Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Field78 It is often said that movie studios have an employee who can summarize a screenplay in one sentence for the executives, so they have an idea of the story. It could not have been hard to do this with this movie: put The Firm, The Net and The Conversation in a blender, and you get Paranoia. Mixing a couple of old movies together can often lead to a refreshing new dish if you know which elements can make a good combination, and what to add yourself (it's what J.J. Abrams does all the time). However, here the writers have forgotten to give their movie a face of its own, and to make their screenplay leak-proof. The reason this film made it to the cinemas has undoubtedly got to do with all the big names in the cast, which makes you wonder how they got to say yes to this screenplay in the first place (although a big paycheck for a brief uncomplicated shoot probably goes a long way, and hauling in one A-lister often attracts the others as well). Clichés and predictability abound, from the debt-ridden young protagonist with a sick father (cigarettes, emphysema, cautionary tale) who gets access to the rich life and spontaneously forgets his friends, to the girl playing hard to get who becomes surprisingly docile after hearing one sad sob story. Then there are the evil henchman and the FBI agent who warns the protagonist with scary pictures of earlier victims, so in short, this movie is one big collections of tropes where you can even see the 'surprise twist' and the 'twist on top of the twist' coming from a mile away. Now some amount of predictability doesn't have to be an insurmountable problem if the story in itself is solid and intriguing, and if the cast is good. But the screenwriters didn't seem terribly preoccupied with things like logic and plausibility either. Are we supposed to believe that Liam Hemsworth just happens to have a one-night-stand with the girl who later becomes his target for industrial espionage? Any good screenwriter would have made sure that wasn't coincidence. Or that the solution to a problem would require some thinking rather than just presenting itself in a news bulletin. It gets really ridiculous when Hemsworth himself can apparently change super secret data that gives him access to a super secret vault with just a cellphone and a finger print. Or when the evil henchman thinks that he can get Hemsworth to climb into the plastic-lined trunk of his car inside a public garage with spectators all around. As said, the great cast seems wasted on this material, but they also provide the movie's sparse highlights. The confrontations between heavyweights Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford are satisfying, and it is pretty nice to see Oldman playing a British person in an American movie, and Ford without lots of hair for a change. Liam Hemsworth is adequate enough in the main role, but he is outshined by either Oldman or Ford as soon as they are in the room with him, let alone both (let's just say it is probably for the best that his brother Chris got to be Thor). But there are plenty of missed opportunities here too: Richard Dreyfuss plays the sick old dad, who gets nothing better to do than be sick and old. He could have been put to some good use, but his only role in the movie is to serve as motivation for his son. Josh Holloway (of Lost fame) gets way too little to do as the FBI man, and Embeth Davidtz is downright squandered in a role that could have been much more intriguing, especially since her character plays a brief but crucial part in the finale. I couldn't escape the feeling that some of her scenes may have been cut to get the running time below 2 hours.Director Robert Luketic is mostly known for his comedies with a romantic edge (Legally Blond, Killers) but he knows how to make a thriller look slick. That makes Paranoia at least watchable until the end, but it is really a shame that he didn't have a more solid screenplay. Although we can't disregard the possibility that some studio editing removed most of the character scenes that would have made great use of a stellar cast. A missed opportunity, but not a terribly boring one.

Claudio Carvalho "Paranoia" is one of those films that are flawed, brainless but entertaining. The story of the ambitious twenty-seven year old Adam Cassidy with debts in the hospital for the expensive treatment of his father that in a couple of days becomes an important executive of a corporation competitor of the company that he was fired is totally absurd. He uses US$ 16,000 in the corporation card to party and what would he expect? Therefore, the tight spot that he is in is caused by a ridiculous situation. The coincidence of having one night stand with Emma Jennings is another unbelievable part of the screenplay. The unethical Adam Cassidy should have been in prison for a long period, since his lack of character and manipulation are disgusting. Emma returning to him is also incredible for an intelligent woman that was used. But forgetting these ridiculous situations, the viewer can enjoy the beauty of Amber Heard; the always great Gary Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss; see Josh "Sawyer" Holloway once again; and a good cast with Harrison Ford, Embeth Davidtz, Julian McMahon and Liam Hemsworth. Shutdown your brain and you may have a good time. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Conexão Perigosa" ("Dangerous Connection")

rdoiron-1 Quick review to say that I liked this movie a lot. There were enough twists to keep me guessing and enough action (although it isn't really an action movie) to keep my heart rate up. It's not an Oscar winner but it's a very satisfying way to spend some time.The acting was impressive and even the often-criticized Liam Hemsworth was more than adequate.Of course Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford did their typically strong performances. Richard Dreyfuss had a small role but made it bigger with his understated acting. I'm not sure why the rating is so low. I suspect some people read some critical reviews and fail to think for themselves.Entertaining and escapist. They could have fleshed out some of the ideas but even so, I suggest you give it a try.

FlashCallahan Two powerful tech billionaires in the world, are bitter rivals, with a complicated past who will stop at nothing to destroy each other. A young Thor lookalike, is seduced by wealth and power, and falls between them, and in doing so becomes trapped in the middle of their life-and-death game of corporate espionage. By the time he realises his life is in danger, he is in far too deep and knows too much for them to let him walk away......The main problem with this film is that its twenty years too late, and has been made numerous times before, and much better.When the film goes into full thriller mode, I keep thinking to myself, if this was made in the nineties, when it should have been, it would have starred Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Gene Hackman, Nicole Kidman, and Sean Penn. and it would have been one of the biggest hits of the year.But it's been a long time since films like The Firm, and Disclosure where sure things, and it's not surprising that it sank badly, Hemsworth just doesn't convince, and the film focuses more on him and his friends, rather than the two people we saw the movie for.It's almost as if John Grisham has started to write Young Adult novels.But when Ford and Oldman are on screen, it sizzles, and Oldman is doing his best cockney wide boy next to Fords grizzled shaven headed tech wiz.All in all, it's too late coming, but it goes along at a steady pace, and for a while, I was right back there in 1994.It was good to be sixteen again.