I.T. is not a movie for millionaires who like their tech toys.

Self-made business tycoon Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan) gets more than he bargained for when a 28-year-old hacker named Ed Porter (Australian actor James Frecheville) comes to fix the slow Wi-Fi in his modernist mansion. Yes, we have our first Internet of Things thriller.

I.T. is ostensibly about the perils of hooking up your house to the cloud (cue ironic laughter when Regan/Brosnan can't work the damn coffee machine) while maintaining any semblance of privacy.

"Privacy's over, Mike," Porter says as he fiddles with Regan's router under his desk. "It's a whole new world."

We know this sort of libertarian statement is not shared by his capitalist millionaire boss as Regan snorts, takes a swig of expensive liquor, admires his Masters of the Universe domain (with beautiful wife and daughter completing the scene), and doesn't think twice when Porter asks innocently for the Wi-Fi password.

I.T. is an Irish/French/Danish co-production, which doesn't explain the decision to set the film in Baltimore. But it does make sense of the moody gray palette and early 80s-esque leather jacket Brosnan wears when he wants to be down with the (tech) guys.

Director John Moore, best known for steering Bruce Willis through A Good Day to Die Hard, employs similar slow-mo shots of blood, guns, and clenched jaws in I.T. The movie cycles through several genres, starting with a shiny tech tale, complete with looming IPO and a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud squad. Then it shifts to a blood-and-gore thriller as one man hunts down another. The final scenes are almost unwatchable but you also want to know How It All Ends.

The best bit is about two-thirds into the film and is straight out of a spy film, complete with raincoats and clandestine encounters on park benches. Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist enters the scene and, while systematically stripping out the very connectivity that makes Regan's entire life so hackable, quietly unpicks the character motivation for Ed Porter's now completely unhinged behavior (if his violent rages, obsession with military spec gear, and lurking inside the Dark Web hadn't tipped you off already).

The merit of I.T. is that none of it is outlandish: all of the fears around smart homes, hackers, and the psychological nightmare of a broken network are justified.

But the moral of the story—and there is one, noted by Pierce Brosnan narrowing his steely blue eyes at critical junctures—is that life is precious. And when someone comes to fix your connected home system, do a thorough background check first, then change the bloody Wi-Fi password as soon as they leave.

I.T. opens Sept. 23 on demand and in theaters.