The technological fast action thriller, Paranoia comes to us from the director of….errr…Legally Blonde? There’s nothing off the table now in Hollywood. Gone are the days when directors were auteurs, steadfast to upholding their authority over work. There’s a definite shifting in the ranks as filmmakers are swapping genres and even languages to carve out new niches. You can scope out a taster of that with the latest trailer for Paranoia.
One such director is Robert Luketic, who also brought us Monster-In-Law, The Ugly Truth and Killers….hang on, surely this cannot be the same director. No, a double check confirms that it is. Fair play to him for finally getting a stab at a meatier topic. From the sounds of the premise and the look of this trailer, it plays like a technologically-enhanced male version of Working Girl.
With leads like Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford and Liam Hemsworth there’s someone up there who believes Luketic can wring out worthwhile performances from them. Backing them up in supporting roles (i.e. where all the best one-liners are there for the taking) are Richard Dreyfuss, Embeth Davitz, Amber Heard, Julian McMahon and Josh Holloway (Sawyer!)
Check out the plot summary below:
In this high-stakes thriller, Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth) is an ambitious junior technologist trying to climb the ranks of telecom giant Wyatt Corporation. But after one costly mistake, Adam is blackmailed by ruthless CEO Nicholas Wyatt (Gary Oldman) to turn corporate spy by going to work for the firm’s top competitor, which is run by Wyatt’s old mentor, Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford). Adam soon finds himself delivered into prepackaged success, living his fantasy life of old-world boardrooms, private clubs, exotic cars, and all the spoils of Manhattan bachelorhood. However, behind the scenes, he is merely a pawn in Wyatt’s power play, and must search for a way out from under his boss, who will stop at nothing, even murder, to gain a multi-billion dollar advantage.
Paranoia opens in the US on August 16th.
