The Net 2.0

accidentally, I watched this movie, it was shown at night in German TV, and I'm pretty sure, you simply watched the movie under wrong circumstances ... it seems to be the sequel of "the Net", but after watching it, I'm very sure, it wasn't planned to be ... look at the acting, the directing, the camera, the casting itself, look at it a bit more closely, and you will come to one conclusion: this was the pilot of a planned TV series, not a real sequel ... the whole plot / script shows it quite clear, they try to introduce the main character within the first minutes, including a plot - which always is a bit hard for the first episode, mostly doesn't work out very well, however, there are often problems, especially in structure, within the first episode of a new series ... seemingly planned to somewhat fill the hole "Alias" left ...

I'm pretty sure, the producers followed the opinion of an test audience and simply said "no", so, the pilot, planned as 2 x 45 minute episodes, was re-edited to something like a "movie", and then sold worldwide for a good price, eg to Germany through something like a joint-venture-package, quite often taking place within other products, lets say a prime time series, plus some "I was a pilot" - movies - this time one which tried to be something like "Alias" - a series which was shown at the same TV station here in old Germany, which now showed "Net 2.0" ... I don't think this is a coincidence, it's something like a giveaway, not a bad thing, but for me its simply quite obvious, its a pilot, not really good, able covering quite much with fast cuts / re-editing (but who doesn't), so nowadays quite normal, just rejected ...

Drink a shot each time the voiceover says "hope," and you'll be wasted before the opening scene is over. The main character, Hope, is supposed to be tech-savvy, but one of the first scenes depicts her using a public wi-fi. Pretty soon we realize she (Hope) is an immature, impulsive, arrogant and dim-witted person, and it's a miracle she managed to live this long, so flashing her bank account in front of strangers seemed to be on-brand for her.

She (remember her name? It's Hope) moves to another country, but it turns out her passport is about to expire, so she can't secure a work visa. Surely it happens all the time with adult people traveling for work. The consulate gives her a temporary ID with the wrong name, but instead of returning it to wait for a proper document, she just takes it because why not. Definitely a mature thing to do. Shortly after, chaos ensues, and Hope finds herself robbed of identity by Keegan Connor Tracy (presumably kidnapped from Canada to Turkey and forced to do something even worse than Uwe Boll or Lifetime) and chased by the police. Trying to prove she hadn't committed any crimes, she commits a variety of crimes. While all of this happens, some of the worst "moaning in the desert" middle-easternish score you've ever heard is playing.

At some point there's a 04:20 countdown seen on the screen, which might be a subtle reference to the fact that whoever wrote the script was stoned the entire time, so you shouldn't be surprised that there's, for example, a scene where Hope basically asks a "supercomputer" to hack itself, which it does because why not.

The Net 2.0 is an above average movie for its genre.It is basically the story of a woman who has her identity along with her life stolen,as if she never existed.she must then try to get it back.this movie is not a sequel to the original.in fact it has none of the characters from that movie.nevertheless,it is suspenseful,riveting and action packed.there are of course a few plot twists,some predictable,others not.the acting is more than decent,especially from Nikki Deloach(TV's North Shore) as Hope Cassidy,the main character.She is very credible as a woman who has lost everything.the supporting cast are also strong.the direction is a bit suspect at times,as the director utilizes many jump shots throughout.A jump shot is essentially a type of camera trick.this is used to make the action flashier for the audience.However,it has been done so much before that audiences are mot impressed.minor quibble aside,however,Net 2.0 is overall a well done,entertaining and fun movie.well worth your 90 minutes. 7/10

Seemingly inspired by Paul Greengrass' schizophrenic cinematography in The Bourne Supremacy, this movie tries, and fails, to make a mountain out of a molehill. Shaking a camera, indiscriminately stopping for a few frames, then speeding up or slowing down doth not an exciting film make. Worse still, Nikki Deloach shouldn't be trusted to carry a bag of groceries, let alone an entire movie. Istanbul is a beautiful location but it seemed grossly underutilized in this movie. And the music director needs to get back on his medication.

I fail to see why this even carries the name of it's predecessor. It has no correlation to Angela Bennett. Nor to the Pretorians. Nor to any element in the first film whatsoever. Avoid this movie at all costs.

OK this film (tape?) has a fair few flaws, but not really that many, at least compared with The Net 1. As it mentions in the end credits, the movie was shot entirely on HD Video, something we're going to see a lot more of, and this must have a very significant impact on production costs.

Nevertheless, I can forgive it most of its faults except one. The laughably unrealistic portrayal of computer screens. Why do all Hollywood directors think that computer screens need to have two-inch-high fonts and animated doohickeys all over the place? This sort of movie is inevitably going to be watched by dweebs all over the planet who simply will not put up with this sort of thing.

Takedown, I think, was the only film I've ever seen which had believable computer screens. Given the subject matter, just as well. So why not this one? There is simply no excuse. There are just too many computer-literate ppl out there now, and they all switch off as soon as they spot rubbish like that. It ruins the whole experience. Truly. If not for that, I would have given it an 8 or 9.