Back Rowe Reviews
Real Time Movie Reviews from the Back Row of a Theater

Paranoia (PG-13)

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Directed by: Robert Luketic
Starring: Liam Hemsworth
August 2013

This review was originally tweeted in Real-time from the back row of a movie theater and appears @BackRoweReviews. Though efforts were made to tease rather than ruin this movie’s memorable lines and moments, some spoilers may exist in the following evaluation. The original tweets appear in black, while follow-up comments appear in red. For concerns over objectionable content, please first refer to one of the many parental movie guide websites. All ratings are based on a four star system. Happy reading!

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Opening narration: a lament over the death of the American Dream.
Which gives rise to those who want to get rich quick. The movie chronicles the fate of such individuals.

To climb the corporate ranks, Liam must loose the attitude.

“Fit in to get in.” Personality makeover coaching.

New flat and new office. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but I’d check for bugs.
As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, “Boy, do I hate being right all the time!”

Multiple character beats. The middle is sagging.

Lunch at the club...clash of the titans.

Phones out, batteries on the table. Hi-tech disarmament.
This is how we do it in the modern era. In peaceful settlements in the Old West, gunslingers would be asked to hand over their guns as they rode into town.

“Someone is always listening.”
Not exactly a news flash.

Double-cross times two.

Final analysis: simple premise, straight-forward plot and minimal intensity. Nothing we haven’t seen before.

Rating:
2 out of 4 stars. A film that desperately tries to be on the cutting-edge but offers nothing new.

The early stages of this movie set up well, especially the opening narration, but the story is rushed through its paces in a similar fashion to how Hemsworth (Thor’s brother) is seemingly, instantaneously and miraculously transformed into a marketing genius that will act as a Trojan horse inside Harrison Ford’s company. To be sure, it’s a farfetched plot, but I wouldn’t mind such an outlandish premise so long as the story actually went somewhere…which it doesn’t. The “action” scenes have very little action and the resolution is contrived to the point of incredulity. I expected much more from this Ford vs. Oldman showdown, but the story’s impact and relevance are negligible.