutes. Everything is done so much on the cheap that an interesting and cool story is turned into something annoying right from the start. 4/10 points.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

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Tiller Russell

Director

Jason Clarke

Rick Bowden

Nick Robinson

Ross Ulbricht

Katie Aselton

Sandy Bowden

Jimmi Simpson

Chris Tarbell

Daniel David Stewart

Max

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Silk Road: Featurette - Chemistry

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Silk Road: Trailer 1

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Mark Kermode

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

A passable cybercrime thriller...kind of manages to be interesting, though the invented stuff feels VERY invented...

Mar 30, 2021

Full Review

Linda Marric

New Scientist

Robinson gives a suitably nervy and understated performance as the anti-hero you wish you could root for.

Mar 18, 2021

Full Review

Danny Leigh

Financial Times

The game of cat-and-mouse is diverting enough...

Rated: 3/5

Mar 17, 2021

Full Review

Daryl MacDonald

InSession Film

Silk Road plays more like a run-of-the-mill thriller than anything else.

Rated: C

Apr 26, 2024

Full Review

Rebecca Johnson

Film Focus Online

Suffice it to say, it may not shock or fascinate like a documentary would've been able to, yet it manages to remain grounded, believable and engaging for the entire two hour run-time.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 6, 2023

Full Review

Josh Parham

Next Best Picture

The film wants us to see a complicated world filled with bad actors with some good tendencies but none of these characters are interesting enough to justify whatever thematic commentary is provided.

Rated: 5/10

Jun 8, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Inspired by larger-than-life actual events, this riveting crime thriller follows the rise and fall of Silk Road, the infamous darknet site that sent a seismic shock through the World Wide Web. Young, idealistic, and driven to succeed, Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) creates the internet's first unregulated marketplace: Silk Road. But when it becomes a multimillion-dollar pipeline for illicit drugs, Ross is set on a collision course with Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke), a disreputable and dangerously unpredictable DEA agent, who will use any means necessary to take him down.

Director: Tiller Russell
Executive Producer: Dawn Bierschwal, Christopher Figg, Elika Portnoy, Robert Whitehouse, B. Thomas Golisano, Marc Halpern
Screenwriter: Tiller Russell
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Piccadilly Pictures, High Frequency Entertainment, Perfect Season Productions, Mutressa Movies
Rating: R (Pervasive Language|Drug Content)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 19, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 19, 2021
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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