It's
Hackers meets The Firm meets Wall Street in Anti-Trust, a new cyber thriller from
Peter Howitt. In fact this film also has shades of The Truman Show in the sense
that nothing is as it seems. Nearly every character in this picture has some kind
of hidden agenda.
In
Anti-Trust, Ryan Phillipe plays Milo, a young computer whiz who is offered a job
with N.U.R.V., a prosperous and highly recognized cyber company owned by Gary
Winston (Tim Robbins doing his best Bill Gates impression). It seems that Winston
is always being investigated for wrong doings, but this doesn't stop wide-eyed
Phillipe from coming aboard. As the film progresses, Phillipe realizes that he
may be in over his head, as life around him begins to crumble.
Anti-Trust
opens in terrible fashion with overacting and stilted dialogue. As the film progressed,
however, I kind of found myself getting sucked into it. Don't get me wrong, this
is a silly, silly film, but it's plot twists upon plot twists seemed to benefit
the story. In a film like Reindeer Games, this is a distraction, but here, it's
kind of fun and perhaps that's because the film makers aren't taking things so
seriously. I still can't get into Phillipe.
He's
not the type of actor who I find myself rooting for, and that's what the picture
is really lacking. Robbins is really goofy and I found him to be quite amusing.
The rest of the performances are pretty uninspired. What really helps keep Anti-Trust
afloat is it's pacing. Howitt moves this picture along briskly. There is always
something happening, and as absurd as it might be, I was never looking at my watch.
Finally,
I'd like to give a shout out to shameless product placement. Pringles and Pepsi
must have a lot of money invested into this picture, because the chips and soda
pop names are whored like nobody's business. There featured more here then Federal
Express was in Cast Away.
Anti-Trust
is a dumb movie, but it's an amusing one. And although it certainly won't find
it's way on my best-of list at the end of the year, it's got enough stupid charm
to stay off my worst-of list.
