The Net (1995)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Almost 2 hours out of my life HAD I decided to keep watching. Boring and stupid. They could've and should've used ordinary people who've never been in a movie and it just might have been interesting. I found the expected kind of silliness in this boring BS filled time-waster! This review does not contain any spoilers as it has nothing in it worth spoiling except the exposing of silliness, especially in the woman Sandra Bullock.

Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a computer program systems analyst who works from her home in Venice, California. Working for Cathedral Software, Angela identifies and removes viruses from her clients' computer systems. A recluse, she does all of her work by modem and telephone, and in her spare time enjoys playing computer games and visiting chat rooms, and when it is time to eat, orders pizzas on- line. Via FedEx, Angela mails to colleague Dale (Ray McKinnon), a friend who has never seen her, at Cathedral's office building a red diskette containing a virus that causes crashes. She specifically warns him not to strike the Escape key while this diskette is inserted into the hard drive. Previously Dale had sent a green diskette that alerts her to a program ("Gatekeeper") that propels her into top secret government databases, like the US Federal Reserve. This is accomplished by clicking on the pi (π) logo in the lower right corner of the screen while pressing the Control plus Shift keys. (Dale had created the Mozart's Ghost website that picked up a virus that transported him to Gatekeeper.) The bad guys modify data and raise havoc among government departments, airports, banks, etc. After they hack into agencies' computer systems to create chaos, they offer a solution by selling their "security software." But when the damaged party buys this security software, they unknowingly put themselves at risk to those who initially generated the problem! Dale wants to see Angela right away about the "glitch," but she explains that she has finally planned her first vacation in six years - to Mexico. He convinces her to see him before her departure, as he can fly to her location the following morning so they can finish business before noon. She agrees and copies the Gatekeeper website's programming code onto a diskette to further research the problem. But before they meet his small airplane strangely crashes (because of skullduggery), killing him instantly. At a Mexican beach with her laptop and diskette, Angela is approached by a slick dude, Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam). They strike up a conversation, which develops into friendship. Devlin, though, is devious. He is actually after the Gatekeeper computer diskette that Angela holds in her purse. Devlin works for the "Praetorians," the Gatekeeper syndicate that knows she has it (perhaps they monitored her computer transmissions in chat rooms). After her purse is stolen by a slimy thief hired by Devlin, whom he shoots to death, she escapes Devlin's clutches on a motorized raft. But she crashes into a rock, is knocked out, and ends up in a Mexican hospital. After three days she awakens and discovers her diskette was damaged because of water and sunlight exposure. Returning to her hotel, Angela discovers she had supposedly checked out earlier. As she has no identification, she goes to the American Embassy. There she is compelled to sign "Ruth Marx" to get a temporary visa. Her identity was stolen by the Praetorians, who have changed her name to one with a criminal record: larceny, illegal drug use, parole violations. Marx is wanted by the police. At least Angela can use the money she has from Devlin's wallet.Angela finally arrives at the LA airport to find her car missing. Eventually coming home, she finds it empty and for sale. She seeks help from her former psychiatrist and lover, Alan Champion (Dennis Miller), who checks her into a motel and tries to help her even though he believes her to be somewhat delusional. Because of her cloistered lifestyle, she has almost no interpersonal relationships and cannot prove her identity. Compounding the problem, her own mother (Diane Baker) has Alzheimer's disease so even she cannot identify Angela. Doesn't Angela have any other relatives or neighbors or doctors? Over much of the rest of the film, Angela is involved in a series of narrow escapes, especially from Devlin. There is a credibility problem here, as it is difficult to believe that such a recluse could continually elude a contract killer. But she does, and even escapes from police custody. Meanwhile Alan is chemically murdered in the hospital, leaving Angela alone. Eventually Angela hitch-hikes a ride to Cathedral's San Francisco office building, and uses an unoccupied workstation to smoke out Ruth Marx, the fake Angela. When she sets off the building's fire alarm systems, she learns of Marx's location, which she occupies. (But how did Marx ever position herself there?) Angela works into Cathedral's mainframe and inserts data that protects her true identity and deletes Marx's info. Successful there, Angela then finds the red diskette (virus) she earlier mailed to Dale. She quickly saves the details of the computer scam onto a blue diskette, and, with BOTH diskettes, departs to the advertised Pan Pacific Computer Convention at the Moscone Center. There, on a vacant computer at Cathedral's display booth, she sends the proof (blue diskette) exposing Gatekeeper to the US Department of Justice /FBI. Then she inserts the virus-containing red diskette into the drive as Devlin arrives and pushes her away. Not realizing that the red diskette is inserted, he strikes the Escape key, thinking that he has reversed Angela's work. But his action activates the virus that attacks Gatekeeper's mainframe. Angela escapes from him one final time as both he and Ruth Marx eventually die chasing her. In the end Angela gets Jeff Gregg, the top Praetorian, arrested and recovers her regular life. One needs to suspend his belief system and just enjoy the movie for what it is, as there is much technological impossibility, like clicking on π and getting into the Federal Reserve (!). Also, has anyone been at an airport and read "Crashed" or "Hijacked" on digital screens? However, Ms. Bullock's performance is splendid. Don't blame the film on twenty year-old technology: small computer screens, wide monitors, dial-up modems, and large cellphones. Twenty years from now what we have will also be obsolete.

OK yes, the tech is old but it's my era tech. I loved the 3 and a half inch discs, I even liked the 5 inch floppies before those, not keen on the tape though, and I loved Castle Wolfenstien, first game where I beat the last boss, anyway la di da great movie. I watched to the end (That's always a good sign). Although I would liked to see the main villain Gregg get more than prison, a bit of torment as he realized the game was up, beaten by female geek no less. Sandra Bullock always does a good job in any acting role so it's worth a watch just see her doing her stuff (A very attractive girl also)(Can I say that?) so, definitely worth a watch, recommend. Oh, Mellisa Bones, nice job.

I caught this on TV the other night and stuck with it. Its seriously dated now (1995) and laughable in terms of computer technology and giant cell phones but still a good thriller for the most part. Actually all the outdated technology just ended up making this kind of fun and campy.I think its the hook of Sandra's entire identity being erased and replaced with that of a wanted criminal that's so good -scary and intriguing there.The bad guy (Jeremy Northam) becomes very one dimensional after his initial charm wears off but Sandra Bullock does a great job all the way through, with lots of running and evading of the cyber thugs.This opens with Angela Bennett, a reclusive computer programmer who works from home, orders pizza online and only associates with her cyber friends. After she unwittingly comes into possession of software that allows access to secret government information Angela's life is put in danger as the bad guys try to gain access to the floppy disk, culminating with them deleting all evidence of her existence. Dennis Miller plays her sort of boyfriend here and there is a brief cameo from Ron Howard. I always forget how AIDS paranoid we were in the early 90's. 4/11/15