Opening with a prologue explaining “high frequency trading,” French/Canadian writer-director Kim Nguyen plunges right into a ruthless race in the highly competitive digital world. Fast-talking hustler Vincent Zaleski (Jesse Eisenberg) and his nerdy, tech-savvy cousin Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are determined to run a 1,000-mile underground fiber-optic wire from a Kansas City financial data processing center to Wall Street—bypassing towers and satellites—in order to get potential stock market prices milliseconds before everyone else…and make millions! Their plan involves convincing landowners to allow them to place narrow, high-speed cables underneath their property—a project that also involves a national park, mountain range, and the recalcitrant elder of Pennsylvania’s Amish community. Working with their chief engineer (Michael Mando) and principal investor (Frank Schorpion), the endeavor is a colossal challenge and logistical nightmare. Plus, they’re being tracked by vengeful Wall Street CEO Eva Torres (Salma Hayek), who threatens to sue if Anton uses any of the proprietary codes that he created for her company. The title refers to the time it takes for a hummingbird to flap its wings—about 0.15 of a second—which is the advantage the principals are seeking. Unfortunately, Nguyen’s contrived script grows repetitive and the disjointed pacing is tedious, as Vincent pitches his concept over and over again to various people. An intermittently engaging thriller, filled with financial technobabble, this is an optional purchase. (S. Granger)
The Hummingbird Project
Orchard, 111 min., R, DVD: $24.99, Blu-ray: $31.99, June 25
The Hummingbird Project
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As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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