Product Details

• Actors: Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, Dennis Miller, Diane Baker, Wendy Gazelle
• Directors: Irwin Winkler
• Writers: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris
• Producers: Irwin Winkler, Rob Cowan
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 4, 1996
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800179552
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,341 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Net, the first of Hollywood's big cyberthrillers of the mid-1990s, was also the most successful, thanks in large part to the natural appeal of star Sandra Bullock. Still riding high from Speed and While You Were Sleeping, Bullock plays a computer expert victimized by sinister cyberforces who steal her identity for reasons unknown. It's a clever combination of high-tech paranoia and Hitchcockian references (including Jeremy Northam as a romantic stranger named Devlin, after Cary Grant in Notorious). Film historians may look back someday on films like this--Roger Ebert calls them "hacksploitation"--to see what they reveal about our society's reaction to the increasing role of technology in our lives, just as we now study the fears of Communism and the atom bomb reflected in films of the 1950s. Dennis Miller and Diane Baker costar. --Jim Emerson

From The New Yorker

Irwin Winkler's cyber-thriller shuffles morosely from action sequence to action sequence, like a long bus trip with multiple transfers. Sandra Bullock (who drove the bus in "Speed") plays a computer whiz who stumbles on evidence of a sinister conspiracy; she's pretty and likable, but this wan chase picture needs a lot more than she can give it. The screenplay, by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, is remarkably free of ingenuity, and therefore of suspense. It's unlikely that the movie's intended audience-computer-savvy viewers addicted to the speed and versatility of their machines-will be impressed by a thriller that unfolds at the deliberate pace of a "Matlock" episode. With Jeremy Northam and Dennis Miller. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUSPENSEFUL!!!!, July 17, 2002

By 

jasenao (Dothan, Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Net [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) leads a life that is unlike most. She doesn't have much excitement in her life; her life is built mostly around her being a MAJOR computer ace. Unfortunately, her favorite hobby and job just might get her in trouble when she comes in contact with the wrong group of people and when she finds a top-secret program that can faulter computer networks.

"The Net" is a GREAT movie to say the least! The majority of the best suspense movies are built around a story having to do with a kidnapping, murder, or something else like that. The makers of this movie did a spectacular job of making "The Net" intriguing, compelling, interesting, and best of all, suspenseful. Sandra Bullock also puts on an unforgettable performance that makes the movie believable and even more compelling.

An identity can be stolen and a life can be changed dramatically by a simple computer hacker or even a simple diskette. Whether you're a fan of the internet, things having to do with computers or not, at least give "The Net" a rent. If you're a big fan of movies that keep you on the edge of your seat, don't even think about renting "The Net", BUY it instead!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated Bullock Film, June 28, 2003

By 

J. M. Zuurbier (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Net (Special Edition) (DVD)

Sandra Bullock stars in THE NET, a suspenseful thriller that will leave you at the edge of your seat. She plays Angela Bennett, a woman who is cut away from reality and the world and works from home as a computer virus detector. She comes across a disk which has a glitch that allows hackers to get into the FBI system. She takes a vacation and has a one night stand, with the man who is after her disk! Soon she finds her identity has been erased, and is forced to take on the identity of Ruth Marx. Soon she discovers this Ruth Marx has a criminal record, and must go on the run to protect herself and try to win back her identity. Dennis Miller plays her ex therapist and lover, who is a bit of a comic relief in the movie. The movie is fraught with mystery and suspense, as the story unfolds you'll find yourself hooked until the very end, when Bullock's character unravels the mystery and regains her life. THE NET is a movie that isn't as well regarded as some of her other hit movies like WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, MISS CONGENIALITY or SPEED, but it fits right among them as one of her best. She plays the part really well, of a woman who is terrified to find out that she has lost her identity. A must watch.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Identity Crisis, November 15, 2000

By 

Willard C. Smith (Aurora, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Net [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Net combines elements of techno paranoidism, action, and reverses the usual gender roles. The result is a little uneven, but still worth watching.

The premise is that an isolated, but brilliant, software engineer (Angela Bennett played by Sandra Bullock) has her identity stolen, when she stumbles across a conspiracy involving trap doors in a software security system used by many federal, state, and private databases.

Although stolen identities are a hot topic in today's issues, the ability to steal someone's identity is proportional to the how isolated an individual may be, and this theft is made easier because Angela's life is very isolated. She works out of her home and communicates primarily over the telephone and internet. There are lots of people who would like to meet her, but she puts them off.

The technological portion of the film that is interesting shows how a person, who depends on computerized output, can be murdered when someone else fools with the data bases. This happens over and over, as the conspiracy attempts to isolate and kill Angela.

The action part of this film involves most of the cliches common to this type of genre. We get the chase in the crowd, on the merry-go-round, in the darken street (several times), on the freeway, at the bridge crossing, on the boat, in the amusement park, and finally on the catwalk. The first couple of times are OK, but after a while it begins to get tired.

Fortunately the film is saved because it reverses the usual gender roles. Like true action heros, no one suddenly appears and SAVES Angela. Everyone she tries to get help from are either killed or isolated. In the end Angela saves herself using the same wits and knowledge that made her a much sought after engineer. She gets back her identity, exposes the conspiracy, and kills the bad guy.

I like Sandra Bullock. She has the isolated awkward character down pat, but still with enough pluck to fight back. Jeremy Northam's heavy is smooth enough to stare down a cobra, and seems to have a psychopathic personality that he trieds to hold in check. He gets his relief on a keyboard.

I wanted to scream at some of the technology holes in this film. The flashing terminal showing lots of overlaying screens which, I suppose, was suppose to represent the Trap Door was laughable. The way in which Angela tricks Jack into infecting the main system with a virus on the floppy without getting him to explicitly invoke the virus program is, well, not very realistic. One of my favorites was the ability for Angela to easily read binary code, and in a matter of seconds, identify and isolate an absolutely new virus. This is indeed a superwoman. There were lots of other things too, but they would only be distractions to people who actually make their living writing software.

I recommend this film.