Review of “Anon” (mild spoilers)

* * C

Anon is a new Netflix science fiction film about a dystopian future where everyone is equipped at birth with eyes that record everything they see and upload the video to the net, where it can be reviewed and shared with others at will, but also accessed by the police. Police detective Sal Frieland (Clive Owen) is investigating a series of killings in which the killer is able to alter the video recorded by the victims, making the killer untraceable.

The premise is a bit of a stretch for me. Amanda Seyfried is solid in the title roll, as is Colm Fiore as Sal’s partner. The pacing of the film is very slow. The special effects are minimal, primarily manifesting as augmentations of reality in first person shots, which are nearly omnipresent in the film. A side plot involving Sal’s estranged wife goes nowhere. The alternate reality/future world is not fleshed out any further than to show the main premise, and there is no explanation of how the world got the way it is.

If you like science fiction, you’ll probably find Anon a decent watch. Like Bright, it had potential, but didn’t do enough with the premise to really blow me away.

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