Antitrust (2001)

A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.

Director:

Peter Howitt

Writer:

Howard Franklin

Stars:

Ryan Phillippe, Tim Robbins, Rachael Leigh Cook

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Phillippe	...	Milo Hoffman
Rachael Leigh Cook	...	Lisa Calighan
Claire Forlani	...	Alice Poulson
Tim Robbins	...	Gary Winston
Douglas McFerran	...	Bob Shrot
Richard Roundtree	...	Lyle Barton
Tygh Runyan	...	Larry Banks
Yee Jee Tso	...	Teddy Chin
Nate Dushku	...	Brian Bissel
Ned Bellamy	...	Phil Grimes
Tyler Labine	...	Redmond
Scott Bellis	...	Randy
David Lovgren	...	Danny
Zahf Paroo	...	Desi (as Zahf Hajee)
Jonathon Young	...	Stinky

Storyline

This movie is the fictional story of computer programming genius Milo Hoffman after graduating from Stanford and getting out into the competitive world of computer software. In his contemplation of where to begin his career, he is contacted by Gary Winston whose character is loosely based on Bill Gates. Winston is the CEO of a company called NURV, and they are on the brink of completing the global communication's system, Synapse. They need Hoffman to help them meet their launch date, so after much thought and with the full support of his girlfriend Alice, he accepts the job. Tragedy soon after strikes and Milo becomes suspicious of the company he has been wrapped up in. He learns that trusting anyone could be a mistake, and that nothing is as it seems.

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Plot Keywords:

startup company | job | computer | communications | genius | 

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Taglines:

Truth can be dangerous... Trust can be deadly.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Antitrust

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,486,209, 14 January 2001, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$10,965,209, 4 February 2001

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,867,516, 31 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hyde Park Entertainment, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby SR

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The code shown in the first visible screen (skipping the intro sequence) is a section from a real compression scheme, named bzip2, which is Free Software. The remaining sections of code in the movie, almost exclusively, come from a web server named Jigsaw, also available as open-source.

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Goofs

In the daycare center, Phil puts the swinging truck-shaped mouse back on the table in one direction, but in the next scene it is facing the opposite direction.

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Quotes

Gary Winston: Are we making CHEMICAL WEAPONS? KIDDIE PORN? Are we STRIP-MINING? NO! Why are they after me?

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the cast list in the end credits, there is a section entitled "Geeks", much in the same vein as "Stunts".

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Alternate Versions

The R1 DVD contains all the deleted scenes mentioned above, except for the "Sleeping with the enemy" sex scene.

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Connections

Referenced in Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

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Soundtracks

Angel
Written by Robert Del Naja (as Robert Del Naja), Andrew Vowles (as Andrew Vowles),
Horace Andy (as Horace Andy) and Grant Marshall (as Grantley Marshall)
Performed by Massive Attack
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd. / Virgin Records America, Inc.

User Reviews

For once, it looks real

For once, a movie about computers where computers look real. The display on the monitors isn't just some 3D animation that seems to serve no purpose. You can recognize interfaces, or at least can imagine that on a real computer monitor. The code on screen looks real (it's either C++ or Java or some kind of C derivative), even though it probably doesn't do what they pretend it does; they don't show it long enough to figure out what it's suppose to do anyway.

Just some things I noticed: All IPs are 10.x.x.x, which is a range reserved for local networks, it should not be accessible remotely, thus would not be usable for a global system such as Synapse. But that is probably done on purpose, just like they do for phone numbers in the movies, all starting in 555-XXXX.

The networks seem to be freaking fast. In particular, for the data transmitted through the satellites with just about zero latency.

The CD burner is quite fast, it can burn a CD in just 20 seconds.

The server which Synapse is being distributed from seems to be very effective, taking millions of hits within hours. In particular, considering that they have never seen that many hits.

Beside the technical details presented, good movie, good action, good plot twists.