With 2015’s Deep Web, Bill and Ted actors Alex Winter and Keanu Reeve reunite, but in an unusual format. Winter directs and Reeves narrates this documentary.

The film looks at the “Deep Web”, a term used to describe online sites and functions not easily available to the standard user. Via these unindexed domains, various parties take advantage, often for illicit purposes.

In October 2013, the FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht as the alleged creator and operator of “Silk Road”, a “Deep Web” domain used mainly to sell illegal drugs. The documentary looks at Ulbricht’s case and other topics connected to this “hidden” aspect of the Internet.

Along with Reeves’ narration, we get interview statements from a mix of parties. We hear from journalists Christopher Ingraham and Andy Greenberg, Carnegie Mellon University Assistant Research Professor Nicolas Christin, ACLU principal technologist Christopher Soghoian, Electronic Frontier Foundation legal director Cindy Cohn, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, former FBI cybercrimes agent Christopher Tarbell, cybercrime investigator Todd Shipley, Ross’s childhood friend Alden Schiller, HSI former Director of Intelligence James Chaparro, Ross’s parents Lyn and Kirk Ulbricht, privacy and security researcher Runa Sandvik, Ross Ulbricht’s defense attorney Joshua Dratel, UC Berkeley Senior Networking and Security Researcher Nicholas Weaver, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition director Neill Franklin, open source programmer/developer Amir Taaki, and Silk Road users “Vendor X”, “Vendor Y” and “Vendor Z”.

For a 90-minute movie, Deep bites off an awful lot. While the discussion of Albricht’s situation and case dominates, the film also digs into broader domains related to topics like freedom and rebellion, the “war on drugs”, institutional investment in “crime prevention” and additional topics.

This seems like far too much for one fairly brief documentary. Winter attempts to pack in so much that he inevitably zips through a lot of the material too quickly.

In his audio commentary, Winter indicates that he doesn’t intend Deep to really be about Ulbricht. Despite his intentions, the film plays that way, and it does so in a less than objective manner.

Granted, most documentaries come with their own perspective. Few entries in this genre truly feel objective and without any form of “agenda”.

In this case, Winter feels awfully sympathetic toward Ulbricht. Deep spends a fair amount of time questioning his arrest and eventual conviction.

And that seems reasonable, as it’s fine for Winter to use the film to make a case. However, he tilts the scales a bit too much in the way he portrays Ulbricht and paints a picture that strongly favors his side.

For all I know, Ulbricht got railroaded and used as a scapegoat. However, Winter doesn’t do much to explain the other side, so Deep feels like it exists mainly to semi-exonerate Ulbricht.

Again, Winter apparently didn’t intend Deep to truly be about Ulbricht and his situation, but it comes across that way. This goes back to the concern that Winter simply attempted to cram too much information into one short film.

Winter raises good points, especially in terms of governmental overreach. In addition, he tells the story in a brisk manner that leaves it as involving from start to finish.

Nonetheless, Deep Web tends to feel too superficial and too subjective to fully work. It delves into some interesting domains but it needs more objectivity and time to really succeed.

Deep Web appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Even given the nature of documentaries, this became an oddly inconsistent presentation.

As typical of the format, we got a mix of interviews shot specifically for the program along with plenty of archival materials. The latter brought up and down visuals, though the vintage of the events meant these looked better than expected.

As for the clips filmed solely for Web, they turned into the weaker link, especially in terms of sharpness. While close-ups looked fine, anything wider seemed strangely soft and mushy.

Minor instances of jagged edges and shimmering arose – usually tied to source material – but I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws also occasionally cropped up due to the variety of sources, but given most of the film came from 21st century roots, these remained modest.

Colors went with a natural palette and looked fine. They could seem slightly dull at times but they largely appeared to replicate the hues as intended.

Blacks felt reasonably full, while shadows offered appropriate delineation. This was a watchable but lackluster image.

Deep went with the kind of low-key soundscape one expects from a documentary of this sort. Most of the audio focused on the front channels, where the material spread across the channels in a decent manner.

Surround usage failed to deliver much involvement. A few scenes gave the soundscape a bit more zing, but most of the track felt subdued and focused on the front.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that remained concise and natural. Music felt full and clear.

Effects displayed good range and punch when allowed. This turned into a perfectly adequate track for a documentary.

In addition to the film’s trailer, the disc comes with an audio commentary from writer/director Alex Winter. He offers a running, screen-specific discussion of the project's origins and development, research and background about the subject matter, his approach to the material and his goals.

Winter offers a pretty solid overview of what he wanted to do with the film and how he attempted to achieve that. I don't think he made a movie as objective as he seems to believe, but I appreciate his explanation of his processes.

As a look at the “hidden Internet”, Deep Web offers an entertaining but somewhat superficial piece. It rushes through topics in a manner that means we don’t get a lot of depth. The Blu-ray comes with acceptable picture and audio as well as an interesting commentary. Deep Web becomes an intriguing documentary but one that needs more room to explore its topics.