Today’s quick review: The Net. Security analyst Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) becomes the target of cyberterrorists when a coworker sends her a disk containing a backdoor to a popular security program. Angela returns from vacation to find her identity stolen, her house cleared out, and Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam) gunning for her. With every computer a weapon to be used against her, Angela must find a way to escape Jack and uncover the truth.
The Net is a cyber thriller starring Sandra Bullock. The movie explores the dangers of a world that is increasingly reliant on computer systems when those systems are insecure. Angela, a loner by nature, has no one she can turn to when every official computer system makes her out to be a liar and a criminal. The Net features a solid thriller plot and a good angle for its story, but it suffers from a passive protagonist and unclear rules.
The Net’s main appeal lies in the trap it sets for Angela. With access to nearly any computer system, Jack and his allies are able to turn everything from the medical system to the police against her, with no way for her to prove her innocence. The movie comes up with clever applications of this power, and Angela is left with barely any resources to fight back. Backing up her predicament is a decent plot about a cyber conspiracy.
Where The Net falls short is that it does not give Angela enough agency. Angela is slow to figure out her situation and even slower to fight back. Instead of pitting Angela’s skills against her foes’ on the digital battlefield, the movie opts for a conflict that is almost entirely one-sided. To make matters worse, parts of the story are unclear, including the rules of the computer systems and who, beyond Jack, Angela is fighting.
How much you get out of The Net will depend on how willing you are to put up with its weaknesses. Viewers who are willing to watch Angela flounder for a while will enjoy The Net for its decent plot and the ways it comes up with to abuse computer systems. But viewers who are hoping for a full-blown battle of wits will be at least somewhat disappointed.
For an even more exaggerated take on computer hacking, try Hackers. For a cyber thriller with a more thoughtful plot, try Sneakers. For a sci-fi thriller with more action and a similar setup, try Paycheck. For a more conventional thriller that lays a similar trap for its protagonist, try Enemy of the State or Double Jeopardy.
[6.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113957/). I give it a 6.5 for a promising setup held back by an ineffectual protagonist.