S.Y.N.A.P.S.E. - Pericolo in rete

Its hard to write about this film. Lets do good, bad, & ugly... The Good is Ryan is the star. As Milo, he's a well educated student going to work for this extremly secure company. The dream job for all the knock-off Computer Programmers that never did anything with their certificate! Nice car, nice home, beautiful girl... The Bad, the story of this film gets very interesting when something tramatic happens in Milo's life. But, the closer you get into the movie, the more you stop trusting each person that is around Milo, when your just right there in a place that very few motion pictures take you, you get to the ending sequence...& that ladies & gentlemen is where The Ugly is. (6) Z.

I really enjoyed this film--it was exciting as well as thought-provoking. If you enjoyed "The Net" and "The Firm" you'll probably enjoy a hybrid of the two, although I found "Antitrust" to be more satisfying than either of those. Tim Robbins as always was terrific as the "Bill Gates" character and Ryan Phillippe was excellent as his genius protege. "Antitrust" was a great, entertaining way to spend an afternoon at the movies.

I saw this movie not expecting much. While I'm not disappointed in the movie, I felt that more could have been explored in the themes of the movie. Where is the line between self-interest and greed? What creates innovation? What stifles it? What are the consequences of uncontrolled self-interest?

I also found problems with some of the little details (having known lots of computer people, I get picky). For example, all of the code shown is simple html; wouldn't they have used other computer languages? Also, I know the Vancouver area quite well (where Antitrust was filmed) and sometimes, it got too obvious. (See below)

Additionally, some of the other characters' backgrounds could have been developed further.

Yet, the sets were impressive! The interiors did convey the appropriate atmosphere. The use of the Chan Centre at the University of British Columbia- good choice! However, the NURV campus was much too obviously the Burnaby campus of Simon Fraser University. (The aerial shots gave it away).

Still, it was a decent movie, all things considered.

When I first saw the preview for Anti-Trust, I thought 2 things. 1) It was a not-so-disguised movie about Microsoft. 2) It was probably "The Net 2." It looked like another computer-based movie that would be as realistic as "Hackers," but with a more obvious plot. From the first 30 seconds of the preview you can pretty much tell that the open-source sidekick is marked for death and Bill Gates...I mean Gary Winston was a criminal mastermind who will do anything to get ahead in business. I'd happy to say that while the first half of the movie went without any surprises, there are enough plot twists in the 2nd half to keep you guessing who's on who's side. Tim Robbins and Ryan Philippe both give good performances, and nobody seems out of place talking about technology. It's not the best movie I've seen this year, but it definately blew away my expectations.

This movie was obviously written by a graphic designer (much like myself) or someone in a similar position who has a vast understanding of programming jargon and corporate culture, but doesn't actually understand what is being said or the politics behind it all. This will appeal to people who don't work in this environment, but to people who do... well. They're just going to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the title credits.