What the director and screenwriters did not understood is that Silk Road was at the time a big revolution: drugs that were always bought with physical cash transactions, with all risks for being caught on the spot by the police, finally moved to the hidden web, guaranteeing anonymous purchases from all around the world and having them delivered directly at home. The market became so important, that the website started to sell also other kind of products, and this in a little over two years, which is impressive. Nothing of this is portrayed in the movie, which focuses too much on things that does not matter at all. Why giving so much attention to Ulbricht and his girlfriend? Why giving so much space to Bowden? Everything is rushed to a point where certain part of the story are completely skipped: how the founder passed to sell just drugs, to also weapons and fake documents? We don't get to know.

Ulbricht is portrayed just like a clueless guy, that does not have any idea on how to handle his activity, which maybe was partially true, but let me tell you that a guy that he is able to build from the ground up a marketplace so big and important, is not for sure dumb. In fact he finished university and he obtained even a master. Why you did not show the craft of the website? How he came up with the name Silk Road? How he grew his business, which strategies he used? None of this apparently matter on the eyes of creators. We see instead a DEA agent that was transferred to the cybercrimes department, because he completely suck at his job and need just to work a few months to get the pension. We see him hanging around with his informant, that does most of the job that he is supposed to do. Absolutely ridiculous. Moreover is the classic cop that he is not able to understand that time changes and the job is different now, so he is basically the typical boomer, not able to accept having a younger boss, more experienced than him in IT, and he claims that the old way is always the best one. So cliché.

If you really want to make a movie about Silk Road, you should first of all really inform yourself, reading books and watching documentaries about the topic, making tons of research; understanding how this single website changed society, which were the consequences when was shut down and what inspired afterwards. The movie is incomplete, and made by people that clearly did not know anything about it. If you really want to know the true story, please go to watch "Deep Web", as it really explain what happened.

Writer & director Tiller Russell's absorbing cybercrime thriller about dealing drugs on the Dark Web, "Silk Road" is just as exciting as it is insightful. Russell adapted David Kushner's 2014 Rolling Stone magazine article, "Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht's Big Fall," as the basis for his depiction of this audacious crime of the century. Half of the time is spent on a 26-year- old Libertarian, Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson of "Love, Simon"),and his deluded dream of changing the world with a website where drugs can be bought and sold incognito. Historically, these events occurred between 2011 and 2015. If you don't know much about the Internet, you'll learn a lot from this marvelous R-rated, 102-minute melodrama that surprisingly shuns formulaic violence. You won't see any careening car chases, noisy gunfights, or dazzling displays of martial arts. A do-it-yourself kind of guy, Ross Ulbricht failed in his early attempts as an entrepreneur until he dreamed up his visionary scheme to forge 'an Amazon for drugs.' Literally, you'll get a primer on the Dark Web, Bitcoin, and the Tor browser. Mind you, the real-life Ross is serving life without parole for his Silk Road shenanigans.

Happily, "Silk Road" winks at its own factual infidelity: "This story is true. Except for what we made up or changed." Several Federal law enforcement agencies liaised to arrest Ulbricht and dismantle his global empire. Russell has depicted Ulbricht accurately enough, but he has tampered considerably with the truth about the two Feds who infiltrated Silk Road. In reality, Russell's fictitious DEA agent Rick Bowden, played by "Lawless" star Jason Clarke as a sympathetic loose cannon cop with an estranged wife and a young, learning-impaired daughter, is nothing like the two rogue agents-a DEA agent and a Secret Service agent-who brought Ross Ulbricht down. In part a standard Hollywood practice, Russell has synthesized these two agents into one for the sake of simplicity. Apart from this character synthesis, "Silk Road" adheres largely to the facts.

