SummaryData has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset. It’s being weaponized to wage cultural and political warfare. People everywhere are in a battle for control of our most intimate personal details. From award-winning filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, The Great Hack uncovers the dark world of data exploitation with astounding acces... Read More
Directed By:Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim
Written By:Pedro Kos, Erin Barnett, Karim Amer
The Great Hack
Metascore
Generally Favorable
67
User score
Generally Favorable
6.5
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
61% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
33% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Jul 23, 2019
80
If the paranoia level could probably withstand a slight reduction, much of the movie feels utterly credible.
User score
Generally Favorable
56% Positive
28 Ratings
28 Ratings
28% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
16% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Aug 1, 2019
9
Thrilling documentary about Cambridge Analytica (Steve Bannon worked for them), and their connection to the Trump campaign, **** campaign and other elections around the world. Scary how "persuade able" voters are targeted with fake news and their vote may be changed.
Jan 15, 2020
7
Fascinating watch, if perhaps a bit messy. Our voting behaviors are successfully being manipulated and demonstrably driving society’s polarization through:
1. Unauthorized data mining of information we share freely on social media. 2. Targeted messages on these social media platforms - which are at best callous with the truth - to drive us to vote a certain way.
It’s truly scary to realize to what extent, and how effective it’s been used.
Jul 24, 2019
75
The Great Hack will be catnip for data wonks and mathematicians, but I sense its desired purpose is to be a cautionary tale for the general viewer. I think it’s a tad too long and a bit too wishy-washy when it should be angrier, but I was fascinated by it for a very specific personal reason.
Jul 11, 2019
70
The Great Hack uses a decent rehash of the Cambridge Analytica scandal as the starting point for an interesting two-pronged character study, an instigation for provocative ideas about data crime and what is ultimately a really, really, really conflicted look at when it's terrifying having corporations learning things about our online habits and when it's cool.
Jul 25, 2019
60
The Great Hack isn’t revealing much that hasn’t been reported elsewhere, but it’s powerful in the ways it does so.
Jul 25, 2019
50
These are interesting and fraught times that deserve an unflinching look at the perils of data rights and online privacy, but The Great Hack is a reminder that documentaries are not always journalism.
Jul 23, 2019
38
It seems so invested in a rehabilitation of Brittany Kaiser’s image that the filmmakers’ own motives end up being its most interesting subject.
Aug 28, 2019
6
Some good and interesting points are made, but in the end it feels more like a documentary about some of the people that were involved then about the bigger picture.
Jul 26, 2019
6
I though this documentary was good until the middle of it. Then it kind of dragged a lot around the girl, while not leaving place to the real events. I was particularly interested in the Brexit aspect of it. But the film fails to explain the circumstance around the Brexit and at least one election that were served by Cambridge Analytica. I give it 60% because it was still making some valid points about social media data.
Aug 5, 2019
5
Based on an engaging, important, and ongoing story, The Great Hack manages to fumble it all away. The Netflix documentary tries to stylize what could be viewed by some as just complicated tech news, but in doing so waters down the content. The Great Hack presents witnesses and facts in a haphazard manner; which when dealing with such politically charged material, does not come off as trustworthy. Those looking for a nice recap of events could give this a watch, but no new viewpoints or details are brought to the table for anyone else.
Aug 23, 2019
3
A documentary about Cambridge Analytica and how they sort of manipulated consumer data to get Trump elected. Although its well meaning, its also very heavy handed and seems to imply that people were duped, and that CA used some sort of brainwashing techniques to win. This is of course not true. While CA may have done some underhanded tactics, in the end it was the people who willingly voted for who they wanted, so it was simply a form of persuasion, which is kinda normal for ad companies.
Aug 9, 2019
2
An unsatisfactory treatment of an alarming threat to democracy everywhere. The threat posed by Facebook, and big data deserves much more than this treatment. The film raises important questions, but would have been a great deal better with a journalist narrator, who doesn’t take sides. The production values, music and the characters who are portrayed are all annoying. The film is one-sided and a true disappointment.
Production Company:
- Noujaim Films
- The Othrs
Release Date:Jul 24, 2019
Duration:1 h 53 m
Rating:TV-MA
Tagline:They Took Your Data. Then They Took Control.
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
International Documentary Association
• 1 Nomination
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Nomination
