CAST: LIAM HEMSWORTH, HARRISON FORD, GARY OLDMAN, RICHARD DREYFUSS, AMBER HEARD, JOSH HOLLOWAY, LUCAS TILL, EMBETH DAVIDTZ, JULIAN MCMAHON, ANGELA SARAFAYAN
DIRECTOR: ROBERT LUKETIC
SUMMARY: Office cubicle creature Adam Cassidy (Hemsworth) hungers to move ahead of the corporate ladder. Watching his old man (Dreyfuss) work three decades as a guard and still unable to afford better healthcare has left him with no choice but to push himself harder than before. His golden ticket to success is a chance to pitch his project Ethion to his boss, tech genius Nicolas Wyatt (Oldman). However, his attitude and impatience killed the presentation. Fired and costing his friends’ jobs in the process, Adam splurged and partied using his former company’s still activated credit card. Big mistake. Next thing he knows, Wyatt is threatening to sue him for his little prank unless he works for him. Or to be precise, unless he starts working for his main competitor, the ruthless Jock Goddard (Ford). Left with no choice, Adam agreed to steal trade secrets in exchange for elegance and extravagance. Second big mistake. Compared to the battle-tested and wizened business gladiators dueling in this elaborate industrial espionage, he is nothing but a whippersnapper pawn with few moves left in his game.
- Air Force Effin’ One: The Sequel. Ford and Oldman. Oldman and Ford. James Marshall and Ivan Korshunov. Ivan Korshunov and James Marshall. GET OF MY PLANE! Goddammit. This is the reason I had to see Paranoia. The trailer promised a cinematic re-match but with the actors on the same plane (pun intended) – ruthless business peers – not as president and a terrorist. Sure. Liam is the lead star BUT WHO CARES. Not me. I just needed to see Ford and Oldman. FordMan.
- Too bad FordMan had to snarl and bare teeth to one another in the entire film to illustrate the abomination and bitterness of their business competition. Ford even had to spat out lines like, “Privacy, absolute myth. No such thing.” and “It’s not the roof that matters. It’s the warm fuzzy feeling underneath.” like a one-liner Machiavelli. It is no surprise Liam did not understand much about business.
- There are a couple of scenes I had to emphasize because these underscore the STUPIDITY of the movie. First: EMBETH DAVIDTZ character, an assistant of Wyatt with PhD in Behavioral Science instructed Cassidy to appeal on Goddard’s emotions as a grieving father since he, on the other hand lost his mother as a child. SERIOUSLY, This is such a depthless and hilarious recommendation from a Doctor of Behavioral Science. Second: Cassidy thrashed his opulent apartment like a maniac after discovering the hidden cameras scattered in his place. SERIOUSLY. You are a pawn in a colossal scheme of PILFERING INDUSTRIAL TRADE SECRETS and not expected wires and devices in YOUR PLACE?! (The confusion I felt while Liam pummeled and pounded his apartment is too much I took a short nap.) There is stupid and then there is this kind of stupid. Gah.
- Plus for a movie called Paranoia, I never felt the paranoia of the lead character. Hello. The destruction of his apartment is one hell of a late reaction. Or Liam has trouble ACTING like a paranoid.
- Paranoia is a mediocre pilot test film meant to boost the career of an actor on the threshold of stardom. LIAM HEMSWORTH receives solo break detached from his Team Gale persona as some sort of Bud Fox character (Charlie Sheen in Wallstreet). Two of the most respected actors in the business lends able support and the rest of performers are competent. Director ROBERT LUKETIC has made passable projects before is at helm. Despite the list of adequate materials to create a respectable movie, Paranoia suffers from a thin material. This is not Wallstreet. A movie impersonating brilliance is different from a brilliant movie. The audience will see through the pretense and will understand its true nature – a mediocre pilot test film meant to boost the career of an actor on the threshold of stardom.
RATING: C+
