Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Silk Road

Play trailer 2:12 Poster for Silk Road R 2021 1h 56m Mystery & Thriller Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
50% Tomatometer 64 Reviews 39% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
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.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Silk Road

Silk Road

What to Know

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Mark Kermode Kermode & Mayo's Film Review 03/30/2021
A passable cybercrime thriller...kind of manages to be interesting, though the invented stuff feels VERY invented... Go to Full Review
Linda Marric New Scientist 03/18/2021
Robinson gives a suitably nervy and understated performance as the anti-hero you wish you could root for. Go to Full Review
Danny Leigh Financial Times 03/17/2021
3/5
The game of cat-and-mouse is diverting enough... Go to Full Review
Daryl MacDonald InSession Film 04/26/2024
C
Silk Road plays more like a run-of-the-mill thriller than anything else. Go to Full Review
Josh Parham Next Best Picture 06/08/2022
5/10
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. Go to Full Review
Paul M. Bradshaw NME (New Musical Express) 04/23/2021
2/5
...nothing but a bad trip. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Jack M 03/23/2024 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. See more stoner j @Stoner 11/14/2022 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! See more Wolfgang G 07/17/2022 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… See more 06/23/2022 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.. See more 04/20/2022 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. See more torin f @nonlinearize 04/06/2022 A decently-factual if somewhat flat dramatization that will likely seem rather lifeless to those who haven't read the article on which it's based. Read the Rolling Stone article (and the excellent longform "Untold Story" piece in Wired) first, then watch the movie as enjoyable visual accompaniment to this wild tale. See more Read all reviews
Silk Road

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
Nightmare Alley 80% 68% Nightmare Alley Watchlist TRAILER for Nightmare Alley The Devil You Know 36% 82% The Devil You Know Watchlist TRAILER for The Devil You Know The Little Things 45% 67% The Little Things Watchlist TRAILER for The Little Things Motherless Brooklyn 65% 80% Motherless Brooklyn Watchlist TRAILER for Motherless Brooklyn Domino 34% 17% Domino Watchlist TRAILER for Domino Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

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
Producer
Stephen Gans, Jack Selby, Duncan Montgomery, David Hyman, Alex Orlovsky
Screenwriter
Tiller Russell
Distributor
Lionsgate Films
Production Co
Perfect Season Productions, Mutressa Movies, High Frequency Entertainment, Piccadilly Pictures
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
Runtime
1h 56m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
Most Popular at Home Now