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Dark Web: Cicada 3301 Movie Storyline. Arrested by the NSA for his alleged involvement with the secretive organization Cicada 3301, hacker Connor testifies in front of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court about the events that transpired. Connor explains that 29 days earlier, he inadvertently found the organization’s recruitment game, which requires participants to solve a series of puzzles in order to join.
Strong-armed by the NSA to help them shut down Cicada, Connor takes part in the game alongside Gwen, a librarian seeking to be recruited, and his best friend Avi. The three succeed in finding clues from the puzzles, but after nearly being killed by another group of participants, Gwen and Avi drop out. Connor, however, continues the game and eventually causes a massive power outage, earning him an invitation to Cicada’s private party in England.
Recognizing that Cicada intends to bring chaos to the world, Connor informs Gwen and Avi that he intends to bring down the organization at the party, prompting them to join him. The infiltration goes awry, resulting in Connor and Gwen being captured by Cicada’s leader, Phillip Dubois. Dubois, who defends the organization as bringing equality to an unjust world, reveals that Gwen is a treasonous NSA agent pursuing amnesty through Cicada.
Connor escapes through killing Dubois’ guards, but as a result of Gwen being shot, she provides Connor with a USB drive to obtain the information that Cicada holds. Confronted by Connor, Dubois confesses that he is an actor following orders from Cicada and was unaware anyone would be harmed. As the NSA storms the building, Connor succeeds in downloading the information before being knocked unconscious in his escape attempt, while the agents kill Dubois.
At the conclusion of Connor’s testimony, the judges find fault in the NSA’s tactics, but also inform Connor that he has incriminated himself in several felonies. However, Connor reveals that he was stalling the court with his testimony so he would be able to start leaking the private documents that he downloaded.
Dark Web: Cicada 3301 is an action-comedy thriller film directed by Alan Ritchson, in his directorial debut, who co-wrote the script with Joshua Montcalm. Inspired by the eponymous organization, it stars Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, and Ritchson. Kesy portrays a hacker who participates in Cicada’s recruitment game while evading the NSA. The film was released digitally by Lionsgate Films on March 12, 2021.
Featured on the film’s United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court are Victoria Snow as Judge Mary Collins, Marvin Karon as Judge Bates, and Rothaford Gray as Judge Walters. In Connor’s apartment, Alyssa Cheatham portrays young tenant Sophia, Quancetia Hamilton portrays Sophia’s mother, and Anselmo DeSousa portrays landlord Mr. Costa. Al Sapienza plays NSA Agent Mike Croft and Benjamin Sutherland appears as William, a bar patron who gets hacked by Connor.
At Avi’s college, Ron Mustafaa plays a library clerk and Zane O’Connor plays a security guard. Jess Salgueiro portrays Shauna, a young woman who encounters Avi at the Cicada party. Jake Michaels and Hanneke Talbot, who appeared on the series Titans alongside Leslie, Ritchson, and Sanelli, portray the lookout for the NSA team and a hologram of an Ancient Greek woman, respectively. Michael T. Burgess appears as one of the deer-masked assailants participating in the recruitment game. Connor’s father is portrayed by Patrick Garrow.
Dark Web: Cicada 3301 was announced in 2018 as the first original project of Phreaker Films, a film fund run by Alan Ritchson. The fund was established through a partnership between Ritchson’s AllyCat Entertainment and Marina Acton, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist. Originally entitled Cicada 3301, it is inspired by the eponymous organization that has posted a set of puzzles to recruit codebreakers from the public on three occasions.
The film is the directorial debut of Ritchson, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Joshua Montcalm and appears in a supporting role as an NSA agent. Ritchson wrote the original screenplay by himself, but contacted Montcalm for re-writes due to being dissatisfied with it. After writing the script, Ritchson also intended to play the lead role until he decided to become the director.
Filming began in June 2018 in Toronto. Dark Web: Cicada 3301 features Ritchson alongside Conor Leslie, who both have appeared on the superhero television series Titans, although the two had not worked together prior to the film.
Dark Web: Cicada 3301 (2021)
Directed by: Alan Ritchson
Starring: Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, Kris Holden-Ried, Andreas Apergis, Alan Ritchson, Alyssa Cheatham, Victoria Snow, Anselmo DeSousa, Jess Salgueiro, Linnea Currie-Roberts
Screenplay by: Alan Ritchson, Joshua Montcalm
Production Design by: Burns Burns
Cinematography by: Michael Galbraith
Film Editing by: Marc Bach
Costume Design by: Anne Dixon
Set Decoration by: Mary Kirkland
Art Direction by: Diana Magnus
Music by: Sergei Stern
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, strong sexual content, some violence, drug use and nudity.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: March 12, 2021
