220.The Hummingbird Project; movie review

THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT
Cert 15
110 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

The well-constructed thriller is a rarity in the cinema nowadays and is more likely to be seen in a Netflix TV series.
One of the issues might be that complexities are more difficult to present and unravel over two hours, lending themselves to several episodes.
Certainly, Kim Nguyen's film is ambitious and, in Jesse Eisenberg, he has an actor whose quickfire dialogue can cover many bases in a hurry.
Eisenberg plays the mastermind of a plan to link a fibre-optic cable between Kansas City and New York to give him and his business partner (Frank Schorpion) a superfast, multi-million-dollar edge over their competitors.
His cousin (a stooping, bald, unrecognisable Alexander Skarsgård) is the obsessive mathematician who is trying to make the link as fast as possible while his ruthless former boss (Salma Hayek) is determined to prevent them stealing her ground.
There are many more layers to The Hummingbird Project than initially appear to be the case.

For example, Eisenberg's ambitions are not just financial - he is driven by a desire to prove himself to a father who didn't believe in him.
And his obstacles are many - from the raising finance to a religious group refusing to allow him through their land and the physical barrier of a mountain range.
Nevertheless, in a role reminiscent of his performance in The Social Network, Eisenberg's character refuses to take no for an answer.
The Hummingbird Project is a modern-day Wall Street with technology fulfilling the "greed is good" motto instead of stock market trading.
But, in common with many movies about money schemes, it is too complicated for its own good.
Indeed, I fear that many may not persevere past a dense opening 30 minutes. That would be a pity because it will reward those who stick around.

Reasons to watch: Intelligent thriller
Reasons to avoid: Overly complex in parts

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? The longest un-regenerated terrestrial fibre optic link is 10,358.16 km and was achieved by Telstra Corporation (Australia) with their link between Perth and Melbourne, Australia, as verified on 13 February 2015.

The final word. Kim Nguyen: “Although it isn’t based on a true story, I wanted the facts to be true. This topic is so insane that I didn’t want any of the film’s technology to be fictional. The technology depicted in the film really was invented in 2011.” Cult MTL

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