Date: Fri 20-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-13

Quick Words:

Playing-Net-Bullock-Internet

Full Text:

Now Playing-

Don't Get Caught In "The Net"

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Are you ready for the brave new world that is upon us, a world of e-mail,

interactivity, on-line services and the Internet? I'm not, and I am even less

ready for its invasion into popular fiction. Thus, I was less than thrilled

with the onslaught of cyber flicks that occurred this year, from Johnny

Mnemonic to Hackers to Virtuosity . Another member of this techno genre, The

Net , arrives at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre on October 20, but I'm afraid

even super-hot actress Sandra Bullock can't save this mediocre, though

moderately entertaining, film.

Bullock stars as Angela Bennett, a computer geek - albeit an attractive one -

who turns down dating offers to stay at home, order pizza with just a few

clicks of a mouse, and converse with fellow cyber-junkies in computer chat

rooms. (If all these terms sound like Greek to you, then think twice about

getting caught up in The Net .)

Angela's job involves troubleshooting for various software problems and

detecting the viruses that plague new programs. Just before heading out on

vacation, her boss piques her interest with the discovery of a crafty program

prototype that provides access to top secret places. Faster than "The X-Files"

churns out conspiracy theories, Angela finds her knowledge of this prototype

puts her in extreme, life-threatening danger.

The movie then evolves into a variation on The Fugitive . Angela becomes a

heroine on the lam when the shady no-goodniks behind the nefarious program

begin to eradicate her identity from existence. Unable to trust anyone,

particularly the cops, who believe her to be a known felon named Ruth Marx,

Angela begins a frantic search for the mysterious people responsible for her

predicament.

The theory that one's identity could so easily be wiped out from memory is, in

theory, a frightening premise. If you want to see it effectively carried out,

watch the intriguing (though little seen) television show "Nowhere Man," where

paranoia and surrealism reign. The Net , however, fails to generate such

nerve-rattling tension. It is too grounded, and rarely succeeds in making

banal material - such as endless shots of fingers frantically pecking away at

keyboards - interesting.

This is not to say such matters can't be made interesting. Just consider the

last Harrison Ford film, Clear and Present Danger . That motion picture

featured an incredibly tense scene centered around a character's attempt to

print out information before a rival deleted a pertinent file. On paper it's

boring, but when done right, it sparkles on screen. It's all in the execution,

but unfortunately director Irwin Winkler hasn't crafted The Net into such a

picture.

Another reason for the lack of true tension is the film's sparse character

development. It is only by Bullock's sheer likability that viewers care about

Angela at all. The script tosses in a few distinguishing details about the

protagonist - Angela once had an affair with her therapist (Dennis Miller),

and she has a mother that suffers from Alzheimer's disease. When Angela

finally turns to her former lover for help, the moments don't quite work.

Despite the talents of both Bullock and Miller, they have little chemistry,

and the screenwriters give them little with which to work.

The Net , rated PG-13 for profanity, mild violence and intensity, is not a

complete failure. It serves as a decent, two-hour distraction. But it fails to

live up to its potential because it is an amalgam of several fairly recent

films, all of which carried out their treatments better, particularly Sneakers

, which shares a similar theme about a sinister cyber device which could shake

the foundations of the western world if put in the wrong hands.