A Rede

I'm sad to see this movie has a relatively low rating. It isn't a perfect 10 but it's a very decent and enjoyable yarn. Get over the fact that it portrays a romanticised version of the internet that never existed - this was made a few years before it became commercially viable, so the majority of people didn't know a thing about it or what it looked like. Ignore this and you have a decent conspiracy thriller. Plus, the portrayal of the internet is infinitely more realistic than its cartoonish contemporary 'Hackers', which came out the same year. The tech isn't the star of the show here, and it doesn't rely on spectacle.

I saw this film just last night, and I liked it. I know a lot about the Internet and so I DID notice the factual errors, but I was able to ignore them and enjoy the suspense. Sandra Bullock was good, and Jeremy Northam was creepy as the bad guy, mostly because he was so goodlooking and smooth that he was hard to hate.

I'd give it an 8 out of 10 for good suspense and an interesting look at the Internet when it was just beginning.

Okay, firstly I like Sandra Bullock anyway, but do admit she is not often lost in her characters and plays herself. She often plays slightly socially awkward characters however, she's believable, every-girl, and relatable and necessarily not too contrived especially in a storyline where you have to believe its happening and get involved.

Bullock is a computer analyst/programmer who works from home and gets sent a disk by a friend to look at. This disk causes problems which she has to work out during which she has to go on the run, her identity is erased. Angela Bennett is no more. It's scary stuff, and would have been more so back in the 90s when much of this was fairly new - it's very true that all our personal information is on computer so we all are vulnerable.

Sandra plays increasing desperation well, and the story unravels rather than unfolds, and is quite emotional in places - especially those including her mother with Alzeimer's. Jeremy Northam, Brit actor, and rather dishy, plays the antagonist, and plays it well. Being so attractive, his nefarious ways are even worse, and as all her safety is stripped away, he's always there to make her run again. I like that the programming scenes don't have silly graphics (see Hackers) but are clear key/screen clicks and code being typed and this is one of the most realistic of the many hacker films that came out in the 90s.

This has aged well, except some of the technology of course, and it's still relevant. It is interesting to see technology changes ie the ease and normalcy of tracing mobile phones now for example. Note the policeman reading the Miranda rights off a piece of paper - was this filmed around the time they had changed? Historically interesting watching it (again) now, in 2013. A good, entertaining film in a similar vein as The Pelican Brief - intelligent writing and not predictable.

This awesome, action-packed little gem, is one of my all-time favorite movies!! Sandra Bullock, once again, outdoes herself in this wicked film all about the Internet and the taking-over of people's lives.

In 'The Net', Bullock stars as Angela Bennett, a computer-whizz, who while on holiday, encounters a dangerous man, who steals her wallet... and her life.

Soon, the real Angela Bennett disappears, and an ex-con, takes on her identity, swapping her life for Angelas!

Of course, Sandy isn't the type to take this kinda thing lying down - and all on her own, she fights hard to get back the life they took away from her.

A wicked film - that'll leave you breathless for start to finish!! 9/10

I like "The Net." I first saw it back in 1996, on VHS probably. We probably didn't have the Internet yet, or it was very new to us. So this was all very exciting, but scary too. There was a great sense of fear around identity theft. In 2015, we are such internexhibitionists with social media and twitter that people become lax and then their private sex-text photos get shared with billions of people.

The Net is a good thriller with an excellent title that is elevated by the charisma of star Sandra Bullock (still a star in 2015, amazing). Bullock is an incredible role model as a female hero: she is smart, funny, feminine and likable. The main issue for The Net over the years has been the march of time itself. Thrillers require a certain immediacy and immersion, and the mentioning of goofy out of date technological jargon risks dragging you out of the moment. As a period piece, or a time capsule, The Net is perfect, but does it still work as it did for audiences in 1995?

Luckily, the Net is not really about technology, its about the nature of identity in a bureaucracy, explored through the lens of technology, with the interweb as a weapon, and those issues are still relatable, and a movie like The Net serves as a good reminder of how trusting we have become of our internet privacy.