Before I saw this film in the theaters, I thought this movie was being aimed at the computer literate, but it really wasn't. Most of the computer stuff is pretty inaccurate, but nowhere near as bad as "Hackers", which came out around the same time and was definitely aimed at the computer literate. However, in "The Net", the computer stuff is just what a Hitchcock type thriller would call the MacGuffin. Like many Hitchcock type films, the central plot revolves around an ordinary man (woman) whom is thrust into an extraordinary situation. I wish the ads had focused just a little more on the thriller aspect and less on the doom and gloom of the Internet, because it might have done better at the box office.

This movie was actually rushed to be released because Sandra Bullock had just become "America's Sweetheart" with "While you were Sleeping" a few months earlier. This title is justified here as well. She really is such a likable person that even when her personality comes filtered through the movie screen, you can't help but instantly become very fond of her.

When the movie starts, we are supposed to believe that Bullock is a horribly shy computer hacker who has no friends or contacts other than via a keyboard. This isn't believable for a moment since she is initially Sandra Bullock to us, and never really becomes a movie character. The script really doesn't allow her to. Instead it throws her into situations dictated by the plot. Even giving us statistics like things she likes, and online people she enjoys speaking with don't help make her a fully three dimensional person. However, she does do as good of a job as she was allowed by the story. Dennis Miller also did an excellent job as a psychiatrist, and I felt sorry when he was taken out too early in the story. His demise was one of the scarier examples of the power computers can have over our lives as we rely on them more and more.

Sandra Bullock's computer bookworm character is seen at home in the beginning of the film, ordering her pizza and video rental online, while chatting to multiple people in a visual version of the IRC. She is sent a program to fix that has been infected by a virus. This virus leads her to something strange, that she decides to send to a friend of hers to learn more. Soon the world seems to be against her, as everything that can be controlled by computers works against her to delay her flights, kill her friends, and eventually erase her existence. Actually, this isn't true. She instead is 'replaced' by someone else to work in her place. Since no one she works with has ever really dealt with her in face to face communication, this isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. She is also approached by a gentleman who seems to know everything that she loves to do, and wishes she did more. This was handled nowhere near as well as "The Saint" did it, but it is clever how this gentlemen becomes her perfect man by seeing what movies she rents, what food she eats, and by reading emails and chat logs.

The villains in the film are very good bad guys. The enemy's power seems to grow in leaps and bounds and it is hard to see what, if any, limitations they have. Their build up is well done and succeeds by making us begin to worry that we are very vulnerable in today's age of information. I'm pretty sure the leader of the villains is supposed to be a clever Bill Gates type of person that wants to control the world from behind the scenes. His plan is actually a very clever idea. He is the maker of a worldwide anti-virus software, that has a hidden 'backdoor' in the software that allows them access to every system it has been installed on.

It is kind of a shame that the physical violence near the end seemed a little out of place for what was a much more intelligent thriller beforehand. But it's hard to fault this film for doing just what every other American made film has been doing for years.

Note that on my own review page I gave this film 3½ stars!
My original review of this was written on 6/22/97 after seeing it again on Cable.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12