Who Am I (2014)

> The age of digital gang war.

A German cyber-thriller from the director of 'The Silence'. The second half of the title 'Kein Systen ist Sicher' means 'No System is Safe' in English. So far, lots of films were made on this theme, but nothing was quite delightful as this one. Mainly because of the young cast and the depiction of the contemporary cyber world. With its incredible pace and the exciting storyline, in addition to that, some unexpected twists and turns, the film would easily surpass anybody's anticipation.

It hits the right chord at the right time to bring some of the wonderful scenes. But as usual like any thriller films, the third act was its strength where it peaked that caused to flip its narration to the different facet. There are positives and negatives in the hacking business, but what I witnessed in this was some kind of digital gang war which directly affected the law-enforcement agency. A virtually conflict between two gangs for their superiority over the cyber's underworld. That means don't imagine like an online game between two, but beyond that.

Usually the hackers are the sidekicks for the film's main characters. That's how most of the films depicted them and we know it. But there are some films that highlighted them on the first priority base, yet no film convinced me their genuine acts, both, virtually as well as physically to achieve their goals as in this one. I meant this film was not all about programming, cracking passwords, stealing data, releasing viruses, definitely not about a computer geek,

But yes, it was something like that whose world changes after encountering a small gang like him. They're all experts in different fields and together unstoppable, who later form a team nicknamed CLAY to make friend with the world's number one hacker MRX. After under-appreciated and humiliation, the CLAY dares their icon and urge to take his place, but the plan terribly fails. That's how the story takes a grand venture that brings the secret police into frame to expand its plot to a more interesting conclusion.

> "When the life gives you lemons, ask for salt and tequila."

The balance between all its contents were awesome. Not the whole time they sit in front of the computer and do the stuffs, but there many real outside world adventures. Because there's a belief among us that everything can be done playing with the computer keyboard which proved wrong here. Besides, there was a small slice of romance, and the magic trick which briefly illustrates the film's important phase that holds the key to understand the happenings. The overall narration was a flashback that opens in a police station where our main hero of the story was investigated. He himself compares with the superheroes and the hacking ability is his superpower.

Its not only the racy pace, but the energetic performances by the young actors was also the reason for the film's uplift. From the technical aspect, it was superbly written, directed and edited film. In some way, the film also resembles 'Fight Club' and 'The Usual Suspects'. Looks like the lead character was a big fan of those films and that's how it got influenced. I would have said many things about this film comparing with those two, but I'm trying to avoid the spoiler and it is possible only if I never brought this topic into here. But anyway, this film was one of the hardest nuts to crack what's coming next.

Talking about the twist, it feels like the same old tricks from some of the old Hollywood blockbusters. But you should be patience till the film to end, because that part matters a lot. Probably that's where anyone who watched it will decide how much they liked it. The film generated its own trademark with the black hood and the white mask which already got a cult status among its fans. The rock music was awesomely matched with this theme.

There is a Hollywood version is coming, but I'm hoping for not to mess it up like the majority of remakes does. In the mean time, I'll look forward to an announcement of a possible sequel, because films like this should end in a trilogy. Especially in the todays film business, trilogies are the greatest achievements that followed by the original film's success. If you had loved this film and after seeing the way it ended you won't say no to that. This film is not for IT techies alone, but anyone would enjoy it. Surely I recommend it for who're interested in crime, thriller.

8/10

A very controversial film. German directors as always surprised. Very pleased with references to the "Fight Club" Chuck Palahniuk. But personally, I did not like that so little attention is paid to the program side of the issue. Not a single one of the real applications was mentioned, but was worth it. The same Utopia n2n that cannot be hacked, for example.