Pretty Boy Hacker

Blackhat

Earlier this month a colleague of mine did an amazing review of the 20^th anniversary of Heat (read here), starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. As mentioned in the review, Heat is bar none the best ‘cop and robber’ film that has ever been produced. Most likely because of the painstaking attention to detail as director Michael Mann has on his films. The man behind the classic 80s TV show Miami Vice (and later movie of the same name), Mann is a director that brings realism to his movies to make sure his audiences are entrenched in the same world as his characters. This realism is also brought to his newest film, Universal Studios’ Blackhat.

When a Chinese nuclear power plant is hacked into and caused to overheat, Captain Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang My Lucky Star) of China’s cyber warfare unit is called into action to find out who and why. Things get worse when the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago is hit by the same cyber-terrorist and forces Dawai to pair up with the FBI. The one thing that Dawai asks of the FBI during their team up, is to release his college roommate, Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth Avengers: Age of Ultron) to help them capture the hacker. Reluctantly, the FBI releases Hathaway and so begins the hunt across the world for a brilliant black-hat.

I’m going to come right out and say it…this movie was 2 hours and 13 minutes of BORING! I have no other way to say it. This movie was not at all what it could have been, especially with a brilliant action mind like Michael Mann in the director’s chair and the above par cast. This film was so muddled and poorly put together that I began to question if Mann actually did direct this film.

I am not even going to comment on the acting of this movie. I don’t really care what people say about an attractive man like Chris Hemsworth being overly pretty to be believable as a computer hacker. I think if you have the right people, anything is possible.  But because the story is so convoluted, the acting in this film can be Oscar worthy and it still wouldn’t have saved this film. The editing and pacing of the film is horrible as well. The film is slow to get going and never really takes speed until the final act. The relationships in Blackhat were so awkward as well. Wang and Hemsworth are supposed to be friends but never really sell their relationship very well. Wang’s fictional sister in the film, Lein played by Wei Tang (Caution, Lust) is on screen with Hemsworth for all of 5 minutes before they are sleeping together. They have an exciting scene together before they end up in bed, but no other hint at the sexual attraction.

Michael Mann should know better than this. Mann brought the world Heat and Collateral, movies that were amazing. This film has his documentary style of camera work and his brutal action scenes, but that is where the comparisons end. This isn’t a very smart film, like Heat, or even an intense thriller, like Collateral. Mann has the ability to make a genuinely good cyber thriller, but he needed to stop trying to be authentic and bring out the characters more.

If you are fan of Michael Mann or even Chris Hemsworth for that matter, don’t bother with this film. Keep what respect you have of either men and leave this in the bargain bin at your local Wal-Mart or Dollar General.

The Verdict: Not Worth Your Time