History Film / TheNet

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Angela emails the FBI, blowing the lid on the conspiracy. Devlin hacks the FBI to get rid of the email, inadvertently triggering the virus that brings down Gatekeeper.]]

!This film includes examples of the following:

Bullock plays Angela Bennett, an unassuming, nerdy computer analyst and reclusive loner who works from home, helping her company debug games and other software. She becomes embroiled in an intricate conspiracy when her co-worker sends her a disk of security software called "Gatekeeper", containing a secret backdoor into various government agencies, hospitals and any computer system Gatekeeper supposedly protects. This makes Angela a target of the Praetorians, a dangerous group of hackers who use their manipulation of [[EverythingIsOnline everything online]] to kill or ruin the lives of anyone who threatens them.

Bennett becomes a wanted fugitive when her identity is replaced with that of a known criminal, her credit cards rendered null, her car stolen and her house sold without her knowledge. With everyone believing she is someone she is not, and a charming assassin on her tail, Bennett can only count on her former therapist, Dr Alan Champion, to protect her and ensure her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, is safe. It will take all of her skill and wits to uncover the real identity and motives of The Praetorians and bring down the conspiracy before they have undetectable access to every major computer system.

''The Net'' is a 1995 techno-thriller film starring Creator/SandraBullock and directed by Irwin Winkler. Bullock plays Angela Bennett, an unassuming, nerdy computer analyst and reclusive loner who works from home, helping her company debug games and other software. She becomes embroiled in an intricate conspiracy when her co-worker sends her a disk of security software called "Gatekeeper", containing a secret backdoor into various government agencies, hospitals and any computer system Gatekeeper supposedly protects. This makes Angela a target of the Praetorians, a dangerous group of hackers who use their manipulation of [[EverythingIsOnline everything online]] to kill or ruin the lives of anyone who threatens them.

[[quoteright:197:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Net_poster_4562.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:197:Identity theft is hell.]]

A [[Series/TheFugitive Fugitive-esque]] spin-off TV series in the USA was created, which turns the plot of the film into an episodic narrative pitting runaway Angela against the Praetorians, a cyber-terrorist organization that makes her a target of the FBI by swapping her identity with one the top 10 Most Wanted List. A DirectToVideo sequel (in actuality the same premise under different circumstances), ''The Net 2.0'', was made in 2006, about a female computer analyst who gets her identity stolen while in Instanbul.

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Jeff Gregg]] engineered all the cyber attacks and made it seem like this was the work of pranksters, in order to get the US Government to [[spoiler: [[WarForFunAndProfit buy his anti-virus software to protect their system]]. The software was purposely engineered with a backdoor, to make it easy for Gregg to hack in. He could still get in before, but this way is undetectable and easier and he made some money. Whether or not the software was bought he still had the fruits of the initial attack.]]

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Devlin's ploy to steal Bennett's disk

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: [[spoiler:though it's kept ambiguous how much of Angela's actions the FBI know of in the end, she gets her life back apparently without having to answer for some of the minor things she had to do; fleeing the police, setting off fire drills, etc.]]
** [[spoiler: This is because all that was done by a woman whom the police believe was called 'Ruth Marx' who was conveniently found dead with Devlin at the computer fare. Angela Bennett had switched their names back.]]

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Jeff Gregg]] engineered all the cyber attacks and made it seem like this was the work of pranksters, in order to get the US Government to [[spoiler: buy his anti-virus software to protect their system. The software was purposely engineered with a backdoor, to make it easy for Gregg to hack in. He could still get in before, but this way is undetectable and easier and he made some money. Whether or not the software was bought he still had the fruits of the initial attack.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Jeff Gregg]].
** TheHeavy: Devlin.
* BigBrotherIsWatching
* CaptainErsatz: Jeff Gregg for Bill Gates.

* ConspiracyThriller
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: [[spoiler: Jeff Gregg]]
* TheCracker: The BigBad aka [[spoiler:Jeff Gregg]].

* EvilBrit: Devlin

* FauxAffablyEvil: Devlin.
* [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]

* [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Mother]]: [[spoiler: almost]].

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Jack '''Devlin'''.

* ProfessionalKiller: [[spoiler: Jack Devlin]]

* WesternTerrorists: The Praetorians

* TheHunterBecomesTheHunter: Inverted, as Angela spends most of the film on the run, avoiding attempts to kill her and trying to find out who is out to get her and why. She finally turns the tables in the last act.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film belongs firmly to that brief era when the Internet was brand new, and some people were terrified that it could bring down society.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: [[spoiler:though it's kept ambiguous how much of Angela's actions the FBI know of in the end, she gets her life back apparently without having to answer for some of the minor things she had to do; fleeing the police, setting off fire drills, etc.]][[spoiler: This is because all that was done by a woman whom the police believe was called 'Ruth Marx' who was conveniently found dead with Devlin at the computer fare. Angela Bennett had switched their names back.]]

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: [[spoiler:though it's kept ambiguous how much of Angela's actions the FBI know of in the end, she gets her life back apparently without having to answer for some of the minor things she had to do; fleeing the police, setting off fire drills, etc.]]

