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ANTITRUST Send This Review to a Friend
There's enough high-tech moralistic fun in the suspense film "Antitrust" to make one wish it were better. Here's a film, directed by Peter Howitt from a screenplay by Howard Franklin, that pits young computer geniuses against a tycoon who lures youthful talent into his corporate empire, cynically uses them and will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep his monopolistic practices and plans in force.
Just to make legally sure nobody suspects that the film is meant to be portraying a Bill Gates operation, there is a reference to Gates as a tycoon other than the fictional character of the evil Gary Winston, played in grand style by Tim Robbins. Winston is enormously wealthy, runs his company like a country unto itself and promises the world to his young recruits who become high-paid cogs in his plotting for a way to dominate the electronic world. Robbins's performance is the film's major asset.
Winston needs talent to work out his system, which is where young, idealistic Milo, played naively by Ryan Phillippe, comes in as a recruit. Milo has a girlfriend (Claire Forlani) but he is intrigued by an attractive co-worker (Rachael Leigh Cook) in the Winston setup. "Antitrust" is a film with an anti-monopoly message. It’s a case of honest young computer enthusiasts tempted by the opportunity to sell out their ideas for a chance to rise in the corporate structure versus the megalomania and viciousness of the smooth-talking Winston.
The battleground is staked out, but apart from the credible premise, the trouble is that very little of what takes place is believable as presented. The thriller becomes melodramatic and there is a juvenile bent to the plot and the confrontations. Still, the film is entertainingly bathed in the high tech computer world, and there is amusement in watching the little guys best the big guy, especially with a scheme that enables them to outwit the master by globally turning the tables on him by means of sophisticated technology and sheer nerve. An MGM release.
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