Movie Review – NetForce (1999)

Back in 1999, the movie NetForce was released as a direct-to-video movie.

The movie was based on Tom Clancy‘s NetForce series of books.  It’s believed that if the made-for-TV was successful, then it would have spawned a television miniseries based on further stories in the books.

NetForce is about a division of the FBI that specializes in high-profile computer crimes.  In the movie, the director of NetForce is assassinated, and it’s up to the Deputy Director and his fellow agents to not only find the assassin, but to also stop a brilliant software engineer from launching further attacks on the Internet and the world.

Directed by Robert Lieberman, NetForce stars Scott Bakula as Alex Michaels, the Deputy Director / new Director of the FBI’s NetForce.  Supporting him are Joanna Going as Toni Fiorelli, Kris Kristofferson as Steve Day, Judge Reinhold as Will Stiles, Brian Dennehy as Lowell Davidson, Paul Hewitt as Jay Gridley, and Frank Vincent as Mafia boss Johnny Stompato.

Set in 2005, NetForce begins with a raid by the FBI’s NetForce against a compound of a known computer hacker.  NetForce Deputy Director Alex Michaels (Scott Bakula) and Colonel John Howard (Sterling Macer) lead the agents into a shootout, but the raid itself is unsuccessful.  The enemies destroy the computers before NetForce Agent Jay Gridley (Paul Hewitt) can extract the files.  Later, the FBI takes serious heat from the White House for the unsuccessful raid.

That evening, NetForce Director Steve Day (Kris Kristofferson) has a dinner meeting with Alex Michaels, and he explains problems with enforcing crimes on the Internet.  The meeting serves as Alex’s official “chewing out” over his failed mission, though no yelling takes place, nor are there any high tempers or any profanity.  After the dinner meeting, Steve’s car is stopped on the road and is attacked.  The Director of NetForce is killed in a violent assassination.  Only parts of his body are found, and those body parts had to be identified through DNA.

The NetForce needs a new director, so Alex Michaels is promoted to the position.  He assigns Agent Toni Fiorelli (Joanna Going) to the newly vacated position of deputy director.  The rest of the agents are immediately tasked on finding the assassin responsible for murdering Steve Day.

Meanwhile, computer software engineer Will Stiles (Judge Reinhold) strikes a deal with Chinese Mafia boss Leong Chang (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa).  Will uses the help of the Mafia to gain access to the governments’ computer systems.

One of the top suspects in Steve’s murder is Mafia boss Johnny Stompato (Frank Vincent).  However, Johnny Stompato is quickly ruled out as a suspect when he is murdered by a mysterious escort girl (Odile Corso).  The escort girl / assassin is able to quickly change her disguise and elude the Mafia soldiers, making a clean getaway.

The NetForce agents use the escort girl as a possible lead, but as they’re using their sophisticated virtual-reality system, the FBI itself is attacked by a computer hacker.  The hacker doesn’t cause any damage, but his presence in the FBI’s computer system alarms Alex Michaels.

After the hacking attack at NetForce, Toni Fiorelli invites Alex Winters to a dinner at her family’s house.  At the dinner, Toni’s family puts pressure on bother her and Alex for not being a couple and (hopefully) married.  Alex has already been married once and now has an ex-wife, but Toni seems more than willing to step up their relationship.  After their dinner we see that both Alex and Toni certainly enjoy spending “alone time” together.

Suddenly there’s another hacking attack against the FBI’s computer system.  This time the hacking attack is more serious and causes a power failure from Washington, D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts.  In addition to being more widespread, this attack causes the deaths of 43 people from an air crash as a result of the power failure.  Now the hacker has blood on its hands and the White House is demanding answers.

As Alex Michaels tries to find leads and different angles to pursue the tasks, he often seeks advice from a virtual reconstruction of his boss, Steve Day.  Although it’s only a virtual reconstruction, the computerized version of Steve Day provides clues and different thoughts about handling the tasks.

During the assassination attack on Steve Day, one of the attackers was shot and seriously injured, but he survived.  The attacker was later placed in solitary confinement in prison.  Will Stiles’s assistant, Uday Shankar (Anjul Nigam) hacks into the prison’s security system and assists a daring infiltration into the prison and the escape of the attacker as well as other high-profile prisoners.  Most of them successfully escape from prison, leaving the NetForce wondering how they were able to access the prison’s computer system.

While the prison raid is taking place, Alex Michaels is spending time with his daughter at a local fairground.  He’s unknowingly being targeted by the female assassin who killed Johnny Stompato, but Alex escapes before she can shoot and kill him.

After receiving even more pressure for the prison break, Alex Michaels begins to investigate Januscorp, a computer software company located in Virginia.  This includes investigating Will Stiles, the founder and CEO of Januscorp, along with Uday Shankar, one of his top programmers.  Alex has a hunch that Will Stiles is behind the attacks as he has the skills and power to do so, but he doesn’t know his motive as Stiles is already a very wealthy individual.

Later there’s another hacking attack against the governments’ computers, and again people are killed from various accidents because of the power outages.

NetForce continues with its investigations into Januscorp, and Toni goes undercover while using the virtual-reality system.  In a bar she ends up meeting Uday Shankar while he’s in disguise, but he disappears before she’s able to apprehend him.  Nonetheless, now the NetForce has a solid lead on who is behind the hacking attacks.  They were also able to do a trace and learn his location — Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

The FBI conducts a raid on Uday’s suspected location, but nobody is inside of the house.  It’s already vacant.  The only evidence is a blood stain along with a shell casing of a similar type of ammunition used to kill Steve Day.

