Anonymity is the enemy
2018-05-03
$20.0M
100 min
Set in a near-future world where there is no privacy, ignorance or anonymity, our private memories are recorded and crime almost ceases to exist. In trying to solve a series of unsolved murders, Sal Frieland stumbles onto a young woman who appears to have subverted the system and disappeared. She has no identity, no history and no record. Sal realizes it may not be the end of crime but the beginning. Known only as 'The Girl', Sal must find her before he becomes the next victim.
Anon is a noirish sci-fi thriller set in the near future where the human mind records everything through its eyes. It is a society with no privacy but what if the memories can be manipulated?
Sal Frieland (Clive Owen) is a detective who solves crimes by reviewing people's memories that exist in some kind of matrix where the memories are placed and can be accessed.
When an anonymous hacker is suspected of killing some people, Sal figures it is a mysterious woman (Amanda Seyfried) who does not exist in their records as she is off the grid and who can alter the memory files.
Director Andrew Niccol pursues his interest in a futuristic society as he did in Gattaca. The film slows down when Sal and the mysterious woman hook up. Yet Sal finds himself in danger and also finds his own memories are hacked. However there is an air of predictability in the mystery aspects of the film.
The set-up is intriguing and the conflict is incredibly well done, but the pay-off is such a let-down. Has some original ideas that are mostly explored early on in the second half of Anon despite its similarity to a couple of Black Mirror episodes (chiefly The Entire History of You). Not something I'll re-visit, but better than I had expected.
Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.
