Paranoia

The big draw of this movie was definitely the fact that Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford were back at odds with each other like they were in Airforce One... oh and I guess the brother of Thor is in this movie too.

Paranoia is the story of a young man trying to make his way in the world of corporations and cell phones.

Adam Cassidy (Played by Liam Hemsworth) has to give a big presentation to the CEO of the company he works at (played by Gary Oldman) the presentation doesn't go that well and he and his friends are fired.

Adam takes the remaining money from the project and uses it to treat his friends to a night on the town.

Well Gary Oldman doesn't take that too well and brings Cassidy in. He says that unless he spies on a rival company, he will be sent to prison.

After that, Cassidy is groomed to be attract the attention of the rival company's CEO (played by Harrison Ford) and gain his trust in order to steal his secrets.

Its really no surprise that the main attractions of this movie are Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. Whatever the movie has to offer, or not offer, these two are fun to watch whenever they're on screen.

Unfortunately, that's not enough.

The movie's biggest weakness unfortunately is the script. From the very beginning you can tell that dialogue is horribly written and incredibly cliche. The best example is the beginning. Cassidy and his friends need to do well in this presentation they are giving, but instead of writing it naturally, the characters just say, "This presentation is important". When people are writing things like this, give your audience a little more credit. And stupid dialogue like that is difficult for even trained actors like Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford. How does Liam Hemsworth and the other cast that don't have nearly as much experience going to do with stupid dialogue like that?

Now I have to give Liam Hemsworth a little bit of credit. I've been on quite a roller coaster deciding whether or not I think Liam Hemsworth is talented. Hunger Games 1, I thought he was one of the better actors. Then as the other cast's acting got better, I saw Liam as a little Chris Hemsworth wannabe.

And I hate to say this because I'm sure he's a great guy and he's succeeded a lot farther in Hollywood than I ever will, but it must kind of suck to be Liam Hemsworth. To work in the shadow of a rising star like Chris Hemsworth, I always compare the two and every time Chris is the one I prefer.

That being said, he actually impressed me with this movie. Maybe I didn't give him enough of a chance before, but despite the horrible writing, Hemsworth actually impressed me with his acting. The fact his character was incredibly underdeveloped and I didn't really care is not his fault. He kept me interested, at least as long as it took for the focus to get back on Ford and Oldman.

I hate shitting on actors like this, and a part of me doesn't really think I have any ground stand on making those assumptions but I try to call it like I see it. Hopefully, Liam will pull an Eli Manning and make a name of himself despite being in the shadow of an actor who is actually really going places. I mean he's the brother of freaking Thor. Loki tried that once and he turned out to be the villain of the film.

Another inkling of promise from this film was Amber Heard. Now I actually watched this prior to watching Machete Kills. I enjoyed her in both films and its good to see she has that ability to take on a variety of films. Its not really saying a whole lot because while this movie didn't give me the killer headache like Machete Kills, it still had a lot of problems.

But Amber Heard was a good addition to the film, and dear lord, she's gorgeous. This one she's a little bit more down to earth and she's more the girl next door, a huge contrast to her role in Machete Kills. Is it a huge step in acting? No. But it still breeds promise. I hope I'll be seeing more of Amber Heard in the future.

As I've stated before, the real draw of this movie is Oldman and Ford.

Do they bring ground breaking performances? No, how can they if they have a horrible script like this. But I don't know what it is, but every time I see Harrison Ford, I just become ten times more interested. Maybe its the fact he was Han Solo, maybe I'm impartial, however, I do think, at least a little of it, has to do with his acting.

And then you have Gary Oldman, who can be very good with roles like Commissioner Gordon, but he can also be very bad with this role. They're both the kinds of people you love to hate.

Now the last two things wrong with the film was how it was marketed. Paranoia was advertised as a movie focused on how crazy technology is getting these days and perhaps alluding to Adam Cassidy's paranoia of being surveilled by this company. Then it becomes a story of the American Dream and how some men have become greedy and keep their wealth and success so the newer generation can't get it. But then it comes back around and points out that Adam Cassidy is himself pretty 1%-ish so the message of the film is very confusing.

If this had been a film on technology and how it is being utilized to invade privacy, that would have been fine. If this had been a Wolf of Wallstreet/ Wallstreet rise to power film focused on Adam Cassidy really climbing the ladder, that would have been interesting too. But instead they turn it into a generic Corporate espionage thriller. Everything about the movie becomes generic and its very forgettable.

The movie isn't as bad as I've heard some critics say it is, but it has its problems, its horribly written, and the message is all muddled. In the end its just a generic thriller with little new to offer. You don't have to deliberately skip it like I would skip Machete Kills, but it shouldn't be on your list of things to watch.

But that's what I think of Paranoia, what do you think? Did you enjoy it? Which Hemsworth do you think is going to end up better off down the road? Who do you think would win in a fight? Oldman or Ford. These are the important questions. Comment and Discuss below.

I'll leave you with this. Ever wondered what technology is really being used for. Well its being used for sex... check it out! Enjoy!