THE NET
A film review by Ed Powell
Copyright 1995 Ed Powell
Going into this movie, I thought it was just going to be another film that's trying to cash in on the "Information Superhighway" buzz, and overglorifies computers and the Internet.
When I left disgusted 45 minutes later, that view hadn't really changed.
The story of the film is about a professional computer program beta-tester, virus-healer, web-surfer, and all-around computer hacker (played by Sandra Bullock), who gets hold of a computer program that gets the user into restricted areas of the Internet. Some group somehow finds out about this program, and nearly gets the disk from the character played by Sandra when she vacations in Cancun. She manages to keep the disk, but the group starts to make her life unlivable, by changing around her police record, DMV records, selling her house (?), etc., etc., etc., ... all by using computers, of course.
It seems to me that the writers forgot that life is not an episode of "Max Headroom." The writers also seem to have forgot that what personal information that IS stored on computer (police records, IRS whatnot, DMV, just to name the few that are on the top of my head), YOU CANNOT READ, NEVER MIND CHANGE, THAT DATA BY USING THE INTERNET!!! And even if you could, THERE WOULDN'T BE FANCY-SCHMANCY GRAPHIC INTERFACES FOR DOING IT!!!
You see, most government agencies do something smart (for a change). They make damn sure that any vital computer data is protected by the most hacker-proof method around: no network or modem connections to the computer, period.
To make a long section short, the plot, story, and writing suffer from two incurable problems: unbelievability and stupidity.
As for acting, fairly average all around. Sandra Bullock portrayed a sterotypical hacker with little social skills well ... although I do not think that this role was well suited for her.
I can't say much about design. It looked as if this movie was shot completely on location, with little set building whatsoever.
I can't say much about special effects either ... other than Sandra
Bullock in a bikini
Irwin Winkler (any relation to Henry? Inquiring minds want to now), who directed this cinematic trainwreck, looks like he was trying to overdramatize the film. Many shots were not well suited for the action. Perhaps he should take a refresher course in basic directing.
Overall, this movie sucked. At least the first 45 minutes of it did. As a MSTie*, I have watched many a bad movie, and I think I could recommend this one to be added to the stack of material to be made fun of. Don't waste your money on this. I think I'd rather see 'Batman Forever'.
Produced by Irwin Winkler and Rob Cowan, directed by Irwin Winkler. A Columbia Pictures release.
* A MSTie is a fan of the brilliant TV show 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' (shown on Comedy Central). In a nutshell, MST3K takes bad movies, and has a guy and two 'robots' sitting in an orbiting movie theater, talking back to the film and generally making fun of it. It's a great show ... you should watch it.
RATINGS (out of ten)
Plot/Story: 0.5
Writing: 0.5
Acting: 5
Design: 5
Effects: 3
Direction: 4
Family Value: 5
Music: 4
TOTAL: 37 out of 80 (Overall: 4.625)
-- Ed Powell MSTie #27968 and Aspiring film director
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