Spooked

Aroview: An ambitious though uneven thriller based on the true-life NZ case of a computer expert who ended up with disc-fulls of incriminating bank data - which later surfaced in the infamous 'Winebox' saga.

Cliff Curtis plays a dogged journalist attempting to piece together the story, but never quite connecting the sinister high financiers, SIS agents, obnoxious cops and endearing character flaws of the central whistle-blower (Hobbs). Aiming for something of an ironic, worldly mix of black comedy and pathos, the effect is promising but ultimately disconcerting in its scattershot shifts in register.

A grab-bag of Kiwi stars also do their best, but despite a few scenes of genuine menace, this has to count as a missed opportunity.

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