In “Wardriver”, Dane DeHaan plays a low-level criminal named Cole. His racket is simple but clever. He drives around swiping people’s credentials by hacking into Wi-Fi networks and/or rigging phony card readers onto ATM machines. Once he has his victim’s information, he drains their bank accounts without leaving a digital trail. He only targets small scores which keeps him off the law’s radar. But when he’s pulled into a dangerous cyberheist, Cole finds himself caught in a web he can’t escape.
That’s a good introduction to director Rebecca Thomas’ “Wardriver”. It’s a slow-building crime thriller that takes some time to get going. Much of the first half is Cole driving around Salt Lake City, typing on his keyboard, sucking on lollipops, and puffing on his vape. Still screenwriter Daniel Casey’s script does a good enough job dropping us into Cole’s lonely, isolated existence, even if it doesn’t amount to much dramatically.
Things finally rev up after Cole is grabbed and beaten down by a local hood named Oscar (Mamoudou Athie). We learn Oscar works as a doorman at a swanky hotel’s restaurant that is frequented by a young woman named Sarah (Sasha Calle) and a man he believes to be her father. Oscar puts together a plan using an unaware Sarah to steal a chunk of money from her wealthy father. But he needs a hacker to pull it off. So he forces Cole to join his heist.
Cole skillfully pulls off the robbery, transferring over $800k out of Sarah’s account and getting Oscar off his back. But he quickly learns the older man is a powerful attorney with political connections named Mark Bilson (Jeffrey Donovan). And he’s not Sarah’s father. It turns out he’s her sugar daddy and he blames her for stealing his money. A guilt-ridden and slightly smitten Cole jumps back in to help Sarah. But he quickly discovers he’s in over his head.
The final act of “Wardriver” picks up momentum while adding a few interesting twists that liven things up a bit. The ending leaves several obvious questions but none that really bother us. That’s mainly because the characters remain at arm’s length for the duration of the movie. We never know them well enough to fully invest in their situations or circumstances. Even with solid performances, we only maintain a surface-level connection to them throughout.
There are several things to appreciate about Thomas’ direction, from her choices with the camera to her trust in her actors. She also does a good job capturing atmosphere and mood similar to that of popular neo-noirs. But the story, and more specifically the characters, are practically begging for more depth. That one emphasis could have taken “Wardriver” from a minor key crime thriller to something considerably more memorable.
VERDICT – 2.5 STARS
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