[Locke]

Just watched Disconnect, an ensemble drama about our social media centred lives and about how we become further and further disconnected from one another, as we escape into our internet lives.

I think the internet is a beautiful thing. Disconnect doesn't. Our friendship pretty much ended there. I won't claim there aren't paedophiles, thieves, bullies and all the rest on the internet, of course there are. The rule of the universe is that for every positive charge, there has to be a negative one. So for all the great things we've done through the internet, like making the world smaller, sharing content, helping people find their place and all the rest, bad people have found ways to do their bad stuff easier. Disconnect isn't that grown up about it though, painting the internet as utterly rotten and only populated with bad people, doing bad stuff, for the sake of being evil. And whenever it feels like the film may grow up, and be less ranty and more mature about the internet, it takes something nice about the internet and deconstructs it until all is left is rotten. It's a constant downer, a constant pessimist, like those old farts who complain about kids and their smartphones, simply because they couldn't keep up with the world. It's hard to appreciate a movie where the writer puts himself on a soapbox and rants for two hours about something you don't agree with in the slightest. Oh yeah, and it all leads to this slow motion scene that is ridiculous and utterly stupid. So much so it's almost profound.

The weird thing as well, is the film paints these things are utterly necessary. Apparently cyber bullying, leading to a suicide attempt, is the way to bring a family closer together. Apparently having all your money stolen, is a way to bring a couple together. Apparently being exploited for child pornography is okay as long as you get free shoes. Fuck this movie.

The movie isn't all bad though, the actual performances from the cast are solid, and they do all they can with the bad material they are given. Easily the highlight of the film is Jason Bateman, a man I know for two things 1) being boring and 2) being in shit films, here puts in a stellar performance as a lawyer disconnected from his son, who is sent on a quest to find out why his son hurt himself while realising how disconnected he is along the way. He is utterly charming, utterly lovable and it's just an utterly enjoyable watch. Colin Ford, "The Supernatural Kid." is pretty fun in this narrative as well.

Equal to Bateman is Alexander Skarsgård, a former marine with an identity crisis as he finds himself now pushing papers. He used to be someone who mattered, now he is no one. To make matters worse, his son died, and he forced himself into emotional isolation which caused a disconnect with his wife. A wife who escapes online just for people to talk to.

Andrea Riseborough meanwhile is looking her absolutely sexiest as a reporter who finds herself diving deep into a child porn ring, unable to keep her emotions in check and getting utterly lost because of them along the way. I didn't found her narrative particularly interesting, mainly because she had to act alongside Max Thieriot, who is astoundingly bland in an otherwise very talented cast. Still though, Riseborough is looking her finest which still makes her scenes worth sitting through.

And Frank Grillo? He may as well be the closest thing the movie has to a villain, who is disliked to downright hated by characters in every single story. He is always trying to do the right thing, but he isn't sympathetic in the slightest and it's a shame because I really liked the actor.