Paranoia

We've all seen political espionage films whether based on a true story or pure fiction, but not too many films which incorporate espionage have a basis of corporate greed and deception attached to them. In the case of "Paranoia", the cat and mouse game that unfolds is pure espionage that is based in money, and that trumps politics any day of the week in the eyes of all in this film.

This high stakes thriller takes us deep behind the scenes of global success to a deadly world of greed and deception. The two most powerful tech billionaires in the world, Jock Goddard and Nicolas Wyatt (Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman) respectively, are bitter rivals with a complicated past who will stop at nothing to destroy one another. A young superstar, one Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth), seduced by unlimited wealth and power falls between them, and suddenly becomes trapped in the middle of the twists and turns of their life-and-death game of corporate espionage. By the time he realizes his life is in danger, he is in far too deep and knows far too much for the two of them to let him walk away.

Others to round out the cast are Amber Heard as Emma Jennings, Lucas Till as Kevin, buddy of Adam's, Embeth Davidtz as Dr. Judith Bolton, Julian McMahon as Miles Meecham, henchman of Wyatt's, Josh Holloway as FBI agent Gamble, Richard Dreyfuss as Frank Cassidy, Adam's dad, Angela Sarafyan as Allison, William Peltz as Morgan, Kevin Kilner as Tom Lungren, Christine Marzano as Nora Summers, Charlie Hofheimer as Richard McAllister, and Mark Moses as Dr. Butson.

Considering a lot of director, Robert Luketic's work is in the genre of comedy, this was surprisingly well paced with just the right amount of grit and intensity. I mean, this is the same guy who directed "Legally Blonde" '01, "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" '04, "Monster-in-Law" '05, "21" '08, "The Ugly Truth" '09, and "Killers" '10. As you can see, the majority are comedies. It was written by Jason Hall and Barry L. Levy which was based on the novel by Joseph Finder. With the exception of very few slow spots and a couple of confusing places, this was much better than I ever thought it would be. And the frosting on the cake is the nifty twist at the end. Look out!

This was certainly a nail-biter which builds slowly, so be patient, because as it gains momentum, it takes you on an incredible ride where being any of the characters is not a plus.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                          Rated: PG-13                         106mins.