Not a lot to say about this one - it's a well-done, near-future SF thriller done the right way. Take pretty much the current time period, add one new piece of technology (the SQUID, allowing people to record and playback visual, tactile and emotional experiences), and see what happens. You end up with some people becoming addicted to other people's memories (ala YouTube?), and some people becoming addicted to omnipresent surveillance. (I seem to recall that being one of the sub-plots of David Brin's Earth, although that book had a lot of sub-plots.) But the technology isn't the driving force of the plot, and it isn't just a MacGuffin - the plot is a basically three people obsessed with the same woman, and one of them pitting the other two against each other. They all tie into the SQUID market, but for different reasons, and the plot wouldn't work without the SQUIDs. The movie does a pretty good job (at least to me) of hiding the Big Reveal at the end, and lets the lead (Ralph Finnes' ex-cop character) discover clues at just about the right pace. In between getting beat up by punker chicks, that is.
There's also a separate sub-plot about racist cops who inadvertently light a match in the middle of a racially-charged powderkeg, and who are tracking down our heroes in order to cover-up their deeds. This part is handled a bit hamhandedly - the cops (one of whom is a younger Vincent D'Onofrio) runs around torching cars, spraying automatic fire around, firing into crowds - without much notice from anyone. Seems a little much even for the environment posited by this movie. And a police beat-down towards the end is too derivative of the King beatings (which allegedly directly inspired that sub-plot) - seems like they could have found a slightly different way to frame that point.
Two other points. As mentioned, a lot of the motivation of the plot revolves around three men surrounding one woman - Faith, played by Juliette Lewis (not too far removed from Cape Fear and Natural Born Killers). The problem here is - she isn't attractive. Not physically, not in terms of her singing, certainly not emotionally. Nobody seems to connect to her at any level - she just runs around with skimpy clothes on. Why all of these guys basically give up everything for her just isn't clear. Second, Lenny Nero (what a great name!) is an anti-hero here, but it still seems like Angela Bassett's Mace character gives up an awful lot for him. Yeah, the movie does give us the backstory between the two, and does take the time to show her exasperation with Lenny as she goes, but still.
The positives far outweigh the negatives, though. Writer James Cameron wrote a mostly great script here, and with the exception of Juliette Lewis, the cast delivers. (Oh, and you get to see two future nut-jobs in Tom Sizemore and Vincent D'Onofrio!) Four stars.
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