"Silk Road" opens at the dramatic moment when the FBI with a SWAT team are poised to arrest Ulbricht. He is taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi at the San Francisco Public Library. Undercover agents are scattered around the reading room as Ulbricht enters, seats himself, and opens his laptop. Team Leader Chris Tarbell (Jimi Simpson of "Unhinged") supervised the Federal multi-agency task force investigating Ulbricht. Tabell watches Ulbricht with breathless anticipation. He needs Ulbricht's laptop for evidence against him. Poised as his agents are to pounce on Ulbricht, Tarbell is surprised when his quarry receives a last-minute phone call. Ulbricht picks up, and "Silk Road" plunges into a lengthy flashback. The movie traces Ulbricht's life back to 2011 before he created his Silk Road website. Ulbricht is looking for the next big thing after his prior entrepreneurial efforts have tanked. Based on his Libertarian ideals, he regards America's war on drugs as a farce. He decides to set up a site on the Dark Web where narcotics can be bought and sold without violating the anonymity of either seller or buyer.

Along about the same time, an old school, tough-as-nails DEA agent Rick Bowden has just been released from rehab. He had been put on suspension for wrecking a car while on cocaine. Miraculously, Bowden's superior was able to pull strings to keep him from being fired for his misconduct. Bowden's penalty is expulsion from the narcotics squad and a transfer to Cybercrimes. Bowden's new boss informs him that all he must do is ride out his nine months, and he can retire with a pension. It doesn't help matters that Bowden isn't computer savvy and has trouble performing the simplest of commands, such as sending an email.

Eventually, through grit and perseverance, Bowden teaches himself how to log on and navigate the Internet. Later, when Bowden asks his former informant, Rayford (Darrell Britt-Gibson of "Keanu"),about people "buying drugs on YouTube," Rayford bursts out laughing at his ignorance. In due course, with Rayford's help, Bowden learns about the notorious Silk Road website. He is amazed to learn how sophisticated and impregnable it is. As it turns out, Bowden discovers he isn't the only cop out to bust Silk Road. Meantime, the other half of "Silk Road" depicts Rick's efforts to mend his troubled marriage and make the dreams of his kindergarten aged daughter come true. Rick's wife wants to enroll their daughter in a special school, but the tuition is astronomical.

Old school cop that he is, Rick refuses to be a team player. Not only does he manage to infiltrate Silk Road, but he compromises one of Ulbricht's administrators, Curtis Clark Green (Paul Walter Hauser of "Richard Jewell") and fakes Green's death so he can impress Ulbricht and become an accomplice. At this point, Ulbricht's life is going into a tailspin. He runs a million-dollar company, but he finds himself being preyed on by his own employees, so he is willing to open the door for fresh blood. Moreover, with his insider information about the investigation, Rick is able to keep Ulbricht one step ahead of Chris Tarbell's FBI squad.

Director Tiller Russell has done a marvelous job of making an incredibly complex criminal case palatable. The actual Silk Road investigation was mind-boggling. You can read about its complicated details at various websites. Basically, "Silk Road" resembles a vintage gangster movie since it chronicles the rise and fall of an illegal empire. As Ross Ulbricht, Nick Robinson is perfectly cast, but his vulnerable performance belies the fact that his real-life counterpart was far less sympathetic. Alexandra Shipp is squandered in a thankless supporting role as Ross' girlfriend Julia. By far, Jason Clarke makes the strongest impression as a lone wolf cop who takes down Ulbricht, despite going rogue himself to provide for his daughter's tuition. "Silk Road" qualifies as an unforgettable exposé not only about the Dark Web but also about a stunning cybercrime caper.

Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson ) is a die hard Libertarian who hates government and likes drugs. He opens a dark web store for drugs as people use Bitcoin for illegal transactions (as they still do today). Rick Bowden (Jason Clarke) is an old school DEA agent who has fallen from grace all the way down to a desk job in cyber crime. He has stumbled on to Ross' s web site "Silk Road" and is attempting to make a human connection.

This is an embellished tale based on a true story of Internet crime. For every site they take down more pop up to take its place. The government is playing a losing game of whack-a-mole as long as cryptocurrency is legal. We know how the production ends as it opens with a teaser of Ross about to be arrested.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.