The Takeover

The Netflix "Top 10" row is the modern equivalent of the dusty back shelf at a Blockbuster—a place where high-concept thrillers arrive with a bang, linger for a weekend, and then dissolve into the digital ether. The Takeover (2022) is the quintessential inhabitant of this space. It’s an 87-minute Dutch techno-thriller that feels like it was engineered in a lab to satisfy our collective anxiety about deepfakes and self-driving cars, yet it carries the DNA of those 1990s "hacker" movies where typing really fast on a glowing keyboard can apparently stop a nuclear launch.

I sat down to watch this on a Tuesday evening while nursing a lukewarm cup of peppermint tea that I’d forgotten to steep, and that slightly muted, "just okay" experience perfectly mirrored the film itself. It doesn’t demand your full attention, but it’s slick enough to keep you from reaching for your phone—at least for the first hour.

The Algorithm’s Favorite Nightmare

The setup is classic "wrong person, wrong time" updated for the 2020s. Holly Mae Brood plays Mel Bandison, a self-proclaimed ethical hacker who sports the mandatory "cool loner" uniform of oversized hoodies and headphones. When she’s hired to check the security of a high-tech self-driving bus, she inadvertently stumbles upon a data breach linked to an international criminal network. Before she can say "firewall," she’s framed for a murder via a deepfake video that looks alarmingly real.

Director Annemarie van de Mond (who previously handled the historical drama Riphagen) leans hard into the contemporary fear of technological manipulation. In an era where we can't trust our own eyes on social media, the idea of being erased by a few lines of code is a potent hook. However, the film struggles to decide if it wants to be a gritty, grounded character study or a high-octane chase movie. It settles for a middle ground that feels a bit like a "light" version of Enemy of the State. The hacking scenes have all the realism of a toddler playing with a Speak & Spell, featuring the usual array of scrolling green text and dramatic "Access Denied" pop-ups that real IT professionals probably find hilarious.

Dutch Stars and Digital Shadows

What saves The Takeover from being entirely forgettable is the cast. Holly Mae Brood—the daughter of the legendary Dutch rock musician Herman Brood—gives Mel a sense of genuine panic that keeps the stakes feeling human. She’s joined by Géza Weisz as Thomas, an old flame/casual acquaintance who gets dragged into the mess. Their chemistry is a bit thin, but they function well as a frantic duo trying to outrun both the cops and the shadows.

Local audiences will get a kick out of seeing Frank Lammers as Buddy, Mel’s mentor. Lammers is a titan of Dutch television (best known for the excellent Netflix series Undercover), and he brings a much-needed gravity to the proceedings. He’s the grizzled old-school hacker who reminds us that before there were sleek clouds and AI, there were just guys in basements with stacks of hard drives. Seeing him on screen provides a nice bridge between the analog past and our hyper-connected present.

The cinematography by Willem Helwig is surprisingly crisp, utilizing the modern Dutch landscape—all sharp glass, steel, and rain-slicked asphalt—to create a cold, sterile atmosphere. It captures that specific European "streaming" look: clean, high-contrast, and slightly anonymous, as if the story could be happening in Rotterdam, Berlin, or Seattle without changing a single line of dialogue.

The Problem with the "Short King" Runtime

At 87 minutes, The Takeover is a "Short King" of cinema. In an age of bloated three-hour franchise epics, a film that gets in and out in under an hour and a half should be celebrated. Yet, the pacing here feels rushed rather than tight. The transition from Mel stopping a bus glitch to becoming a wanted fugitive happens so fast you might wonder if you accidentally hit the 1.5x speed button.

The screenplay by Tijs van Marle and Hans Erik Kraan hits every beat you expect: the narrow escape, the "we need to find the one guy who knows the truth," and the climactic confrontation in a high-tech facility. It’s functional, but it lacks the inventive "wow" moments that make contemporary action stand out. We’ve seen the "framed person on the run" story a thousand times, and while the deepfake twist is timely, the movie doesn't do much with it beyond using it as a plot device to get Mel moving. It misses the opportunity to really dig into the psychological horror of having your identity stolen by an algorithm.

Ultimately, The Takeover is a victim of its own efficiency. It’s a perfectly serviceable thriller that fills a Friday night void, but it lacks the bite or the visual signature to leave a lasting impression. It reflects our current cinema moment: a film produced for a global platform that prioritizes "watchability" over distinct personality. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a high-end frozen meal—it looks great on the box, satisfies the immediate hunger, but you won’t remember the taste by morning.

If you’re a fan of the genre or want to see the Dutch film industry flexing its action muscles, it’s worth a look. Just don't expect it to hack its way into your all-time favorites list. It’s a brisk, digital diversion that serves as a reminder that in 2022, sometimes the most dangerous thing you can do is help someone fix their computer.