Tuesday 30 September 2014

Paranoia (2013)

Adequate performances, adequate direction, adequate story. The cast (Liam Hemsworth, Ford, Gary Oldman, Richard Dreyfuss, Embeth Davidtz) is the only thing that stops this being a straight to DVD release.

The plot is a little unbelievable. Who, on losing their job, would sign up as an industrial spy with the same company that fired him, with little or no thought. More to the point why the hell would the company that just fired him trust him not to either spill the beans to the police, FBI or the other company (seeing as he's just shown how few scruples he has).

Hemsworth's gang of geeks does nothing to dispel the idea that nerds all wear glasses and are socially awkward - apart from our, rather loathsome, hero of course. His relationship with his father, Dreyfuss, comes straight out of Great Expectations. Dreyfuss gives the best performance in the movie and plays the most interesting character, but is totally wasted, as are the rest of the cast.

One thing that annoyed me: the security that the Eikon company uses. A phone app that scans a fingerprint, generates a barcode and then sends this barcode to a security console at a door. Why the fuck would you do that? Why not just have a fingerprint scanner on the door? The phone introduces another layer that can be compromised for, as far as I can see, no benefit at all - apart from looking cool. Also, don't get me started on the spoon fingerprint. I don't think I've ever seen such a beautifully preserved single fingerprint in a film ever - and it's on a spoon! Well, a wine glass is so cliché!

Oh, and I don't like mobile phones, have never owned one and, as far as I can see, never will. Maybe this movie wasn't really aimed at me.

Parting shots: The voice-over at the end was unnecessary; in fact the whole end made me want to vomit. What the hell happened to Embeth Davidtz's character? Why is this review so long considering it was such a dull movie.

Go watch Hackers; it's way more fun.

Original letterboxd review

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