I.T. - Una mente pericolosa

It sounds interesting enough: Pierce Brosnan plays an airline tycoon who accidentally befriends the wrong dude, namely one of his IT guys, Patrick who becomes obsessed with becoming a part of his life (or rather obsessed with getting into his daughter Kaitlyn's), and when he tries to get rid off him, this guy turns their smart house against them, and shows them the absolute horrors of what it means to be online all the time.

It's a story that I've seen million times before, and despite this possibly being the first time I've seen the story done in this era of all smart phones having a camera and everyone on social media (but I'm sure there exist a another movie that has done that before this one), the story itself is predictable and unimaginative enough that it overshadows the updated concept.

Pierce Brosnan is very good in a really bad movie. I'm not sure what that really means. Usually when an actor is driving a crap vehicle, it only showcases what a great driver the actor can be, but in this case the vehicle was too crappy to actually do that. It evens out for both somewhere in the middle.

Not the worse movie in the world, just a very weak attempt at an old cliché.

This is a bizarre movie -- for reasons few will notice. It's a thriller about a wealthy man who founded and is CEO of a big private jet manufacturing company. Quite rich, Brosnan gets entangled with a deranged computer hacker working as an I.T. temp in his company. It's perhaps a mediocre movie, but I was transfixed by the tale.

You see, this wealthy CEO -- seeking to make much more money by taking the company public -- was the GOOD GUY. His employees really liked him, and they had a great working relationship.

I can't recall the last movie I watched where a profit-seeking wealthy person was the hero. I kept expecting his fatal capitalist flaw to appear -- uncontrollable greed, yada, yada, yada. It didn't happen.

(Yeah, Bruce Wayne was wealthy, but never do you hear him discussing making more money. Just giving his daddy's money away, making more Batman toys -- and living large.)

I'm not necessarily recommending the movie to you, but perhaps it's worth seeing JUST for this "man bites dog" reason. It's a reminder that it's not ABSOLUTELY necessary for movie makers to always portray rich people as villains.

One thing's for sure -- it won't start a trend in movies. Not a chance.

Pierce Brosnan stars here as Mike Regan, owner of an aviation company that needs a proposed public offering to be successful so it can stay afloat financially. During a presentation of a key company mobile app that will enable people to hire private and corporate jets, Mike is impressed with the tech skills of a temp employed there, and wants to hire him full-time.

However, it will soon become apparent that the temp (James Frecheville) is a most disturbed lunatic, and is intent on ruining Mike's personal and business life, as well of that of Mike's wife (Anna Friel) and daughter (Stefanie Scott). All of the lead actors here give solid performances, and the fine actor Michael Nyqvist is excellent in a supporting role.

All in all, there's a decent amount of tension and suspense maintained in the film, but it is marred somewhat by some highly incredulous plot elements and what I thought was a rather ridiculous ending. For me, it all added up to a fairly decent watch if one doesn't take it all too seriously.

Could have been a good movie. But a movie with a crime plot, cyber and law subplots shouldn't get all the details wrong. Errors included citing the wrong constitutional amendments and using the wrong law enforcement agencies. Although the acting was pretty good, the characters actions were counter-intuitive, thus creating distance between the characters and the audience. As a result, the movie quickly grew implausible and therefore tedious. They needed better technical consultants and tighter writing. Perhaps a little research before finalizing the script would have uncovered the errors. We deserve better.

IT is very much a "by the numbers" thriller.

There's nothing on offer here the viewer has, in one form or other, not seen before. Take an executive, add in a deranged IT guy and, of course, a loving family to protect and that's, pretty much it.

The acting is fine and, to be fair, Pierce Brosnan, in particular, hands in a very good performance. The action scenes are polished too. Indeed, in many respects, this film ticks most of boxes you would expect. Alas, this is not enough to save this now rather predictable affair from the label or "ordinary".

Watch by all means, just don't expect to be thrilled or even a little surprised. Six out of ten from me.