Alan Ritchson’s cyberpunk thriller Dark Web: Cicada 3301 and a perfect self-cast

War Machine is now on streaming and sits just under 70 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (with just over 70 percent from user reviews), marking Alan Ritchson’s biggest sci‑fi outing yet. Still, his first plunge into tech thrillers came five years earlier: in 2021 he made his feature directorial debut with Dark Web: Cicada 3301, a lightly cyberpunk‑flavored action thriller about an internet conspiracy.

The real Cicada 3301 was a series of mysterious puzzles posted on 4chan in the early 2010s, likely the work of bored internet users rather than a hacker cabal. The film follows a man played by Jack Kesy who stumbles into a Cicada recruitment game and, with friends played by Ron Funches and Conor Leslie, draws the attention of the NSA, which leads to chases, action and a fair amount of childish humor.

Ritchson casts himself as the obvious choice: a suit‑wearing government agent who talks tough, looks imposing and undercuts that toughness with occasional silliness.

alan ritchson, dark web, cicada 3301, war machine, rotten tomatoes, jack kesy, ron funches, conor leslie, nsa, 4chan