Paranoia Review

 August is the month that summer movies slow down and although there are a lot of movies that come out, it is usually more of a dumping ground and it is easy for a movie to get lost or ignored. It is looking like that for Paranoia, but I thought it actually looked super interesting so I gave it a shot and found it rather entertaining. I actually went into the movie without having read any reviews for it. When I came home I was literally dumbfounded at how low the reviews were. Rottentomatoes had it at 4% fresh and since it has gone down to 2%. Sometimes I think critics are afraid to give a good review when they know that the movie is going to make nothing in the box office. This is a movie that I would recommend you ignore everything the critics are saying and give it a shot. It won't be  your favorite movie of the year, but you may walk out entertained.

Paranoia is an espionage thriller starring Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, and Liam Hemsworth. Oldman and Ford play two corporate billionaires that are bitter rivals and have been. Hemsworth plays a young man named Adam Cassidy that gets caught in between the two of them. In the beginning of the movie, he pitches an idea to Wyatt (Oldman) who turns him down. Frustrated, he goes and takes his friend to an expensive bar and blows the rest of the money that Wyatt had allotted him in one night. Not being too happy with this, Wyatt brings him back in and forces him to spy on Goddard (Ford). Adam accepts because he is offered a ton of money by Wyatt and is threatened with prison if he rejects. This gets Adam quickly trapped in a very sticky situation and thus we have our movie.

Yes, if I'm being honest, the plot of the movie is nothing special. It's fairly predictable and also nothing new or unique, but it's an entertaining thriller that is carried by a super good cast. Harrison Ford is one of those actors that just keeps on acting and always seems to do a great job. It's interesting looking at him in this and then reflecting back on Star Wars. He's definitely aged and looks especially old in this with his buzzed hair. And as always, he does an amazing job. Even in times where the story isn't strong, Ford still does a great job. Everyone else does a good job, too. Acting opposite Ford is Gary Oldman and he also seems to do a great job in whatever he's in and the two of them together are just entertaining to watch. The two of them could probably be put in any movie together and still entertain me. Outside the two spectacular older leads, younger audiences, both male and female, are given some eye candy to look at in this. On my side of things, Amanda Pead was gorgeous. On the girls side, I'm sure girls will love looking at Liam Hemsworth as the makers of this movie seemed to take every chance they can get to shoot him without his shirt on. Finally, I do have to give a Lost shout-out to Josh Holloway in this movie. I loved him as Sawyer in Lost and it is always great to see him around. He's a super talented actor and I wish that he was cast more often.

Yes, the movie is mostly cliche and doesn't have the greatest plot, but it is good enough for you to give it a shot. One of the main themes it does bring up is that of privacy. One line said in the movie by Harrison Ford was that "privacy is a myth" and the movie plays off of that a lot. While this idea can be alarming to a lot of people, in our modern age of technology, whether we like it or not, this is actually a true statement. Thus it is always a good idea to make sure you are super careful. I'm not going to dive into that in depth, but if you want to fire off your opinions on the subject, feel free to use and abuse the comments section below. I give Paranoia a 7 out of 10.