Anon: A Chillingly Detached Futuristic Detective Story
Anon presents a cold, detached, and somewhat unengaging futuristic detective story that explores the dangers of augmented reality.
The film follows police detective Sal Frieland (Clive Owen) in a near-future world where everyone is implanted with computer chips from birth. These devices record everything a person sees and hears, augmenting reality with information and advertisements. While crime still exists, investigations primarily involve analyzing recordings from the internal cameras of victims, suspects, and witnesses. During one investigation, Sal and his colleagues discover that a murder victim’s recording has been hacked and distorted. They soon realize that a female hacker (Amanda Seyfried) is operating in the city, capable of erasing herself from computer databases and altering others’ recordings and augmented reality. In essence, she’s invisible to the police. Suspected of murder, Sal must hunt down this elusive ghost.
Notably, Anon bypassed theatrical release in the US, premiering on Netflix after the company paid $4 million to keep it out of American cinemas.
Andrew Niccol’s Provocative Vision
Since his debut with Gattaca, New Zealand director Andrew Niccol has been known for his thought-provoking futuristic science fiction, prompting reflection on the direction of modern technology. Niccol has previously explored genetic engineering, reality TV, the creation of virtual people, and immortality for the wealthy. Now, he turns his attention to augmented reality, the complete absence of privacy, and constant surveillance.
It’s interesting to note that Andrew Niccol leads a very private life and avoids social media.
A Missed Connection
However, Niccol fails to achieve the primary goal of any compelling science fiction: to simultaneously provoke thought and elicit emotional engagement. Such films must resonate emotionally and connect viewers to the characters. Anon does the opposite. The film is so cold and sterile that its characters seem robotic, or at least heavily medicated. Even the characters in Equilibrium, where tranquilizing drugs are integral to the plot, appear more alive and emotional than those in Anon, where no one is injected with anything.
Style Over Substance
As a result, the film feels like a treatise illustrating the consequences of specific technological advancements, using characters to demonstrate the author’s points. This isn’t an oversight but a deliberate artistic choice, evident in everything from the actors’ deliberately impassive performances to the sparse, almost monochromatic neo-noir and brutalist visual design. The protagonist displays strong emotions only in a few scenes, mainly fear when his vision is distorted by the hacker and he can’t trust his eyes when his life is in danger. Seyfried’s nameless character, on the other hand, never loses her composure.
A Thin Plot
Anon’s only saving graces are its detective intrigue and a few action sequences. However, the criminal plot is relatively simple, lacking unexpected twists, and the action feels perfunctory. The film only hints at the theme of augmented reality combat, failing to explore it as thoroughly as The Matrix explored virtual reality combat. There was potential for an entire film dedicated to characters manipulating each other in augmented reality battles.
A Shallow Exploration of Privacy
Given the film’s premise, one might expect Niccol to delve deeply into the issue of lost privacy and offer profound insights. In reality, the film’s message boils down to the idea that, like any technological innovation, augmented reality and constant recording are convenient until they break down or are exploited by villains. Thanks for the revelation!
Overall, Anon does almost everything possible to distance viewers from the narrative, offering little in return. The film’s only undeniable asset is a few scenes featuring a nude Amanda Seyfried, but the actress has offered similar glimpses before, and Anon doesn’t reveal anything new.