Take an up-and-coming director who's father just happened to direct the first THE NET, take an up-and-coming actress who tries her best to be likable, add a city that is not LA or Vancouver or even in South Africa, a so-so script and a recycled storyline and you get THE NET 2.0.
Hey, it could have been worse.
Technically this is not a sequel, only a similar storyline and slapped with the THE NET brand name to be able to be noticed and plucked off the rental shelves. The fact that the son of the first part director took the reigns of this one helped. In fact, he seems to have more visual style than his father. Sometimes a bit too much, but it works.
The film was shot in Turkey for a reason, but it gave them a wider scope and better backdrops then Cali or Canada could ever give, considering the budget. Of course there are plot holes to swallow a Mack truck, but no more than the first movie. It was also predictable although it tried hard not to be, but no more than the first one (I have yet to see a movie that is not predictable and/or has plot holes).
The movie is superior to the first in a few areas, most notably the setting, the cinematography and the gadgets used (like the first one gadgets can do more than they actually can). The storyline is the same as well, hence it doesn't improve but it doesn't get worse either.
The first part was successful because of Bullock's charm and the novelty of the subject. After so many ripoff and carbon-copies a sequel to the actual original can't deliver anything new that hasn't already been explored by the ripoffs, so don't expect it. Reminds me a bit of 'Men In Black' in that way. But Nikki has charms of her own and the story is worth an evening of reality-detachment.
All in all it is a movie that tries its best to live up to our expectations, fails here, succeeds there, rambles for a while, finds itself, delivers payoffs, gives us 'Hope'.
In short, it reminds me a lot of the first one, only no Bullock, better cinematography, a different backdrop and a few computers doing funky computer stuff only laymen will find 'cool'. Experts may find it annoying and unrealistic. Same as the first one.
Where THE NET was overrated, THE NET 2.0 is underrated. It levels itself out again.
The R rating was pointless. No sex, no language and the violence is minimal, limiting itself to one blood-drips-off-knife shot and a few bullet wounds. I've said it before and I'll say it again: those MPAA jokers need their heads examined. They give Rs to PG-13s and PG-13s to Rs.
Hey, it could have been worse.
Technically this is not a sequel, only a similar storyline and slapped with the THE NET brand name to be able to be noticed and plucked off the rental shelves. The fact that the son of the first part director took the reigns of this one helped. In fact, he seems to have more visual style than his father. Sometimes a bit too much, but it works.
The film was shot in Turkey for a reason, but it gave them a wider scope and better backdrops then Cali or Canada could ever give, considering the budget. Of course there are plot holes to swallow a Mack truck, but no more than the first movie. It was also predictable although it tried hard not to be, but no more than the first one (I have yet to see a movie that is not predictable and/or has plot holes).
The movie is superior to the first in a few areas, most notably the setting, the cinematography and the gadgets used (like the first one gadgets can do more than they actually can). The storyline is the same as well, hence it doesn't improve but it doesn't get worse either.
The first part was successful because of Bullock's charm and the novelty of the subject. After so many ripoff and carbon-copies a sequel to the actual original can't deliver anything new that hasn't already been explored by the ripoffs, so don't expect it. Reminds me a bit of 'Men In Black' in that way. But Nikki has charms of her own and the story is worth an evening of reality-detachment.
All in all it is a movie that tries its best to live up to our expectations, fails here, succeeds there, rambles for a while, finds itself, delivers payoffs, gives us 'Hope'.
In short, it reminds me a lot of the first one, only no Bullock, better cinematography, a different backdrop and a few computers doing funky computer stuff only laymen will find 'cool'. Experts may find it annoying and unrealistic. Same as the first one.
Where THE NET was overrated, THE NET 2.0 is underrated. It levels itself out again.
The R rating was pointless. No sex, no language and the violence is minimal, limiting itself to one blood-drips-off-knife shot and a few bullet wounds. I've said it before and I'll say it again: those MPAA jokers need their heads examined. They give Rs to PG-13s and PG-13s to Rs.