* NewMediaAreEvil: The film was largely composed of hysterical hand-wringing over how easy computers and the Internet supposedly make it for one's identity to be "deleted" by "hackers". Apparently, it took place in a world where no one carries a driver's license, and everyone's brain is online with the security of Wikipedia.

->''"Just think about it. Our whole world is sitting there on a computer. It's in the computer, everything: your, your DMV records, your, your social security, your credit cards, your medical records. It's all right there. Everyone is stored in there. It's like this little electronic shadow on each and everyone of us, just, just begging for someone to screw with, and you know what? They've done it to me, and you know what? They're gonna do it to you."''

A [[Series/TheFugitive Fugitive-esque]] spinoff TV series on the USA was created, which turns the plot of the film into an episodic narrative pitting runaway Angela against the Praetorians, a cyber-terrorist organization that makes her a target of the FBI by swapping her identity with one the top 10 Most Wanted List. A DirectToVideo sequel (in actuality the same premise under different circumstances), ''The Net 2.0'', was made in 2006, about a female computer analyst who gets her identity stolen while in Instanbul.

* ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation: Actually not as gratituous as one might think, but the effects of a computer virus are shown as pixels slowly degenerating and floating away.

* HerBoyfriendsJacket: Angela Bennett wrap herself with Jack Devlin's sport coat while aboard his boat. When she finds a gun with a silencer in one pocket, she begins to suspect that Jack intends to murder her.

* SinisterSurveillance: Any and all closeups of a security camera panning slightly are an indication of something ominous.

* VillainousCrush: Devlin for Angela. It doesn't stop him to try killing her, tough.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: [[spoiler:though it's kept ambiguous how much of Angela's actions the FBI know of in the end, she gets her life back without having to answer for some of the minor things she had to do; fleeing the police, setting off fire drills, etc.]]

-->''"Just think about it. Our whole world is sitting there on a computer. It's in the computer, everything: your, your DMV records, your, your social security, your credit cards, your medical records. It's all right there. Everyone is stored in there. It's like this little electronic shadow on each and everyone of us, just, just begging for someone to screw with, and you know what? They've done it to me, and you know what? They're gonna do it to you."''
--->'''--Angela Bennett'''

[[quoteright:197: Identity theft is hell.]]

''The Net'' is a 1995 techno-thriller film starring SandraBullock and directed by Irwin Winkler. Bullock plays Angela Bennett, an unassuming, nerdy computer analyst and reclusive loner who works from home, helping her company debug games and other software. She becomes embroiled in an intricate conspiracy when her co-worker sends her a disk of security software called "Gatekeeper", containing a secret backdoor into various government agencies, hospitals and any computer system Gatekeeper supposedly protects. This makes Angela a target of the Praetorians, a dangerous group of hackers who use their manipulation of [[EverythingIsOnline everything online]] to kill or ruin the lives of anyone who threatens them.

!!The film includes examples of the following:

''The Net'' is a 1995 techno-thriller film starring SandraBullock and directed by Irwin Winkler. Bullock plays Angela Bennett, an unassuming, nerdy computer analyst and reclusive loner works from home, helping her company debug games and other software. She becomes embroiled in an intricate conspiracy when her co-worker sends her a disk of security software called "Gatekeeper", containing a secret backdoor into various government agencies, hospitals and any computer system Gatekeeper supposedly protects. This makes Angela a target of the Praetorians, a dangerous group of hackers who use their manipulation of [[EverythingIsOnline everything online]] to kill or ruin the lives of anyone who threatens them.

* EverythingIsOnline: The film explores and dissects the over-reliance of computers in important facets of modern society. Angela Bennett bemoans this point when talking to her provided attorney.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Jack Devlin. The last name reminds you something not very good...

* BigBad: Jeff Gregg.

''The Net'' is a 1995 techno-thriller film starring SandraBullock and directed by Irwin Winkler. Bullock plays Angela Bennett, an unassuming, nerdy computer analyst who works from home, helping her company debug games and other software. However, when her friend sends her a suspicious piece of software, she becomes embroiled in an intricate cyber-terrorist plot that puts her life and the lives of those around her in mortal danger. Bennett becomes a wanted fugitive when her identity is erased and replaced, her credit cards rendered null, her car stolen and her house sold without her knowledge. Bennett can only count on her former therapist, Dr Alan Champion, to protect her and ensure her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, is safe.

A DirectToVideo sequel, ''The Net 2.0'', was made in 2006.

* ActionSurvivor: crosses over into ActionGirl towards the end, but for the most part Angela is flung into the mayhem and caught unawares.

* CaptainErsatz: Jeff Gregg for Bill Gates.

* EverythingIsOnline: Angela Bennett bemoans this point when talking to her provided attorney.

* LonersAreFreaks: Angela Bennett's mostly solitary existence might have been a bit too solitary, to the point where her neighbour can't even vouch that she ''existed''.

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Jeff Gregg]] engineered all the cyber attacks and made it seem like this was the work of pranksters, in order to get the US Government to [[spoiler: buy his anti-virus software to protect their system. The software was purposely engineered with a backdoor, to make it easy for Gregg to hack in. He could still get in before, but this way is easier and he made some money. Whether or not the software was bought he still had the fruits of the initial attack.]]

* CareerKillers: [[spoiler: Jack Devlin]]