| The Net | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Irwin Winkler |
| Written by | John Brancato Michael Ferris |
| Produced by | Irwin Winkler Rob Cowan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jack N. Green |
| Edited by | Richard Halsey |
| Music by | Mark Isham |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $22 million[2] |
| Box office | $110.6 million[1] |
The Net is a 1995 Americanaction thriller film directed byIrwin Winkler[3] and starringSandra Bullock,Jeremy Northam, andDennis Miller.[4] The film was released on July 28, 1995.
In the film, asystems analyst with few personal contacts learns that all records about her life have been deleted, that her house has also been emptied, she must now find a way to reclaim her original identity.
United StatesUnder Secretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom commits suicide after being informed that he has tested positive forHIV.
Angela Bennett is a freelancesystems analyst worker inVenice, Los Angeles. Her relationships are almost completely online and on the phone, with the exception of forgettable interactions with her neighbors and visits to her mother, who is institutionalized withAlzheimer's disease and often forgets who she is. Angela's co-worker Dale, in San Francisco, sends her afloppy disk of the band website "Mozart's Ghost" with abackdoor labeled "π" that permits access to a commonly used computer security system called "Gatekeeper" sold by Gregg Microsystems, a software company led by CEO Jeff Gregg. Angela and Dale agree to meet the next morning, as he is planning on taking his own plane, but the navigation system in Dale's private aircraft malfunctions and the plane crashes, killing him.
Angela travels toCozumel, Mexico, on vacation, where she meets Jack Devlin. After seducing Angela, Devlin pays amugger to steal her purse. He chases the mugger, catches him, and roots through the purse to find the disk before shooting the mugger dead.The robber takes Angela out on his speedboat to kill her as well, but she finds his gun and confronts him. While fleeing with the disk and Devlin's wallet, Angela'sdinghy collides with rocks. She is unconscious in the hospital for three days.
When Angela wakes up, she finds that the disk was ruined by the sun and all records of her life have been deleted. Because none of the neighbors remember her, they cannot confirm her identity. Angela'sSocial Security number is now assigned to a "Ruth Marx", for whom Devlin has entered an arrest record. When Angela calls her own desk at Cathedral Software, an impostor answers and offers her old life back in exchange for the disk. She contacts the only other person who knows her by sight, psychiatrist and former lover Alan Champion. He checks her into a hotel, offers to contact a friend at theFBI, and arranges to have her mother moved for her safety.
Using her knowledge of the backdoor and a password found in Devlin's wallet, Angela logs into theBethesda Naval Hospital's computers and learns that Under Secretary of Defense Bergstrom, who had opposed Gatekeeper's use by the federal government, was murdered by altering the results of his HIV test, leading to a misdiagnosis. Fellow hacker "Cyberbob" connects π with the "Praetorians", a group ofcyberterrorists linked to recent computer failures around the country. Angela and Cyberbob plan to meet, but the Praetorians intercept their online chat. Angela escapes from Devlin, who is revealed to be acontract killer for the cyberterrorists, but the Praetorians kill Champion by tampering with pharmacy and hospital computer records. After Angela is arrested by theCalifornia Highway Patrol, a man identifying himself as Champion's FBI friend frees her from jail. She realizes he is an impostor and escapes again, resulting in the impostor's death in a car crash.
Now wanted for murder and thought to be Ruth Marx, Angela hitchhikes to Cathedral's office where, using her impostor's computer, she connects the cyberterrorists to Gregg Microsystems and uncovers their scheme: once the Praetorians sabotage an organization's computer system, Gregg sells Gatekeeper to it and gains unlimited access through the backdoor. Angela emails evidence of the backdoor and Gregg's involvement with the Praetorians to the FBI from theMoscone Center and tricks Devlin into releasing avirus into Gregg's mainframe, destroying Gatekeeper and undoing the erasure of her identity. During a battle on the catwalks of the convention center, Devlin accidentally kills the Angela impostor from Cathedral Software, but Angela ambushes him, causing him to fall to his death. Angela regains her identity, home, and life. She then reunites with her mother, and the conspiracy is exposed, with Gregg being arrested by the FBI.
In October 1994, Bullock committed to filmingThe Net from mid-January through April 10, 1995.[6]The Net was filmed in San Francisco'sMoscone Center on Thursday, January 5, 1995, during[7]Macworld[8][9] as well as at Washington, D.C., locations in April 1995.[10]
With an estimated budget of $22 million and a release date ofJuly 28, 1995,The Net grossed $50.7 million in the United States and Canada. Including foreign markets, the film grossed $110.6 million worldwide.[1]
Based on 58 reviews, it has an average score of 5.3 out of 10 onRotten Tomatoes with 43% of critics giving positive reviews. The site's consensus states: "The premise isn't without potential and Sandra Bullock is as likable as ever, butThe Net lacks sufficient thrills – or plausible plot points – to recommend catching."[11] Metacritic, using a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12]Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, describingThe Net as basically an update of anAlfred Hitchcock trope ("Innocent Person Wrongly Accused"), which was in parts contrived but carried by Bullock's naturalistic performance.[13]Owen Gleiberman, writing forEntertainment Weekly, complimented Sandra Bullock's performance, saying, "Bullock pulls you into the movie. Her overripe smile and clear, imploring eyes are sometimes evocative ofJulia Roberts".[14] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
A sequel namedThe Net 2.0, starringNikki DeLoach as Hope Cassidy and directed byCharles Winkler, son ofIrwin Winkler, was announced in February 2005. It was released direct-to-video in 2006, and was about a young systems analyst who arrives inIstanbul for her new job, to find that her identity has been stolen.
The film spawned an American spinoff television seriesof the same name, starringBrooke Langton as Angela Bennett.
ISSN 2469-3022
