The Net
By Colburn Tseng
This suspense-thriller, the first of three upcoming movies to jump on the Internet band-wagon, makes several wrong turns while negotiating the Information Superhighway, and the result is less than pretty.
Sandra Bullock stars as Angela Bennett, a reclusive program tester who becomes entangled in a massive plot to undermine the security of the nation's most important computer networks. As people around her start dropping like flies, Angela finds herself bereft of passport, credit cards, and identity. According to the California DMV's computers, she is Ruth Marx, a convicted prostitute and drug user with outstanding warrants. On the run from a British assassin (Jeremy Northam) and the police, Angela turns to the one person who can vouch for her identity, ex-boyfriend Alan Champion (Dennis Miller).
The Net touches on some very relevant issues of security in the computerized world we live in today. As a character modeled after Microsoft Corporation co-founder and ruler of the universe Bill Gates says, "Information is power." What would happen if a single group gained the ability to break into any computer system in the nation at will?
Unfortunately, the film foregoes in-depth exploration of this question for standard run-for-your-life chase scenes. This is largely due to the screenwriters' apparent ignorance of how computers work. The internet Angela Bennett accesses and the is nothing like the one you are using right now. And a lot of the high-tech shenanigans the so-called internet terrorists pull off simply can't be done. These discrepancies create enormous holes in the film's plot and logic that will make those with moderate computer literacy roll their eyes with disbelief. Though Bullock has never been better and Dennis Miller steals every scene he's in, the actors are unable to save The Net from its crappy script. Let's hope Virtuosity and Hackers are better.
FILM: The Net. Directed by Irwin Winkler. Written by John Brancato & Michael Ferris. Starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, and Dennis Miller
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