Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995                   TAG: 9508010004
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BULLOCK IS WORTH CATCHING IN `THE NET'

But that's where any comparisons to Hitchcock end. Director Irwin Winkler tells the story well enough, and he got another winning performance from star Sandra Bullock. Unfortunately, he is not able to sustain the atmosphere of fear and suspicion that makes Hitchcock's films so deliciously suspenseful.

The problem is a script, credited to Winkler and four other writers, that wanders away from its central concerns and, at the same time, mishandles the villains. Offsetting those flaws is Sandra Bullock, one of the most popular and likeable actresses in the business today, and the film makes full use of her talents. And the situation in which her character, Angela Bennett, finds herself is one that many viewers will identify with immediately.

Angela is a computer technician who specializes in software viruses and other bugs. She works by telecommuting from her home in Venice, Calif., to Cathedral Software in San Francisco. Her computer is her life. Beyond work, she uses it to chat with unseen friends on the Internet and even to order her nightly pizza. If it weren't for the occasional FedEx delivery, she might not have any human contact.

Her Mexican vacation is long overdue, but on the eve of it, a co-worker contacts her about a curious wrinkle he's found in a new program. It's a trick that allows the user to tap into all sorts of places she shouldn't be tapping - medical records, law enforcement files, that sort of thing.

Of course, it's also part of a larger electronic conspiracy that decides Angela must be eliminated. Their henchman, nicely underplayed by Jeremy Northam, has many ways to eliminate Angela. Our identities, after all, are little more than a collection of files kept by the DMV, tax offices, banks, credit companies. If someone could remove a woman's name from those records and steal her ID cards, then who would that woman be? How could she prove that she is who she claims to be?

That side of the story works well. It touches fears and frustrations shared by anyone who's ever been told "the computer's down." The film isn't as effective on a more immediate, physical level. This kind of thriller has to move. The protagonist is either running away from something or trying to get to something else. That's when the director can tighten the screws by bringing the pursuers closer or making the situation more threatening.

Perhaps because Winkler decided to give his star room to create a character, the middle of the film seems to lack the sharp focus of a good chase. Also, the ending reveals a "surprise" villain who has been obvious to the audience for about an hour. But that same villain has no real personality or presence in the film; he never even appears in the same scene with Angela.

In many ways, "The Net" is not much different from "The Pelican Brief," but it's never as viscerally involving as "The Fugitive." For '90s chase thrillers, that's still the one to beat.

The Net

***

A Columbia release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 118 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, language, subject matter.