Review of Blackhat (2015) by Quincy T — 21 Jan 2015

There's no sugar coating it, Blackhat is terrible. It has agonizingly slow pace, stupid logic and a barrage of tech lingo which withers your will to watch it till the end. It's surprising that this is the work of Michael Mann who produced much superior film, Collateral, more than a decade ago. Chris Hemsworth as lead is willing, he makes the best out of his character, even if it seems he's lost most of the time.

The story revolves around a cyber terrorist attack on Hong Kong nuclear plant. Chris Hemsworth, because his screen name isn't memorable enough, is called to consult on apprehending the hacker responsible for this act. At first glance this is supposed to be cerebral endeavor, but it does not even come close. In fact, regular mundane investigation requires arduous effort. Finding the simplest clues will take five minutes of narrative, and this is done with incredibly alienating script. Plenty of terms that might not be familiar to audience, and even if that's not an issue, the movie repeats itself too many times without adding much.

There is no satisfying master plan, or even basic plan at all. Characters make the bad decisions such as not taking cover in fire fight or doing illicit deed in public, these are supposed to be agents sent to resolve international incident and mastermind behind it. In no realistic realm these scenarios could work, but they stupidly do, only for the sake of the plot. It disappoints in every turn, after all the nifty computer screen, I daresay Fast & Furious 5 plan of dragging bank vault makes more sense.

If the movie does anything right, it's the use of setting and cinematography. Michael Mann has a certain style which produces an authentic feel of any place the characters play in. Some scenes extenuate the long pace with unbridled view of buildings and the city. Unfortunately, with such thin substance it feels like a long boring drive at best.