"The Net" takes you on an exciting adventure through cyberspace. With the feeling of a thrill ride that has an Alfred Hitchcock feeling behind it, director Irwin Winkler misses his opportunity to take a potentially fascinating account to boldly go into world that was not covered much into at the time only to end up falling into the trap of a formulaic standard thriller. The early scenes were amazingly gripping and heart curdling, but the end was excruciatingly weak and if it wasn't for Sandra Bullock starring in it, this film would've cured my insomnia.Just like her previous two outings before like "Speed" and "While You Were Sleeping", Bullock's facial expressions are convincing enough to garner some sympathy to the audience. Even through the more absurd situations, we can still remain invested in her characters. She's not just playing a character, she is the character.Bullock plays the role as Angela Bennett, a software engineer who lives her life in cyberspace. Every thing she conducts is by computer or modem. Even ordering a pizza she does it online which was rare back in 1995. The only time she breaks from her reclusive phase is when she's on hiatus to Mexico and even carries her laptop there too. Just as she was going on her vacation, Angela gets into possession of a disk that contains pivotal information towards serious criminal activity from cyber thieves who call themselves the Praetorians. They know she's got the disk and will stop at nothing to get it back. While sunning herself on the beach, she meets a handsome fellow hacker named Jack Devlin (Jeremy Northam) who had the right amount of style and charisma to rival James Bond. The problem is he is armed with a gun and is not afraid to use it on her. She avoids his wrath, but by the time she gets back to the States, she's suspicious that the Praetorians have hacked into her system and changed her identification. Now she goes by the alias Ruth Marx and is wanted by the cops. Her mother (Diane Baker) isn't of great help in defending her daughter due to her advanced Alzheimer's disease. The only person who knows her identity is her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Alan Champion (Dennis Miller), but he thinks she's just having a meltdown. While this is happening, the real Ruth Marx (Wendy Gazelle) has taken Angela's job and her life. The first hour of the film is virtually exciting with great moments of intensity to have your heart pounding. By the second hour, it become a formulaic cat and mouse chase as all the original intentions is reduced to just an afterthought. By the latter hours of the film it's just Angela running away from villains with their arms and the thriller clichés become more commonplace making everything all the more mundane and the final solution becomes more anti-climactic. "The Net" has a premise into believing that being dependent on computers can have is assets and liabilities. If this movie was made in the 1970's or 1980's the genre would've been labeled as a science-fiction film. By today's standards it would be more reality based with its constant advancements making it more dependable than ever, this film was and still is a bit ahead of its time. Computer security systems are never fully foolproof and if put into the wrong hands, it can be quite catastrophic. Here we don't have Big Brother under the watchful eyes, but he's taking action in as well. It's a shame the move doesn't further look into it. My guess is car chases and gun chases are more exciting. When all the smoke clears, "The Net" was still enjoyable mainly due to the casting of Sandra Bullock who succeeds in keeping the film tense due to her low-key performance. While the film is not up to par with an engaging thriller to hold onto in its entirety, we still have a character we can truly show empathy towards in spite of all the formulaic situations she's confronted with. Sure the suspense into the early days of cyberspace may have an exciting level of intention, but it's Bullock's performance that makes you sit through to the end.

Okay I'll say it I love Sandra Bullock There's nothing she has done that I haven't loved The Net is by far my favourite Sandra Bullock movie just ahead of While you where sleeping.... It may of seen far fetched back in the the day of its release One having their whole identity erased But today it's a horrifying reality with computers taking over the world as we speak It's a nail bitter for sure the pace the action never lets up And with our lives dependent of computer technology We are only a key stroke away from our whole identity being DELETED Watch this movie

I'm being quite generous giving it a 2/10.The plot consists of a hacker who finds her identity stolen whilst on holiday after a fling with a man of similar profession. Overall the film lacks any mind grabbing atmosphere to it until right near the end. Possibly from the limits in technology during 1995, but ultimately from Irwin Winkler's poor directing this movie has little to offer the viewer. The scenes are far too slow even when there are potentially gripping moments. The characters are weak to say the least (Sandra Bullock's heart didn't seem to be in it) and Jeremy Northam should have been nominated for worst supporting actor (if only they existed back then 'sigh'), his character being neither convincing or entertaining in the slightest. The script even by today's standards is very relevant. Despite the vast developments in technology (gone are the days of floppy disks and fridge sized computers), the threat of internet fraud is far from over and cyber theft looms within the ethernet of society. I fear that the screen writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris were severely let down by Irwin Winkler's inability to stimulate the actors (Dennis Miller being the most convincing of all with a very meager role in the film) and provide short, snappy scenes to create what could have been a work of genius.

In an age when the internet is fairly new, computer expert Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) finds herself involved in a computer glitch after the information on her driver's license, credit cards, bank accounts and her identity have been erased unbeknown-st to her by a high security programming group known as the Praetorians. She is then given a new identify with a police record; therefore, she is on the rush to hide from the authorities, find her true identity, and locate the Praetorians, who want to obtain a disk containing confidential information from her.From Bennett struggling with the loss of her identity to her attempting to track down her real identity, all the while dodging the police and the Praetorians, this movie is full of the classic adventure, mystery, and thrills that keeps the plot going and the audience captivated.Many computer geeks would probably critique the ways the internet or computer programming were described or used in this film, but they should just put those tidbits aside and focus on the pure entertainment this movie brings. With some descent acting and quick action added onto the on-screen drama and mystery, this is actually a fun movie.Grade A