Whenever an actor becomes a rising star, film vehicles are often made to capitalise on their success. Some are quick cash-ins while others provide genuine spring-boards to greater ventures. Paranoia isn’t one of them. Featuring current ‘hot young hunk’ Liam Hemsworth, it fails in its primary objective. Talent is more important than looks with Hemsworth’s skills fading as fast as the film’s credibility.
Adam (Liam Hemsworth) is an inventor working for powerful businessman Nicholas (Gary Oldman). When fired from his job, Adam goes on a spending spree using his former employer’s credit card. Caught out, Nicholas blackmails him into spying on his main competitor Jock (Harrison Ford). Working alongside Emma (Amber Heard) at Jock’s company, Adam finds himself trapped in a deadly game of corporate espionage.
Paranoia is a by-the-numbers effort. Lazily directed by Robert Luketic with little enthusiasm, it is less than enthralling. Chief amongst its failures are the ordinary performances. With stars such as Ford, Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss playing Adam’s father, you’d expect high calibre acting. Sadly all three are wasted in their roles and are seemingly there just to pick up a hefty pay packet. Hemsworth’s thespian skills are woefully thin with endless shirtless shots and smouldering looks never equating to genuine talent.
For a movie purporting to be an exciting thriller, it continually misses the target. You know exactly what will happen with the excitement level barely registering. The few action sequences are competently handled although they’ve been done better elsewhere. The sense of disappointment only increases when discovering the script’s many plot holes with the predictable ending not arriving soon enough.
A connect-the-dots style production, Paranoia is a waste of time for all concerned. Hemsworth’s thespian skills aren’t anything special with the quality of his monotone performance conjuring Paranoia’s true feeling of fear.
Reviewed by Patrick Moore
Rating out of 10: 2
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