Paranoia

I was going to start out this review by saying that Paranoia is a technological thriller for people who don't know a lot about technology.  But just as I wrote that down, a thought occurred to me.  I myself am not exactly up on technology, and I hated every damn minute of this movie!  This is an ineptly directed film harbored by a bad screenplay mixed with a concept that has so many holes, the plot barely holds up to scrutiny.  But hey, at least it has an attention-grabbing title!

The last time Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman worked together, it was in the 1997 "President in peril" movie, Air Force One.  This time, they play rival heads of two different companies.  The film's focus, however, is on a young man named Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth from The Hunger Games films), a cocky and arrogant guy who I hated about two minutes after meeting him.  Naturally, he's the film's hero.  As the story opens, Adam is working for WyattCorp, the company run by the Oldman character, Nicolas Wyatt.  Adam and his friends are low level employees in the company, but think they have a product that could launch them to the top, and schedule a pitch meeting with Wyatt early on.  The meeting does not go well, and Adam winds up getting himself and his friends fired.  In retaliation, Adam decides to live it up by charging a lavish night on the company credit card that miraculously is still active, even after getting fired.  Wyatt finds out about this, and sends some of his hired goons out to kidnap Adam the next day, and bring him to his office to make an offer.

Rather than arrest him, Wyatt offers Adam a chance to work for him as a spy for the competition.  It seems that Wyatt's former mentor and now business rival, Jack Goddard (Ford), has a new smart gadget in the works that will revolutionize the way we live, and it's mere months away from officially being revealed.  Wyatt hopes to pass Adam off as a high-level employee for Goddard's company, so that he can steal this top secret project for him.  With Wyatt's help, Adam is easily able to pass himself off as an executive, and gets into the rival company easily, as well as befriends Goddard, quickly earning his trust.  Before long, Adam is knee deep in corporate espionage, starting a relationship with a pretty young woman who works at Goddard's company (Amber Heard), and trying to stay one step ahead of the FBI, who quickly catch on to what Adam is up to, and start following him around.

Paranoia is a profoundly stupid movie, filled with scenes that sometimes contradict what's come before.  For example, once Adam starts working as a corporate spy for Wyatt, we learn that Wyatt has secretly bugged Adam's apartment, as well as the home where his father lives (played by Richard Dreyfuss, giving the film's single likable performance).  At one point, an FBI agent shows up at the home of the father to ask Adam some questions.  You would think Wyatt would bring this up, or be concerned, but no.  He knows absolutely nothing about the FBI's involvement, even though the visit should have been picked up on one of his secret cameras.  Also, why would Wyatt pick Adam for this job anyway?  This is also one of those movies where characters seem to enter and exit the narrative at random.  At one point, Adam is threatened at gunpoint by Wyatt's main hired goon in a parking garage.  Adam manages to punch him and escape, and we never see or hear from the hired goon ever again after that.  Did he just decide chasing down this kid who has information that could have him arrested just wasn't worth the trouble?

The movie tries to employ some flashy camera effects (slow motion, sped up motion, etc.) to mask the fact that there's not a lot going on the screenplay level.  There is absolutely no tension generated in the plot of Adam running for his life as he is dragged deeper into the world of corporate crime.  The chemistry that is supposed to build between Adam and his love interest at the rival company is practically non-existent.  Not even the sight of old pros like Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford trading verbal barbs as heated rivals can create any excitement.  Despite Oldman chewing the scenery with feverish glee, he never comes close to creating a real character.  Harrison Ford, meanwhile, seems to just shuffle his feet through his scenes, looking like he was as anxious to get this experience over with as much as I was.  And Liam Hemsworth simply rubbed me the wrong way from his introduction.  He's smarmy, self-centered, and arrogant.  So, why are we supposed to be rooting for him, again?

That's what really sinks the whole enterprise.  It's not the annoying direction, the obnoxious techno music score, or the fact that the plot is as flimsy as tissue paper.  I simply didn't like any of the main characters.  Don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of good movies about greedy or selfish people.  The difference is those movies knew how to make their characters interesting, whereas in Paranoia, we just couldn't care less.  I mentioned earlier that Richard Dreyfuss gives the closest thing this movie has to a likable performance, and it's true.  It's not just the fact that his character is so different from everybody else, playing a down to earth guy who worked as a security guard for 30 years before retiring, and is just enjoying a simple life.  It's the fact that he's the only character who gets to show a hint of spark in his personality or a sense of humor.  So, naturally, the screenwriters decide to focus as little attention as possible on the guy.

This is the kind of movie the month of August was made for, the time when studios push out their smaller movies that they don't have much hope for.  With such big names attached, maybe the studio once viewed it as some sort of prestige project, or at least an early Fall release.  Putting it out in the middle of the dog days of summer in a crowded weekend where it's likely to barely be noticed sounds like a pretty good plan, given the quality of the film on display.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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