© William Ahearn 2006

“The issue isn’t whether you’re paranoid,” says one of the characters in “Strange Days,” “but whether you’re paranoid enough.”

This is one of those films that you either get or you don’t. The response is usually love or hate with very little in between. It’s been criticized for being pretentious, too long, arty, contrived, a cult film and numerous other things.

All those criticisms are true and I really, really liked this flick. If only James Cameron (“The Terminator,” “Aliens”) had believed in the movie as much as he did the script he wrote for it. This film had the potential to be way more than what it is. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow – who also did “Blue Steel” with Jamie Lee Curtis that I kind of liked and “Point Break” with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze that I couldn’t sit through – this is one tech flick that deals with issues unrelated to technology.

The tech is a given, explained away in one sentence instead of beating the audience over the head with it for an hour or so. Ralph Fiennes plays Lenny Nero, an ex-cop who now deals in wire-tripping clips. Those clips are recorded visuals and sensations of things other people really do. Like robbing banks, having sex, performing on stage, whatever. These clips are traded on the underground much like bootleg DVDs are now. It’s a vicarious life played back and anyone with a headset can view them.

Nero’s paranoid friend is Max Peltier, played by Tom Sizemore. Angela Bassett (“Boyz n the Hood” and “Supernova,” an interesting sci-fi flick) and Juliette Lewis (being pretty much Juliette Lewis) also star. Unlike most tech-based flicks, “Strange Days” (and yes, the title is taken from an album title by The Doors) deals with murder, race, delusion, Y2K (as a symbol of progress and not as a computer glitch), and a city that is teetering toward a social implosion. It’s a film where the conspiracy at the heart of the story is believable, no one can be trusted and you can relive the best parts of your life only if you remembered to record them.

“Strange Days” is definitely one of the better computer flicks.

Many thanks to Kyle Hansen for the head’s up.