Silk Road

Do you want to root for the blinkered young drug dealer, getting rich by facilitating addictions across the globe, or the egotistical older rogue cop, exploiting vulnerable criminals? That’s your choice of protagonists in Silk Road, a misguided misfire of a movie based on a real dark web marketplace.

Aimless armchair libertarian Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) seems to stumble upon the idea for an illicit eBay knockoff that specializes in hard drugs (but hey, no kiddie porn, so it’s OK). His girlfriend, Julia (Alexandra Shipp), is fine with his new gig until he starts ignoring her. Meanwhile, rogue DEA agent Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke) gets out of rehab, returns to his wife and daughter, and gets transferred to the cyber crimes division, where he’s sidelined by a younger boss with pretentious facial hair.

Ulbricht is a real guy; Bowden is a composite; and it’s a safe bet almost everyone else is completely fictional. (A hacker played by Paul Walter Hauser borrows the name and some biographical details from a real Ulbricht associate, but his story line is significantly altered.) None of these people is the least interesting. Ross occasionally spouts libertarian poppycock, worries a lot without actually feeling guilty, and inexplicably trusts people he’s never met. Rick conducts an unauthorized investigation into something of which he has no understanding, miraculously succeeds, then turns to extortion.

If the movies of Martin Scorsese and David Fincher teach us anything, it’s that dramatizing the facts can make for some dynamic filmmaking. It’s a lesson writer-director Tiller Russell ignores, and viewers of Silk Road will need to turn to Google to learn the fascinating true history of Ulricht and his enterprise, which required a network of co-conspirators Russell largely erases. Worse, Russell seems to think viewers are too stupid to understand or care how the dark web or Bitcoin actually works; the few explanations provided are condescending and even misleading. Then there’s his treatment of women, passive and moody partners who only care about their men’s moral transgressions if they’re directly impacted.

Robinson and Clarke are both fine actors who deserve better — including better professional representation, since any reading of Russell’s TV movie-of-the-week quality screenplay should have discouraged their involvement. (Russell’s previous writing credits are mostly TV shows with the word “Chicago” in their title.)

Somewhere, Rolling Stone journalist David Kushner is no doubt shaking his head in disappointment. His readable and richly detailed story, “Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht’s Big Fall,” was the basis for Russell’s simplistic and eye-roll-inducing script. The good news is that Kushner’s story is still available to read for free online, a much better use of your time than watching Silk Road.

Grade: F. Rated R for language and mild violence. Now available for streaming via iTunes, Amazon, and other non-dark websites.

(Photos: Lionsgate)

Jason Clarke in “Silk Road.”