Film review: Paranoia The jungle out there

MANILA, Philippines - Based on the 2004 techno thriller novel of Joseph Finder, Paranoia is a 2013 release that understandably had to undergo some revisions to make the technology element of the film current and relevant. At the same time, films of this type have to play a tight-wire act between being overly simplistic and lacking “meat” on one side; and on the other, going for real “techie” stuff, but alienating the mainstream audience in the process.

Directed by Robert Luketic, the film plays on the side of being less technical, and depends on the human element to hold our interest. Corporate espionage in the world of mobile phone technology becomes the backdrop for a morality tale that takes no prisoners, and leaves us with the classic “good guy forced to do wrong” scenario.

Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth) is a low-level tech employee at Wyatt Industries. When a pitch to the big boss, Nicolas Wyatt (Gary Oldman) goes all wrong, Adam is out of job and wonders how to cope with the medical bills of his ailing father (Richard Dreyfuss, who is at his most charming). Wyatt then comes up with an indecent proposal — that they transform Adam into someone his main rival, Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford), would hire for Eikon Technology. Once ensconced in Eikon, Adam would gain Goddard’s trust and commit corporate espionage. The little wrinkle comes in the form of Emma Jennings (Amber Heard), Eikon’s head of marketing, whom Adam falls in love with. How Adam negotiates between the two so-called pillars of the technology industry, how he can keep the girl, manage the upkeep of his dad and still keep his conscience clear, are what comprises the film’s plot.

Sixteen years after they bumped heads in the film Air Force One, it’s great to see Oldman and Ford snarling their way as longtime corporate rivals. While Oldman reins it in a bit (for him), Ford shrugs off his usual placid portrayals, and gives us something more venomous — and the scenes of confrontation between the two are the highlights of the film. Hemsworth finally leaves the jock roles he’s often been typecast in, and shows more range and potential. His early scenes with Heard, filled with sexual tension and cat-and-dog skirmishing, are enjoyable. Then there’s Dreyfuss stealing every scene he’s involved in.

The glitchy opening credits don’t really fulfill their promise, as the film is more a straightforward morality tale. And while that may have been the film’s intent, to play for the mainstream audience, it does give the film a sense of false promise. Thankfully, there is the acting to fall back on and savor — especially in the cases of Oldman and Ford. The notion of how it’s a corporate jungle out there, with predators on every bend, does come through.