I.T. tells the story of entrepreneur Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan), who is in the middle of trying to launch a new app that make or break his aviation company. A presentation goes south, but is fixed by I.T. consultant Ed Porter (James Frecheville). Regan is impressed and invites Porter to his house to help fix some tech issues and have dinner. Porter gets the impression that he's become part of the family, and just starts showing up at places he's not supposed to. When Regan tells him off, Porter starts using his skills against him, sabotaging his company and bringing real turmoil into his family life.
The film actually begins with a scene that shows Regan taking part in some shady business. This, of course, comes to light later as part of Porter's campaign of attrition against the businessman. This could have been an interesting wrinkle in this story, the movie perhaps suggesting a sort of moral ambiguity in its depiction of digital age paranoia. But this isn't what happens. The film makes Porter out to be more and more a psychopath, and Regan to be more and more a hero. The film, in spite of its contemporary concerns, ends up feeling pretty dated.
The movie just isn't very smart. It doesn't really make any sense that a businessman launching an app in present day would be so inept when it comes to technology. The film makes him out to be kind of a Luddite that paradoxically surrounds himself with digital technology. The film seems to try to make him out to be some kind of everyman, but he is nothing of the sort. He is a wealthy businessman who occasionally exerts his influence to makes things go smoother for his businesses. He lives in a completely wired house controlled by custom touchscreen panels. The film completely fails to make his crisis feel in any way relatable.
So it becomes difficult to sympathize with the main character. The film wouldn't need us to sympathize with the character if it followed through on the ambiguity suggested in the opening scene. But as the film goes on, it seems to start seeing him as an underdog hero. He is the scrappy fighter taking on this monstrous hacker. He may not know much about tech, but he gathers his formidable wealth and personally takes him on. The film doesn't really seem to realize that this is incredibly stupid.
The movie takes on some pretty dated aesthetics. Porter, for example, is shown using multiple large screens arranged in an asymmetric array. This makes no sense, of course, but the film seems to take its cue for what hackers are like from the film Swordfish. The best thing one can really say about this film is that Pierce Brosnan is in it. His character doesn't make any sense, but the actor pretty much ensures that this illogic is at least watchable. He has enough presence and inherent machismo that the film offers a few bursts of entertainment.
In more capable hands, I.T. might have provided a discourse on privacy in the modern age, on what the average person should be concerned about when it comes to technology and surveillance. But the film resists any connection to relevance, and delivers a story that is difficult to connect with. This is a story of an Irish Luddite multimillionaire tech CEO suffering the attentions of a mentally ill hacker. The film just sets up obstacles for itself, the scenario getting more outlandish when it should be getting closer to the truth.
My Rating:
