Simply A Masterpiece

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Haven't we all seen this premise before? Namely, a stranger coming into the lives of a good person (or people), and at first is nice, but soon starts to show some really creepy attributes that eventually spill over into sociopathic actions. Well, actually, I wouldn't mind seeing this premise all over again had it been done with enough fresh new traits and imaginative execution. But "I.T." doesn't contain very much that's original. Although the movie has a high tech theme, even this has been done before in other movies. And don't get me started on the climax, which is so unimaginative and cliched instead of being more creative. The icing on the cake is a concluding sequence what will have you asking, "Is that it?", since it is so unsatisfying. To be fair, the movie is decently made with what couldn't have been a megabudget, and some of the performances are fine (though Pierce Brosnan's acting seems a big constipated at times). But for the most part, the movie doesn't offer enough variety from the hundreds of other times you've seen this same basic story before.

I loved this film. In the sense that the acting was OK, the writing was good (Ish) and the general plot was entertaining.Why 3/10? Because of the lack of any police use. Nobody called the police when he kept turning up to family events. The police didn't catch him doing any of the hacking stuff.He doesn't call in IT people to fix his house or phone.Just the lack of common sense from the protagonist annoyed me despite the rest of the film being half decent.

I.T. (2016)A typical modern thriller with a strong (and typical) performance by Pierce Brosnan as a wealthy businessman. He's painted as a good guy, with a loving wife and slightly rebellious but nice enough teenage daughter.They live in a modern rich house with the latest in "smart" appliances, so the shower and the windows and video cameras are all controlled through computers, which are connected by internet. Enter the I.T. expert who is asked (without any background check at all) to enter this guy's house and tinker with the system which is wonky. And to ogle the daughter, who he begins to admire, and then stalk. It gets ugly from there. If only the actor playing the villain were half as evil as he wishes he was--he's a big flaw in all the suspense.Lots of predictable buttons are pushed—the angry father, the demonic mind of the criminal, and the many screens and portable devices that can show pictures in fancy ways. It's all pretty good stuff, but never quite as inventive or scary or even as visually chilling as it could have been. One flaw, for example, is the key soft porn scene that was supposedly captured by a tablet on a table, and yet it is shows like normal cinematography with a variety of camera shots and perfect clarity, etc. There are lots of little opportunities lost here, but Brosnan is a decent version of the angry father out for justice. Not as sensational as the Liam Neesan type in recent movies, and more believable. With some computer spying tricks that keep it all interesting along the way.

For better or for worse, I.T. combines two archaic recipes from the '90s in order to a cook a dish as rancid as its ingredients. Yes, it was for worse. The "cyber thriller" and the obsessive maniac" were two very formulas which were very popular during the '90s, and they were represented by movies such as The Net, Hackers, Pacific Heights and Single White Female. And, for some reason, the producers of Voltage Pictures thought it was a good idea to resurrect both clichés in a single film, with a tedious and irritating result. The villain is one of those omnipotent hackers controlling everything and instantaneously penetrating any safe system in a matter of seconds; his lair has a dozen of monitors in where his magical operative system practically anticipates his wishes and displays exactly what he's looking for. The only positive thing I can say about this piece of junk is that Pierce Brosnan managed to bring a credible performance despite the horrible screenplay he had to work with. On the opposite, James Frecheville is laughable as the villain, Stefanie Scott is just employed as a pretty face and Anna Friel doesn't have too much to do (or even say) as the mother who keeps herself aside from the situation, until she becomes a hostage during the "exciting" (boring) conclusion. In summary, I.T. doesn't work as a retro tribute, and it doesn't add anything new to the two formulas it destroys; and I wouldn't even recommend it to those people who have never seen any similar films, because there have fortunately been much better things which updated those themes and found fresh and creative twists for this century. For example: the TV series Mr. Robot as regards "cyber thrillers"; and The Gift (2015) for the obsessive maniacs. Both are much better alternatives which achieved what I.T. didn't even make an effort in trying.