Review of Blackhat (2015) by Orlando O — 18 Jun 2015

Blackhat is not one of Michael Mann's best films up to date, but it certainly is not his worse while he still sticks to his old school filmmaking. Mann's direction and his desire to film his movies digitally to easily capture the backdrop of an environment in a nighttime setting have come to great use. His other work like Collateral and Miami Vice were still the best examples. His direction is the same with Blackhat, capturing the nighttime settings of exotic locales from China to Malaysia. It is also the one thing that fails is when he is shooting scenes indoors and the fight scenes seem too amateur like filmmaking.

Blackhat has a engaging thrilling plot that focuses on cyber terrorists when hackers causes pumps in a nuclear plant to overheat in China. Right after, the Trade Exchange center gets hacked in America. Chinese officials and the government team up to track and find the hacker, but they would need Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth). A convicted criminal for computer crimes that will get his pardon if he can help the government track down this cyber terrorists; that will have him travel internationally to find out the hackers true agenda.

The negative aspect of Blackhat is Morgan Davis script does not have any exciting thrills for a cyber thriller. The concept of two hackers, Nick who is trying to redeem himself while the villain is basically playing a cat and mouse hunt throughout the movie. Nearly half of the movie, we spend time watching characters looking at computer screens through all these networking codes, while trying to find the terrorists next move. It may not be all that exciting and can be dull at times. Then, lets not forget there is a sub plot of Nick building a romantic relationship with his friends sister. Until the third act comes around the corner, and the stakes are high with the good guys as they have a couple of leverages for the bad guys to use. It is one of those premises that go back and forth between Nick and the villain. The shoot out scenes is intense, which Michael Mann always does best at with his movies. The fight scenes in a café sequence felt like it was amateur quality. It was so incoherent, which felt like a cheap production budget at times.