The Net

The Net has quietly become one of the more dependable crime dramas currently available in the US on fuboTV and Philo. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. Its 6/10 TMDB score, built from 1,546 ratings, reflects a title that consistently delivers. Watch Sandra Bullock work — the performance is a masterclass in restraint. Put it on tonight on fuboTV and see for yourself.

There is a reason The Net keeps coming up in conversation. The plotting gives The Net its backbone, but it is the characters you come back for. Angela Bennett is a freelance computer systems analyst who tracks down software viruses. At night she hooks up to the internet and chats to others 'surfing the net'. While de-bugging a new high-tech game for a cyber friend, she comes across a top secret program and becomes the target of a mysterious organization who will stop at nothing to erase her identity and her existence, in order to protect the project. Credit to Sandra Bullock and Jeremy Northam for grounding it — this is a cast that earns the twists. It hit screens in 1995. The Net is at its best in the quiet scenes between the plot beats, where the character work actually happens. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Viewers who think they have seen every crime drama tend to find The Net proves them wrong. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Sandra Bullock anchors it, but the writing does the real work. If you are going to commit to one crime drama this month, make it this one.