Review of Paranoia (2013) by Matt L — 16 Aug 2013

Writing movie reviews can be dizzying at times, mainly due in large part to bad, bad movies. When you're passionate or infuriated about a film, it's certainly easy to pass along the praise or dish out the anger. However, every now and then a film slips through the cracks, quite honestly because it's so horribly uneventful and so pointless that you can't help but forget about it. Now, it's been a while since one of these easily forgettable blunder-filled hatchet jobs has been released - and even more shocking is the fact this particular film stars two of Hollywood's finest - plus an actor and an actress that are so attractive that it's questionable how they don't turn us all to stone when we look at them. Of course the two Hollywood alums are Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, while the "pretty" people are Liam Hemsworth and Amber Heard. Together, this rather unique foursome stars in the techno-thriller, Paranoia.

Directed by Robert Luketic (21, Killers) and based on the novel of the same name (by Joseph Finderstars), Paranoia stars Liam Hemsworth as Adam Cassidy, a young tech guru that is forced into a world of corporate espionage after he lands in debt with technology CEO mogul, Nicholas Wyatt (Gary Oldman). Desperate to keep his company afloat, Wyatt sends Cassidy to work for the competition, as a double-agent. His job is to steal trade secrets by getting close to its CEO tech-titan, Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford), who has set out to run Wyatt out of business. Along the way, Cassidy is put in a difficult position when he becomes romantically involved with Emma Jennings (Amber Heard), an employee under Goodard. Lucas Til, Julian McMahon, and Richard Dreyfuss also star in supporting roles.

To be fair, Paranoia starts out as an interesting film. Liam Hemsworth's character, Adam, has a tech-team that is so anxious and overzealous to sell their ideas and earn corporate jobs that it completely backfires. Unfortunately, smart kids can be pretty dumb sometimes - especially when they decide to take their corporate credit card out for a spin at a local night club. From there, events spiral out of control when Gary Oldman's character, Wyatt, decides to use it as an excuse and take advantage of the situation by blackmailing Adam into submission. And, while the story sounds more interesting on paper than it appears on the screen, it should be noted that this film at least attempted to tell an ambitious story - but simply fails to connect viewers to these "titans" of industry and their lives of wealth in the highly competitive world of riches that's known as corporate America.

The main issue of this film - outside of a tasteless plot, is simply that there's very little feasible "paranoia." It's easy to understand why most of them could be paranoid - in their world of secrets where anyone and everyone could be listening and watching you. However, "big brother" is always everywhere these days anyway, so at no point do any of these characters resemble the proper amount of fear for their stability. In fact, the majority of this film is spent listening to banter-rich exchanges and a series of events full of greedy, childish maneuvers.

The film obviously had to have a villain, and Gary Oldman fills the role quite nicely, much like he did during Air Force One. His heavy British accent can be overbearing and pompous at times, but I suspect that was the point. Harrison Ford is also quite enjoyable in this films, mostly when he's engaged with Oldman - who are back at each other's throats once again (see 1997's thriller, Air Force One). For the few brief scenes Ford is present, he proves to be a domineering presence - although mostly outlandish and vengeful, even for his typical character standards.

Overall, Paranoia is a perfect example of filmmakers attempting to use pretty faces and glittery gadgets to sell movie tickets. This film cries desperately for attention, yet there's absolutely nothing to see here. It relies far too much on flashy, inanimate objects - like designer suits, fast cars, and futuristic cell-phones and not enough on sustainable, plausible scenarios. The cast severely lacks chemistry with one another - mainly Liam Hemsworth and his co-star love interest, Amber Heard. And, no matter how many times Liam Hemsworth takes his shirt off over the course of a film, it will always feel like blatantly desperate plot for attention. Unlike his superhero brother - Chris Hemsworth, Mr. Miley Cyrus might want to stick to a few supporting roles before trying to hang in the big leagues with the "God of Thunder.".

GRADE: D.