Net, The (1995)

reviewed by
Berge Garabedian

THE NET
RATING: 5 / 10 --> Not good

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We've got a hot little commercial commodity in Sandra Bullock. "Good, that's good." Yeah, and we've got this burgeoning new technological creation called the Internet revolutionizing people's lives and changing the way they live, right? "Yeah, yeah, and...?" Don't you see? Glamorous Ms. Hollywood actress playing the little Ms. Loner character that everyone could identify with, in a film based on a technology which more and more people are beginning to fear?!? "It's brilliant !!!!". Green light.

PLOT: Very pretty, loner computer programming girl gets caught up in a fight for a sacred disk. She has it, the bad guys want it. As she struggles to lose said bad guys, she ultimately loses her identity, her reputation and her past, as these computer pirates erase her whole life via the new technologies embedded in the Internet.

CRITIQUE: See Sandra Bullock type real fast on a computer. Cute. See Sandra fall upon a massive conspiracy to launch unexpected havoc onto the world. Not so cute. See Sandra run away from the bad guys. Nasty. See Sandra run some more. Even nastier. Hmmm.....oh yeah, and there she goes running again. Exciting, eh? Not really, but you get the picture. Close to two hours of Sandra running along, finding a place to hide for a few hours, and typing some more. It gets to be a bit repetitive, but you don't know the half of it. She has this friend see, and he's well, he's not known by the bad guys, and he's gonna help her out, you know, I mean, he's her only friend, and oops, oh no...how did that happen? Oh well, back to running, I suppose.

But there's tension, right? I mean, a film like this one sounds like it could really grab you by the eyelashes and rip your interest veins right outta you, huh? Well, yeah, I suppose there is some tension. I mean, I had to worry every time she ran away from the bad guys, cause I was never sure if they were gonna catch her or not, and heck, what about her poor friend, I mean, who knew what would happen to him? One-two-three. Can we all count that high? Yes? Well, then you've solved the dilemma of this screenplay (Which apparently took up to five guys to develop???) It connects all the dots from A to Z, and leaves nothing to the imagination. The musical score? Standard. The bad guys? Standard. The conclusion...the directing? Standard, standard! I guess this movie wouldn't really hurt you if you were dying and looking to kill some time before you knock, knock, knocked on Heaven's door, but then again, it might just make your journey a little more painful. If you're really interested in this film's valid premise, and technology is really starting to scare the beejeezus out of you, well then go check out ENEMY OF THE STATE (7.5/10), and enjoy a smarter script and a wider array of stars. See Will Smith run. See Jon Voight run after him. Oh, happy-happy, joy-joy! Now let's watch THE NET again. There's Sandra typing so quickly. And running. Run Sandra, run!

Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Sandra Bullock replaced Demi Moore for the role in WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING (7/10), and Lori Petty for the role in DEMOLITION MAN (7/10), opposite Sly Stallone himself. She is allergic to horses, and was voted "Most likely to brighten up your day" by her high school classmates. She's also a huge fan of Dr. Seuss, and wrote and performed her own song "Heaven Knocking On My Door" in the 1993 film THE THING CALLED LOVE (8/10). There are no less than four members of the Winkler family in the cast of this film. Good for you, Irwin, everybody needs a day job, right? :) Irwin Winkler is better known as a producer of such great films as GOODFELLAS (9.5/10), RAGING BULL (7.5/10) and ROCKY (8.5/10). Screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris went on to write the superb thriller THE GAME (8/10) in 1997.

Review Date:         December 30, 1998
Director:                 Irwin Winkler
Writers:                  John Brancato and Michael Ferris, Irwin Winkler,
Rob Cowan and Dick Beebe
Producers:             Irwin Winkler and Rob Cowan
Actors:                   Sandra Bullock as Angela Bennett, Jeremy Northam
as Jack Devlin, Dennis Miller as Dr. Alan Champion
Genre:                   Thriller
Year of Release:  1995

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(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian

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