AntiTrust

ANTITRUST

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: language, sensuality

Rated:

If you can overlook the obvious nitpicking on Bill Gates and Microsoft, AntiTrust is actually an enjoyable teen thriller that most software nerds and action fans will enjoy.

Milo Hoffman (Ryan Phillippe) is a computer programmer fresh out of college. His dream is to work for a high-stakes company... which he finds in a hot Portland-based firm under the iron glove of one of the most brilliant men in the industry, Gary Winston (Tim Robbins). Packing up and moving both himself and his live-in girlfriend Alice, Milo has everything he's ever dreamed of... a personal workspace... access to intense programming... job security... and possible danger. Gary Winston's company has intentions to have the first global networking system that can bypass any other programming by satellite. In doing so, they would literally take over the industry and control the airwaves. Milo is the smartest kid in the business, and without him it's impossible to meet their deadline. Gary begins feeding him pieces of advanced computer script that he can alter to fit their codes. But Milo's dream job begins to turn nightmarish when he discovers that there's more to this company than he first believed.

Milo faces his boss How is Gary able to turn up so many key codes just when he's hit a snag? And when his boss reveals a violent temper when provoked, it's merely the first hint of what lies ahead. But work is merely a sideline. In his personal life, Milo struggles for feelings for his coworker, the beautiful and talented Lisa (Rachael Leigh Cook), which provokes instant suspicion and jealousy in his girlfriend Alice (Claire Forlani). This provides both the romantic triangle needed to pull this film from the "geeks-only" zone and add an unexpected twist at the end... for no one is who we think they are.

AntiTrust is a twisting and suspenseful teen thriller. It plays with your mind with the terrifying realism of The Net and has the heart-pounding reality and excitement of Frequency. It's a tantalizing thriller, but not without its flaws. The players are well set up from the first credits... the powerful and sinister Gary Winston... the wannabe Milo, his less-than-secure girlfriend Lisa, and Alice, the beautiful programmer with a shadowed past. Unfortunately it also embraces an unmarried couple living together and profane language, which includes one use of the f-word, several uses each of "Jesus," "God," and "Christ," and other mild vulgarities. The film also contains some violence, which rightfully fills out the PG13 rating. It's apparent but not overly graphic; we see a murder, first implied and then in full on a blurry computer screen in which a programmer is beaten with a baseball bat.

Alice is glimpsed in her bra and often wears cleavage-revealing outfits. She and Milo kiss and embrace in bed. There are some weird cartoon almost-porno pictures in the background at a party. The characters drink champagne several times, and there is a vague mention of a child being molested by her stepfather. This is never further investigated. Of course the storyline is fairly obvious in some areas... you know who the bad guys is almost instinctively and the soundtrack is nothing new. But the actors manage to pull it off convincingly and engage the viewer into their unique individual plights. There's a series of miscalculations that lead to mistaken identities and carry the film to a biting climax with a good power punch.

Milo and Lisa tap into the system Looking past the content (which isn't that offensive), the film is a very well-thought-out and meticulously-acted one that keeps you guessing. The trailer provokes, "Trust is not an option," and comes true during the course of the film as Milo tries to unravel who his friends really are. Mistaken identities, traitors, manipulation and nail-biting sequences of computer wizardry make for an action-packed thrill ride that teen audiences will adore if they have any interest in the Internet. For lovers of fast-paced, manipulative thrillers like myself, this is the ultimate.

A side note would be that the original production would have been more offensive than what was actually released to theaters. The first draft included a sexual relationship between Milo and Lisa, which was cut because it seemed rushed. Amen. It could have been better, but for now the film does a good job of standing on its own two feet. I enjoy AntiTrust for what it is... a better-than-average teen futuristic thriller. I would suggest that parents and older teens screen it before allowing younger kids to view it, but overall it's less offensive than most of the thrillers out there, and an excellent alternative to some of Hollywood's more recent productions.