Clip It: Each day, Jon Davis looks at the world of trailers, featurettes and clips and puts it all in perspective.
I.T. is one of those movies that feels like some rich film executives read some articles about Instagram and Snapchat and realized a whole generation has grown up never knowing a world without the Internet and were, like, “Oh my god, this is scary, these kids and their selfies!” And to them, the idea of a 20-something dating their daughter and stealing their multi-national company is really scary. But once they hit upon the notion that this must be frightening for everyone, I think that's where this project took a wrong turn.
Pierce Brosnan is your typical every man. Billionaire. Has aged well. Owns a plane company. Just like you and me! He just doesn't know much about the Internet, so he hires a super smart kid, and then the kid hits on his daughter and Pierce Brosnan says “Nope, can't do that” and he tells him to go away, so the kid freaks out. It turns out the kid is every bad stereotype of a millennial. He's thin skinned, entitled, and irresponsible.
You can see the film executives were giving notes to writer of the script. “What else can this punk kid do? Wait, I know, I overheard my teenager talking with her friends. Maybe he should Pinterest their Periscope and Twitter their social justice media hashtag!” “But that doesn't make any sense!” “Put it in! It's scary because it doesn't make sense! Trust me!”
You know things were going to be bad when Brosnan invites the millennial to visit his house to “Come look at my Internet.” What kind of offer is that? What are you supposed to say? “Oh yes, what a lovely Internet you have, thank you for showing it to me.”
The next thing that happens, obviously, is sheer terror. The millennial hacks the plane company! He sends out nude selfies of the family! He's a one man wrecking ball, with his bank of computer monitors and his typing. He's got a vague set of tools causing a vague set of problems. I'm sure it's the stuff of nightmares for anyone who has their very own plane leasing company, but that's only about 20 percent of our population, I think.
I'm a Generation X guy, for whatever that's worth, but I've met some millennials in my travels and most of them seem like decent people. I don't think any of them would do this to James Bond. I don't buy it. Sorry, Hollywood, I won't see this movie unless you hack my computer and force me!