Copyright, Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures
Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

The Net

also known as “The Internet,” “System,” “A hálózat csapdájában,” “A Rede,” “Accès: Interdit,” “Das Netz,” “Ha-Reshet,” “İnternet'te av,” See more »

Reviewed by: Tim Emmerich
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: 15 to Adult
Genre: Crime Action Drama
Length: 1 hr. 54 min.
Year of Release: 1995
USA Release: July 28, 1995
Copyright, Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures click photos to ENLARGE
Relevant Issues

A computer programmer stumbles upon government secrets

Conspiracy

About murder

About death

Having one’s real identity completely erased and substituted with a criminal record and a series of false criminal charges

Mother with early onset Alzheimer’s disease

Seduction by a evil man

Featuring Sandra BullockAngela Bennett
Jeremy NorthamJack Devlin
Dennis MillerDr. Alan Champion
Diane BakerMrs. Bennett
Wendy GazelleImposter
Ken HowardBergstrom
Ray McKinnonDale
See all »
Director Irwin Winkler
Producer Rob Cowan
Irwin Winkler
Winkler Films
Columbia Pictures
Distributor
Distributor: Columbia Pictures. Trademark logo.
Columbia Pictures
, a division of Sony Pictures

“Escape is impossible when you’re caught in… The Net”

In general, “The Net” is an enjoyable action film that is true to today’s technology …albeit stretched to movie proportions. Sandra Bullock plays a convincing computer-savy freelancer who spends too much time in front of the computer. The audience gets drawn into the story and wants to help her out of her predictament.

What predictament? Well, Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) is a freelance computer software engineer who is employed to find viruses or “bugs” in software code. She spends so much time at computer terminals that her friendships are all “virtual” (the modern version of pen pals, all via the Internet).

Because she doesn’t have a lot of “real-life” friends, criminals whom she has learned too much about decide that her identity can be easily erased as part of a bigger scheme. So then, can her life. The film follows Angela on a quest to regain her identity, clear her name (the bad guys have edited her police records), and solve the mystery involving the software program glitches. This movie leaves you guessing who Angela can trust and who she cannot.

A good lesson to be gleaned here is that everything should be in moderation. If you are like Angela and have no friends except the ones through the computer (or whatever is taking up all your time), then get away, meet some new people, share the story of Jesus in person, etc.

“The Net” is suspenseful and a bit violent at times. The speech isn’t perfect, but thankfully no nudity, just some very revealing beach attire, including bikinis. All in all, the entertainment value exceeds the negative content (amazing for Hollywood).


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Comments from young people
…occasionally a fetching thriller. The poor acting by Bullock and the laughable internet scenes early on make this one a 2 out of 5 on the Moviemaking Quality, in my opinion. There is scarcely a fraction of realism or a shred of enjoyability… rough language and casual sex… The technological references are about as jumbled and mixed as they were in “Twister” and the internet sequences were as nondescript and unrealistic as “Hackers”. It may have taught a lesson about trust… this is one of the few thriller movies I’ve ever felt like taking a nap during…
Zack, age 16