AntiTrust

A geeky young programmer is recruited by the billionaire owner of a powerful computer company. A man who believes in being “creative” when striving towards his goals. At first, things are cool for the new kid but it isn’t long before he begins to uncover things which don’t necessarily shine a happy light on the company of which he is now a part. Young geek vs older geek. Let the games begin!

I think Bill Gates could seriously draw up a case against the makers of this movie. Wow. Is that supposed to be a thinly disguised version of Bill Gates on the big screen or Bill Gates himself?! Waaaaaay too many similarities, but let’s not go there. Anyway, about the movie. It wasn’t too good. Not a horrible film, but for me, there are only so many preposterous moments and coincidinkies that can occur in a movie, before I pull my puppies out of the ballgame. Unfortunately, I can’t get into any of the specifics here, since it would more than likely give away some of the film’s plot points, but suffice it to say that I didn’t “buy into” the majority of the “character developments” which occurred throughout this film. Also, and I guess this sorta goes without saying, the movie is utterly predictable. I think this was one of the first times that I was able to predict the death of a character…during the opening credits! The general progress of the movie is just way too obvious, and even though there are a couple of unexpected turns, they were just too far-fetched to keep me believing.

In the end, the film does leave you with some decent acting by the way of Ryan Phillipe, looking great as usual (too pretty for a geek?), some over-the-top fun from Robbins, and some cool gadget thingies (but there should have been more of them). Of course, Ryan’s character does turn out to be, not only a genius in programming, but pretty much everything else on the planet. You should see how quickly he seems to pick up new programs…within minutes, he knows the whole thing inside out. Whatever! Call him MacGyver Junior. He’s also action hero boy when he needs to be. Aaaaaah, some of it was mindless fun, and some of it was just too stupid to let pass. In the end, I can’t say that the film bored or thrilled me either way. Although most of its so-called thrilling moments are basically one person doing something illegal while another is sloooooowly making their way towards them (while the movie’s score builds). Needless to say, most of the time, the person who is approaching gets there just a second too late. Natch! Anyway, lots of other predictable and goofy problems as such in the movie, but it will likely go down much easier on video. Drink a couple of beers, chow down on some greazy nachos and have a blast! Make a game out of it. Whoever can predict the most plot points wins! Or better yet. Everyone takes a shot of tequila every time the film references something which relates to Bill Gates as well as the “billionaire genius” in this film. Trust me, you’ll all be drunk in minutes! So can you trust me? Read where I’m coming from below.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian