The Net is a 1995 film directed by Irwin Winkler and featuring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam and Dennis Miller. The storyline is based on the public fear of Big Brother in the United States. The film was retold in an expanded format in the 1998–1999 television series of the same name and followed by a direct-to-video sequel, The Net 2.0, produced and directed by the son of producer Irwin Winkler, in 2006. The sequel shares a thematically similar plot, but with different characters.
Plot
A fellow analyst from Cathedral Software, Dale, sends Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) a program on a disk that when run displays a peculiar symbol (π) in the lower-right corner. Dale instructs Angela to hold the CTRL and SHIFT buttons while clicking the π symbol, revealing that it gives the user entry point access to government and military computer systems. It is learned 'they' have recently implemented a newly developed piece of illegitimate 'protection' software called The GateKeeper System and this is what the film hinges upon.
On vacation in Mexico, Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam) acquaints himself with Angela under the pretense that he is just another computer cracker on vacation. He is later revealed to have been sent by a cyber-terrorist group within Cathedral Software known as the Praetorians. Jack tries to steal the computer disk she has with her that contains the program permitting entry to other computer systems, displayed in the first scenes of the film, but she escapes. Angela then learns just what the Praetorians are capable of with the GateKeeper's backdoor. When she tries to re-enter the United States, Angela discovers that her identity has been changed by the crackers who are stalking her, and she is now listed as "Ruth Marx," a convicted prostitute with a string of drug offenses.
Now a wanted felon, Angela goes on the run. As her life revolves almost exclusively around her work, and her mother (Diane Baker) suffers from Alzheimer's, she is unable to find anyone who can identify her. Finally, she contacts her former lover and psychiatrist (Dennis Miller), but he is also murdered as a result of the crackers' machinations.
Desperate to escape the 'net,' Angela sneaks into the Cathedral office where the cracker is thought to be located. She identifies one of the crackers, the real Ruth Marx (Wendy Gazelle), now using Angela's identity, and contrives to uncover the master plan of the Praetorians, which is to install their own 'Gatekeeper' software into the mainframes of several government and military computer systems. Angela sets off the fire alarm and manages to copy all of the evidence of the cracker's plan onto a disk using the password natoar23ae, just before the fake Angela makes it back to her desk.
At a computer convention, she sends an e-mail to the FBI, revealing the crackers' plan. Jack and Ruth arrive at the computer station where Angela was working at. Jack cracks the FBI mainframe and tells Angela that everything she did will be deleted by pressing the escape key. But what Jack didn't realize is that Angela inserted a disk containing a virus that will infect any system when the escape key is pressed. In doing so, he releases the virus into Cathedral's mainframe and all of the files are deleted. Angela escapes and she is chased by Jack and Ruth. Jack accidentally kills his partner and the real Angela ambushes Jack, knocking him off a catwalk and sending him to his death.
Based on the evidence that she has sent the FBI, the leader of the crackers is arrested, and Angela gets her life back.
Reaction
Box office
With an estimated budget of $22 million and a release date of July 28, 1995, The Net earned $50,727,965 in domestic box office. Including foreign markets, the film grossed $110,627,965 worldwide and an additional $23,771,600 in rentals (USA).
Critical response
The film was not received well overall by most critics, gathering a rating of only 30% at Rotten Tomatoes. [1] Roger Ebert, gave a positive review of three stars.[2]
Awards
Additionally, Sandra Bullock was nominated for "Most Desirable Female" at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards.
References
External links
