So in the past 24 hours I’ve been keeping of track of something rather upsetting. Look, it’s no secret that online film piracy is out of hand – everyone you know has probably tried it at least once, regardless of whether they’d admit to it or not. There’s been certain well-documented cases of films hitting the net before they’re even out in theaters, with one of the most notable cases being X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (2009), which was all over online pirate sites in very good quality over a month before theatrical release, albeit in a “workprint” form with temporary music and sound. 20th Century Fox estimated the workprint was downloaded about 4.5 million times before hitting theaters. One of the biggest arguments the pirates use is the fact that in spite of that film being online and downloaded so many times, it still made over $500 million in worldwide box office… I wonder if these same people shoplift Hershey bars from the supermarket knowing that Hersey is still making plenty of money. See, that’s the problem, the pirates and illegal downloaders have an attitude that none of this matters unless they get caught… and yes, streaming pirated movies is also illegal, before someone tries to say streaming isn’t the same as downloading. They think they’re not hurting anyone, that it’s no big deal, and everyone is doing it so what should it matter if they do too. Can you think of any other kind of rampant crime that couples with this mentality? Rape? Bank robbing? Insider trading? Murder? Nope, from what we can tell most people know those crimes are wrong and it’s not okay do them, much less to try justifying it. So why do they try to justify illegally downloading and watching movies? It’s still a crime… like rape, bank robbing, insider trading and murder. It’s a crime. A CRIME. And before anyone tries to mis-read what I’m saying here, I realize crimes like rape and murder are worse offenses than online piracy, but the point is a crime is a crime, regardless of whether or not it’s more or less heinous than another crime. But the mentality of Internet pirates is so ridiculously carefree that it’s sickening.

Case in point, THE EXPENDABLES 3, which doesn’t hit theaters for weeks, has popped up in DVD quality on several torrent sites and is being downloading and watched like crazy. And this is not a workprint, it’s the finished film. We imagine Lionsgate is not happy about this, and hopefully is trying to find the source of the initial upload. Some of the already hundreds of thousands who have downloaded it have tried to justify their actions by saying it’s revenge or karma since Stallone allowed the third installment to go the PG-13 route, and therefore made it an insult to the fans. Sorry you guys feel that way, though you’re still stealing. But what prompted me to write this article was a Twitter exchange I saw Monday night. A British “film critic” named Alistair Ryder had posted his “review” (which he’s since taken down, after several Tweets told him he was wrong to post it in the first place) of THE EXPENDABLES 3 on his WordPress blog, not only noting that he did indeed watch it illegally, but opening the review with his obvious indifference to online piracy. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Earlier this week, the British government announced that after years of trying to make it work, they were finally giving up what was already a losing battle. From 2015, it will no longer be illegal to file-share. Instead, everybody in the country will be emailed four warning letters per year informing them at how their killing the industry, to which they’ll probably reply with a shrug and a nonchalant comment about not wanting to give money to Rupert Murdoch to watch Game of Thrones. As we step into this brave new world, along comes “The Expendables 3”, which has made headlines by leaking (in full DVD quality no less) onto the internet three weeks before its worldwide cinema release. Naturally, I downloaded it as the headlines it has generated all but screamed out at me “DOWNLOAD THIS NOW, WE WOULDN’T BE TELLING YOU THIS IS NEWS OTHERWISE”- I will use this opportunity to appease any film companies reading this by saying file sharing is a bad thing, I will reimburse you the ticket price if asked, and I only did it here because of “unique circumstances”. Usually, I would avoid any torrenting if the full cinema experience was a ready and available option- but considering I work at a cinema and would therefore see it for free, surely there’s no harm done? Needless to say, the moral conundrum about whether or not I was contributing to the death of cinema was more thrilling than the film itself.