After the raid, Alex Michaels tries to talk to Will Stiles about his company, but Stiles refuses to talk without Alex having a warrant.  Once he’s clear of the FBI agent, Stiles calls the assassin and tells her to take out Stiles as he’s getting too close to solving the case.

The female assassin arrives at Alex Michaels’s home disguised as Toni Fiorelli.  Alex doesn’t suspect anything until the real Toni calls him.  By that point it’s too late and the assassin strikes.  She tries to kill Alex by injecting him with a poison, but she doesn’t inject enough into him.  Alex fights back and ultimately stabs the assassin with the poison-filled needle, killing her.  Toni watched the attack over the video phone and placed an emergency call for Alex Michaels.

By the time that Alex awakens in the hospital it’s two days later.  He immediately leaves the hospital and has a meeting in New York City with Leong Chang.  It was Chang’s request for the meeting.  He informs Alex that Will Stiles sought his help to infiltrate the government computers.  It had something to do with the new web browser that Januscorp is about to release.  When some of the escaped prisoners are spotted in the area, Alex has to leave the meeting.  Chang insists on staying behind, and he kills himself with a bomb.

NetForce continues with its investigation as Will Stiles has Uday Shankar launch the final phase of his attack plan.  The attack is going to be against the White House itself, but while the President is away from the building.  This is going to involve an attack about the computer system using an access point that’s only available inside of the Oval Office.

As the raid begins, NetForce puts together the final pieces of the puzzle and realizes what’s happening.  While some agents go to capture Uday, Alex Michaels and Colonel Howard go right to the White House.  They force their way through the outer security gates but join the Secret Service standing guard at the building.  By now they’ve heard gunfire from the raiders inside of the building, and Alex and Howard lead the men inside of the building.  They fight their way through the raiders and finally into the Oval Office.  Alex is shocked when the leader of the raiders is none other than Steve Day, still alive and well.

Steve explains that he faked his own death so that he could fulfill his own mission of destroying the Internet.  It turns out that the new web browser that Will Stiles is about to release has a secret program to take over any computer where it’s installed, allowing Will an unlimited supply of information about anybody in the world.  If there’s no Internet, then Will Stiles will be powerless.  It would also solve the problem of trying to police the Internet, a nearly overwhelming problem itself.

When Steve pulls out a gun and shoots Alex in the shoulder, Alex returns fire and shoots and (finally) kills Steve Day.  His plans are stopped and the Internet is safe for everybody to continue using.  Will Stiles is then arrested for his role in the conspiracy.

NetForce ends with Alex Michaels and Toni Fiorelli making plans to go on a date as a real couple, something that Alex claims would make Toni’s mother very happy.

So is NetForce any good?

Like the book, the movie NetForce falls short of being a success, let alone a memorable experience.

For starters, this lengthy made-for-television movie tries for too hard on a plot that’s not really established.  The first half of the movie is a mediocre hunt for an assassin of a high-ranking FBI agent (one would like to believe that a much larger task force would have been actively hunting for the killer, and not just the handful of NetForce agents), while the second half is a race against an unknown super hacker who can easily shut down the Internet and cause chaos.  By the time that this movie finally gets organized and really starts rolling, it’s near the end of the movie.

The movie’s characters were also fairly bland.  Obviously the main focus is on Alex Michaels, and we know all about him.  As far as the rest of his agents, including Toni Fiorelli and Colonel John Howard, we know practically nothing about them.  They just seemingly show up at random moments and then disappear just as quickly.  It also would have been great if we had seen more of Frank Vincent’s character.  It’s hard to believe that a classic actor in Mafia films was given an incredibly small role in NetForce.  What’s the point in having Frank if he’s been downgraded to practically a cameo role?

When it comes to Will Stiles, the main villain, it’s hard to believe that somebody like him is a super villain.  Perhaps it’s because Judge Reinhold was miscast to play the role.  It’s hard to think of him as a villain, especially after his classic roles in films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High as well as the Beverly Hills Cop and The Santa Clause trilogies.  Judge Reinhold as a villain?  Yeah, right.  Anyway, apart from Judge Reinhold being miscast, it’s also hard to believe his character of being a villain when it’s difficult to understand his motive.  He’s already rich and the owner of his own software company.  How much more does he have to gain by blackmailing everybody who uses his company’s new web browser?  What are his plans for world domination?

Anybody who has read at least the first NetForce book knows that the Internet itself plays a significantly larger role in the story, and that it’s really a vast virtual world where people interact with other people’s avatars.  It’s a virtual world where people would actually “drive” their own virtual vehicles to access different “buildings” / websites.  There’s almost nothing of that world in the movie NetForce.

That was a huge disappointment.  While the story in the NetForce book was mediocre, if it was done correctly, that virtual world could have really improved the NetForce movie.  Unfortunately, the movie didn’t take that route.  Perhaps the movie was made too early before such computer animations were more widely available.  Or it’s because the real technology was rapidly distancing itself from the futuristic technology that was discussed in the book, and the producers had to act soon, otherwise they’d have to change even more of the story to make it more relevant to current technology.

NetForce (1999) – movie trailer

The bottom line here is that although parts of the NetForce story are interesting, the movie simply has too many problems for it to be a decent experience.  From the story to the characters to the actors to some of the scenarios, NetForce is just one giant mess.  That’s really a shame too as there was a lot of potential for the producers to improve areas where the book failed.  But they didn’t and the movie is even worse.