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I.T. -- a review


I.T. tries to be a Hitchcock-like thriller that stars former James Bond Peirce Brosnan as Mike Regan, an airline tycoon who befriends Patrick (Jason Barry), his I.T. advisor, after Patrick’s wizardry with computers saves Mike’s life during an important business presentation. Mike then invites Patrick to his upscale smart mansion to fix the wifi--but doing this winds up being a big mistake, since Patrick turns out to be a sick puppy who begins stalking Mike’s daughter Kaitlyn (Stefanie Scott) through their smart house, which helpfully comes equipped with cameras that allow Patrick to spy on them in the supposed privacy of their home any time he wants.


I mainly saw I.T. because of the sturdy cast--which, aside from Brosnan (who I thought did a fine job as Bond), also includes Anna Friel (Marcella, Timeline) as his wife and Stefanie Scott (Insidious: Chapter 3) as his daughter. And even Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) shows up. But I.T. winds up being pretty bland and predictable. You know full well from the moment Mike invites Patrick over to his place that it’s going to be a big mistake, and that things will only get worse from there. A more decent take on this subject would try to present a twist in the proceedings, changing the storyline from what we expect to happen and diverting us into new, more suspenseful territory.



But I.T. is just too lame to try and be different. Instead it takes us down the all-too familiar road that’s already been visited in a dozen lesser thrillers, while not giving too much thought to its premise, or the ugly message it imparts. This happens when Mike and Henrik (Nyqvist), a security expert he hires to help him, have to get Patrick out of his house in order for Mike to steal some valuable evidence from him. They do this by using another victim whom Patrick has stalked, a barista (Neringa Juodkunaite) whose cell phone Henrik steals from her by way of taking it right from her pocket.


They then use this young woman’s phone to get Patrick to meet with her, thus exposing the barista to her stalker--without the woman even realizing what’s going on. Mike is using the excuse of protecting his wife and child as a justification for this, but he’s exposing another innocent woman to deadly danger by doing so. But that’s OK, though, right? Who cares if this woman runs the risk of being attacked by this psycho, or--at the very least-- she’s now out a cell phone and needs to get a new one, because she’s just a day player, right? I.T. actually had the potential to be much better than it is, but winds up being just another mindless thriller. --SF



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