Everyone got that? It’s okay because he’s offered to pay the ticket price and he works at a theater. My favorite quote is when he says “surely there’s no harm done?” You see, this is the problem. The people who are the biggest offenders just don’t seem to get why what they’re doing is wrong. Now Alistair has taken down the review, probably realizing how not smart it was to not only post it but practically brag about downloading the film to begin with. But his Twitter conversations showed that even after being confronted about it, he just didn’t get why what he did was a bad thing:

@Jamtfilm I am deeply sorry about downloading here (I am a douche) the problem is there are others who do it frequently and don't care

— Alistair Ryder (@YesitsAlistair) July 29, 2014

I am deeply sorry about downloading here (I am a douche) the problem is there are others who do it frequently and don’t care

Wait, so because others do it then that is the problem, not the fact that he did it? There are people who molest children. Since they do it would it make it okay if you did too? Weren’t we taught as kids that just because someone else does something doesn’t necessarily mean we should do it too? He also Tweeted the following:

@Jamtfilm I've only downloaded this once, and will never do it again. Trust me, nothing beats the cinema experience

— Alistair Ryder (@YesitsAlistair) July 29, 2014

I’ve only downloaded this once, and will never do it again. Trust me, nothing beats the cinema experience

Well then, I guess everything is okay. He’s only downloaded it once and promises he will never do it again! Seriously? First of all, downloading it at all is the offense, not the number of times you download it. And based on the first paragraph of Mr. Ryder’s review, I doubt the idea he’s “never” going to do this again. One of the Tweets that first alerted me to all this was from Brendon Connelly, who made an interesting suggestion to Lionsgate:

Hey Lionsgate. @YesItsAlistair has admitted to pirating Expendables 3 but offered to pay you if you ask. So ask. Full price.

Is this what it’s going to take, having a major movie studio make an example of guys like this? It’s happened before, only with seemingly more random and less visible offenders – of course when that sort of case is documented it often results in people calling the studios bullies for picking on the little guys. If Lionsgate were to go after someone like Alistair for the fullest penalty possible, would it be a strong enough message to discourage others? To me to problem goes beyond people doing it, and extends to people talking about doing it so openly that it’s obvious they don’t see (or care) why it’s wrong. As someone who has a lot of friends in the film industry, and knows people who have financially suffered as the result of online piracy, I feel like more folks need to speak up against this crap. You can look at public message boards on sites like IMDB, and people are openly asking for links to download films or stream them illegally. A habit that used to be secretive and taboo is now asked about and shared with no thought of consequence. It’s also mind-boggling that people are so anxious to watch a movie in the worst possible format, as most pirated films are shot with a camcorder in a theater, featuring bad picture and sound quality. A situation like the one with THE EXPENDABLES 3 is a rare one, where a movie appears long before its theatrical release, and in really good quality. As to whether or not this incident is going to affect the box office business, that’s all a matter of opinion at this point. It’s impossible to tell if the film would make considerably more money had the leaked version not made it out there, but one thing is for sure – it certainly isn’t going to help. Another frequent justification streamers or pirates give is that big movie stars and directors are still making millions no matter what. And they’re right, but what about the caterers, the grips, the lighting guys, the sound engineers… you know, the guys who are paid the bare minimum to work for long hours for very little pay? What about the thousands of people who devoted months if not years of their lives to help make a movie? What about the independent filmmakers who barely make a dime and count on every single ticket sale to keep working? Sure, the big movie stars and directors will be fine, but there’s a lot of other people who are indeed getting hurt. Those who steal these movies likely do so because they like watching films, but they’re hurting the very thing they love.

Oh, and just so you know, the review Alistair wrote (that he’s taken down) ended with the following quote:

I will make sure to give production company Lionsgate £7 for watching it for free- “The Expendables 3” really isn’t worth contributing to the ongoing “death of cinema by filesharing” debate for.

On that last part, too late Mr. Ryder. You already did. Everyone out there who wants to see THE EXPENDABLES 3, please go watch it the right way, in a movie theater where it was meant to be seen.

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