Anon

Since 2018 is largely shaping up to be a year of a whole bunch of films being dumped on Netflix, and since the theater circuit is a bit of a dead zone following Infinity War, I decided to fill up my review quota for the time being by taking a chance on another "Netflix original film." Besides, I have a lot of time on my hands, and there's worse ways to spend an hour and forty minutes.

Netflix seems particularly keen on grabbing ahold of the wave of Sci-Fi films we've seen in recent years. Because of the resurgence in popularity of Star Wars and other big budget sci-fi stories, it's understandable that everyone wants in on the action. Netflix is seemingly responding by buying every single sci-fi property that's been on the back burner for years, but so far it hasn't been working out. Clovefield Paradox was a bit of a flub, and apparently their Blade Runner response Mute was a disaster. So, they've decided to grab somewhere in the middle: a dystopian sci-fi thriller that isn't too dark and brooding and isn't too end of the world either. That's where we find Anon.

Anon is hard to describe on paper. There's evidence of it being a noir mystery thriller like Blade Runner, but there's also this hint of overpowered perfection that mimics something like Minority Report, but not too much that it crosses 1984 territory. It basically takes place in a world where everyone has access to bounds of information by implants in their eye, including people's names and life stories, and the police has every single record of what everyone sees through the implants. It's a cool concept right? It should work, right? I wish I could say that it did...but it's not the case.

Honestly, Anon suffers from a poor plot if nothing else. It's a cool set up, don't get me wrong, but it hardly pays off. There's definite potential for a neat mystery like a proper noir, but it gets completely lost in the fact that there's barely any excitement or anything. It stays largely monotone, and leaves you feeling confused and underwhelmed at best.

Backing this underwhelming story up is a performance by the two main cast of the film, Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried, who are surrounded by a bunch of unforgettable nobodies for the most part. Owen seems to be doing his resting bitch face for the entire movie, and Seyfried looks bored. The sad part is these are two actors I like a lot, so seeing them so pained to be here just feels so off-putting, even though they are trying their hardest here.

There are a few possible diamonds in this rough, however. Although dull and grey, the film is a beautifully shot one, done courtesy of Gattaca director Andrew Niccol. It's paired up with some decent effects as well, that have to be seen to be properly understood as a whole (it's really hard to explain). Plus, the aforementioned decent set-up to this world and everything in it does keep things mildly interesting, if everything else doesn't.

I can really see why Anon stayed in development hell, because it's not a clean film to wash down. For every decent moment, there's an equally rough moment, and it'll leave you wishing to go off the grid in shame. But, I'll give it 4.9/10 as it is. Maybe there's something underneath the surface that's waiting to be cracked. I doubt it though.