Synopsis
Kevin Mitnick (Skeet Ulrich) is cyberoutlaw supreme, breaking into computer networksright, left and centre. The police are trying to catch him, but our hopelessly outclassed. Mitnickencounters an opponent more worthy of his talents when he hacks into the files of securityconsultant Tsutomu Shimomura (Russell Wong). The latter uses his own formidable computerskills to track Mitnick, but meanwhile Mitnick is busy trying to crack the encryption on one ofShimomura’s files, a pr…gram called Contempt that will give him access to everythingeverywhere.
The current issue (#13) of Cashiers du Cinemart has an interesting piece on this film.It was, apparently, suppressed until now for legal reasons (Mitnick’s lawyers objecting or somesuch thing). The film itself is an intriguing pursuit tale, though the computer jargon is laid onpretty thick, and not always in comprehensible fashion. Neither Ulrich nor Wong playparticularly likeable characters, which does make for rather diluted suspense, since we reallydon’t know whom to root for. Amanda Peet, prominently featured in the cast list, has a very briefand largely superfluous role.
Audio
The sound is crisp and clear. The dialogue never distorts. The left-right separation is verysolid. The same is true for the environmental effects, though the sound effects generally take aback seat to the music cues, which do their best to keep all the keyboard action exciting.
Video
The picture is sharp, with good colours (some very intriguing use of orange and brown forsome scenes on a bridge) and the blacks are generally very good. There are a couple of nightscenes where grain starts to become an issue. The edge enhancement is visible in a couple ofsilhouettes, but generally isn’t a problem.
Special Features
Not much by way of extras. “Behind the Kevin Mitnick Story” is nothing more than a typicalmaking-of piece. Other than that: trailers for Jersey Girl and The Ladykillers. Themenu is basic.
Closing Thoughts
The film doesn’t seem to have made up its mind where it stands, though the issues it raisesare interesting. Ultimately, that’s the best way of describing the movie: interesting. Not muchmore.
Special Features List
- “Behind the Kevin Mitnick Story” Featurette
- Trailers
