"Antitrust" is a sleek suspense thriller set inthe world of computers, but plays out in such a conventional fashion that it isno more disturbing than a James Bond adventure.
Director Peter Howitt andscreenwriter Howard Franklin might have been able to make a nice little thrillerout of "Antitrust" if they'd kept one eye on how goofy it gets. Just asit starts cooking, the movie turns thoughtless. What are we to make of a brainynerd who fears his girlfriend is trying to kill him by adding sesame seeds to theChinese food, and administers a quick allergy test at a romantic dinner byscratching himself with a fork and rubbing on some brown sauce? It's tooridiculous.
The movie uses a thinly disguised fictional version of BillGates as a main character. Tim Robbins plays billionaire software entrepreneurGary Winston as a man of charm, power and paranoia. He frets that just any nobodywill put him out of business.
That is where the rugged hero, MiloHoffman, (Ryan Phillippe) comes in. He can provide the breakthrough softwareWinston needs to "link every communications device on the planet." Milodecides to work for the megacorp, and is flattered by all the personal attentionhe gets from Winston. Not only is Winston a powerhouse, he's also a friendly,detached charmer.
The movie degenerates into fairly conventional thrillermaterial, with exhilarating chase scenes, stalkings through dark interior spaces,the disturbing allergy test and so on. At the end we are left with an argumentthat software code should not be copyrighted because "human knowledgebelongs to the world."
I give this tedious movie a grade of"F," which is shocking after all the hype and advertising. The plotturns out to be an immense pile of rubbish and leaves the movie a detriment toour viewing pleasure. Phillippe, a once-respected actor, put forth theperformance needed for the part, but won't make the cut for an Oscar this time.
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