Summer Wars

Review Date: 2011 March 06 11:54

Reviewed by: Voxie

Released by: Manga Entertainment UK

Age Rating: 12

Region: 2 - UK

Length: 109 minutes

Subtitles: English

Audio: English 2.0 Stereo
Japanese 5.1 Surround

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Summary

An adolescent math wiz unintentionally plunges the virtual world into chaos by solving a numerological riddle that makes the global network vulnerable to attack in this animated sci-fi adventure comedy. When Natsuki asks Kenji to pose as her boyfriend at her grandmother's upcoming birthday party, the smitten young numbers man jumps at the opportunity. But his summer of romance takes an unexpected turn when Kenji receives a complex math riddle on his phone, and solves it without a second thought. In the process, however, Kenji breaches the security of Oz, an extensive virtual realm containing everything from online shopping records to sensitive government documents and even the codes to launch nuclear weapons. Later, when a malicious AI program dubbed Love Machine begins gathering all of this data and threatens to bring the entire information infrastructure to its knees, Kenji, Natsuki, and her family must figure out a way to clear up the mess before it plunges the planet into chaos.

Review

The internet today exists as a multitude of networks, connected from all over the world. But imagine if our society was controlled through just one network. Instead of signing up to several online communities, be it a PHPBB forum or Xbox Live, you'd have just one avatar for all of them. This lone network is called OZ, and your avatar would be literally your only one, from accompanying your mobile text message to sitting on your PC or satnav as a desktop buddy. You are tied to it and it to you, with your digital self displayed on everything you use. And uses aren't just on a personal level, but also on a business level, with corporations and even governments all over the world at your service, or you can set up your own. It sounds amazing. But with this convenience of having just one login protocol, you also have just one door waiting to be hacked into, right?