Net Games

Going by quite a few different names Net Games is a cyber thriller crossed with a fatal attraction-esque plot.

It tells the story of a man whose sex life has gone off the rails after the rape of his wife. Unwilling to wait he turns to an online sex site and initially engages in little more than risque chat. But this is a movie so of course things escalate and before he knows it the mysterious girl on the other side of the screen has him by the short and curlys through a series of underhanded tactics and twisted games.

Starring b-movie legend C Thomas Howell, Star Treks own Marina Sirtis and a cameo appearance by Ed Begley Jr this thriller takes concepts froms everal other titles, blends them together and produces a rather trite little effort.

These movies immediatly suffers in my eyes due to the lack of a protagonist to care about. I'm sure plenty will argue that what he did was harmless but I personally disagree and question why I was supposed to be rooting for him and more importantly why yet another poor animal had to suffer for dumb "Heroes" sins.

I've seen much worse don't get me wrong, but the film is simply devoid of originality, you will predict everything coming and the rushed finale makes me question the writers place in the industry.

The Good:

Fairly well constructed

The Bad:

Weirdly uncomfortable viewing in places

Howell isn't leading man material

Begley was wasted

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The movie makes cyber sex look a lot more exciting than it really is

The movie opens with an Asian man and a hot blonde heavily into a mutually stimulating cyber session.

When said hot blonde lures the Asian guy to a local hotel for the consumation of their cyber session the tables get quickly turned.

While having the what looks like the greatest copulation of said Asian guys life the hot blonde pulls out a large carving knife and cuts said Asian guy long,deep, fast and frequently. He should have known better.

The movie then picks up with C. Thomas Howell as engaged guy whose finacee is saving it for their wedding night.

C. Thomas is next seen surfing the web and meeting said hot blonde for a cyber session and getting caught up in her web of sexual intrigue, danger and murder.

It just goes to show you, careful what you ask for...

The successful publicist Adam Vance (C. Thomas Howell) of the SFC is in the middle of a campaign to get an important Japanese client and is needy of sex because his traumatized wife Jennifer Vance (Monique Demers) was raped one year ago and is totally frigid, refusing to have sex. His close friend and colleague Ray Walters (Samuel Ball) suggests Adam to visit the porn site cyber chat.net, where lonely people have erotic conversation. Adam meets Angel (Lala Sloatman), a luscious woman and hacker while his wife is visiting her rapist in the prison with her therapist as part of her treatment. When Adam decides to finish his virtual affair with Angel, he is chased and blackmailed by the deranged sexy killer.

"Net Games" has a shallow and flawed screenplay, with some erotic moments and many ridiculous scenes. Adam Vance is successful in his career and totally naive in Internet, giving his picture and phone number to a complete stranger. The meeting of his wife with her rapist is shameful, and I have never heard about this type of shock treatment for victims of rape. Jennifer is not only healed but shifts her character from a frigid and insecure woman to a hot bitch and brave female version of Rambo. The viewer never sees the face of Angel, but the therapist Dr. Klein (Joan Van Ark), Detective Sandra Simmonds (Maeve Quinlan) and even Jennifer's friend Peg Wallace (Vanessa Evigan) have a great resemblance with her, and the ambiguous sentence of Sandra in the end ("I know how he plays") is intended to confuse the viewer. There is no explanation for the stupid attitudes of Adam hiding a body with his mate or how his pictures in front of the computer and with the wife of his boss were taken. However, there are some entertaining moments in this forgettable movie, therefore my vote is five.

Title (Brazil): ".Com Para Matar" (".Com to Kill")

I never knew what kind of things take place on internet sex chat rooms. after watching this movie, I really don't want to find out. Adam is a young married man whose wife is unable to be intimate with him, so his horned up friend Ray tells him about this sex site and one night, he is just playing around and ends up contacting 'Angel'. I never really figured out what makes her clock tick, but she is one crazy lady. After Adam's wife is ready to become intimate again, Adam calls it quits with Angel, but she gets really angry. She makes a great stalker! She is CRAZY!

Adam, who does the smart thing and tells his wife about everything he did on the internet with Angel, bands together with his wife and his buddy Ray to take down the crazy Angel. I'm not quite sure if they get the job done because there is this scene in the end with a female cop that makes you wonder if the killer isn't really dead. I guess I'll just have to watch it a few more times to see if I can get it figured out. Please rent or buy this DVD. It is worth your time.

Now then folks, I enjoyed this film and have a feeling that it has never been available on a proper release in the U.K. I acquired an American import just recently and having watched it, cannot understand why it hasn't been available here. It is true to say that some of the reviews do speak very favourably and, in many instances, I can understand that. Granted, some of the acting is appalling.....particularly Lala Sloatman and Monique Demers. It is of no wonder that Ms Demers CV is not very long. However, I feel that the story, in the main, has been well thought out, with plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing. Sure, the unveiling of the protagonist was a bit disappointing and the sudden transformation from meek housewife to Rambo was a bit over the top, but remember, this film was made in 2003 and if things like this could have happened on the internet then, just imagine who could be watching you now!! Anybody!! You could say that this film was a very big warning of things to come. C Thomas Howell is an extremely accomplished actor and turns in a pretty good performance, as does Sam Ball, and Maeve Quinlan is good fun as the detective. All in all, I thought this to be a good, watchable movie. A little over the top at times sure, but still pretty enjoyable.