Ordinarily I assume we all realize that trailers are view-at-your-own-risk so we post them without spoiler alerts. But the twists come quick in Paranoia. So I’m going to caution that this preview gives too much away for my liking unless you’ve already read Joseph Finder’s novel. Publisher’s Weekly asked, “Is it too early to declare Finder’s fifth novel the most entertaining thriller of 2004?” The New Yorker agrees:
In another age, a genre thriller fairly required the brandishing of a weapon and blood smeared on the floor. Finder’s latest is the archetype of the thriller in its contemporary form: e-mail is the means of communication and threat, industrial espionage among nasdaq competitors the field of violence. The novel’s great strength is its fetishistic attention to the idioms and buzzwords of the tech business and the up-to-the-second catalogue of perfidy’s rewards… For a while, Finder’s plot seems less vivid than the status details he gives such attention to, but late in the book we discover how completely we have been fooled, and with real escapist pleasure.
Do yourself a favor and make this one of your summer beach reads. The film doesn’t open till August — plenty of time for anyone so inclined to check out the book first, since you’ll probably want to polish it off in one evening. The hottest part of this preview is Liam Hemsworth’s intro and the single minute it takes to explain the premise. I’d seriously suggest not watching past the 1-minute mark You’re not going to see anything in the last half of this trailer except a series of pins popping the fun out of this crackerjack plot.