I thought it was much of a mixed bag. The performances here are fine, though nobody really shines but the directing is all over the place (and I'm a big fan of Michael Mann). Most of the action sequences were so shaky you couldn't tell what was going on (hello restaurant scene). There were interesting moments but as a whole I thought it felt rather dull and drawn out. It also features one of the worst "romances" I've seen in quite some time. Still, there is enough to like about it to give it a passing grade, I just wish it were better.

C+

In the destructive aftermath of almost simultaneous cyber intrusions in China (at a nuclear power plant) and Chicago (at a financial exchange), the American and Chinese governments form an anxious alliance to pursue and neutralize the enigmatic perpetrator. For further aid and expertise, they recruit Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), a computer expert serving an extended prison sentence. At once dubious and intrigued, he agrees to help in return for a potential pardon, and so begins a dangerous journey spiriting Hathaway and his compatriots from the United States to Asia. And so begins Blackhat, the latest euphoric and hypnotic suspense film by master director Michael Mann, returning after a six-year hiatus from cinema. Always pushing the stylistic envelope, he opens this film on an abstract and even psychedelic note, rendering the compromise of the power plant by malicious software as a 2001: A Space Odyssey-style dance of light and motion. It is an astonishing and bold feat of both design and visual storytelling, and it establishes a chief theme of the film: we now live in a world in which volatile crises begin in incorporeal digital spaces before exploding into the real world and disrupting actual lives and systems.

Dramatizing cyber security is a definite change of pace for Mann, director of such iconic and, in a sense, old-fashioned caper films as Thief and Heat. What is sought after, stolen, and/or sabotaged here cannot help but me more aloof than jewels in a safe or bearer bonds in an armored car. He achieves a neat balance, respecting the pace and vocabulary of this keyboard-centric culture of ones and zeroes while also incorporating his authorial voice and worldview, including characters defined by their trade, negotiating the gap separating escape and pleasure from their self-devised and often isolating codes of conduct (criminals and policemen as dueling samurai). Also recognizable and exceptional is digital photography—in no way disguised to resemble film—alternating between graceful aerial views of glistening urban vistas and claustrophobic closeups with besmeared, on-the-fly urgency.

As for the casting of Hemsworth, known best for portraying Norse superhero Thor in the Avengers franchise, it is hard to deny his muscular and sexy presence is extremely far removed from the popular image of the computer programmer as a gaunt nerd. However, he has clearly studied the melancholy masculinity of the finest performances in Mann films past (Robert De Niro's doomed thief in Heat, Colin Farrell's pensive undercover cop in Miami Vice), and he also conveys the character's capacity for cerebral gamesmanship while also, of course, more than holding his own as a prison-hardened physical threat. A casting decision at first indicative of directorial acquiescence to a studio's desire for a chiseled leading man, authenticity be damned, proves convincing in the end and integral to the film's overall triumph. Fine performances are also delivered by head-turning Lust, Caution star Tang Wei, charming and sensitive despite her clearly modest grasp of the English language, and Viola Davis, a beacon of stony resolve as an FBI agent hesitantly cooperating with the Chinese.

A

I want to see this, but the reviews are quite bad and the trailers never looked promising.

Public Enemies was so so and I didn't like Miami Vice at all, but just watched the Insider recently and loved it. Also Heat was a pretty good movie. What do you think David? I don't follow it too closely, but normally you seem to always rate directors you are fans of really well anyway despite whatever critical reception is.

I would mainly recommend this to hardcore Michael Mann aficionados who love the action-film-as-art-piece vibe and audio/visual idiosyncrasies of Collateral, Public Enemies, and particularly Miami Vice. It pushes even further into this territory and will prove divisive or even largely despised in general. If you are on Mann's wavelength, though, this is a pure-cinema delight and full of the types of moods, sights, sounds, textures, etc. only he can deliver.

Something that bothered every single person during my screening, incluidng myself, (and yes, I know that because our critics group discusses the films with the press agents after the screenings) is the finale. Hemsworth's character stabs someone in the head with a screwdriver, but no one from the crowds around him reacts. AT ALL. Okay, I could maybe swallow that. But then he draws a gun and others draw guns and they are walking through the crowds with drawn guns. And again, no one reacts until they fucking start shooting. Even in Indonesia, I don't buy that (and neither did anyone else).

That being said, the film was actually liked a whole lot among my peers.

It is a fair point. The climax slightly dials down the realism to indulge in the almost dreamy image of the combatants moving against the tide of the costumed people at the festival, and Mann receives a slap on the wrist for it in the otherwise glowing New York Times review:



Still, it is such an incredibly beautiful and exciting finale, though. So precisely cut and elegantly shot. And part of the excitement does come, in my opinion, from the brutal-intimacy-in-a-sea-of-people dynamic.

I loved Collateral...maybe I'll check it out.

What are your grades for Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies and Miami Vice?

I gave each a perfect A, the same as Blackhat.

My lowest grade for a Michael Mann film: C+ for Ali.

Public Enemies sucks.

Public Enemies is fantastic and one of the ten best films of 2009. The nighttime shootout in the forest is among the most memorable scenes of the last ten or so years.

Public Enemies sucks.

Add me to the list that loved Miami Vice and Public Enemies. Very underrated movies, IMO.

mannly

hathaway's been in prison for several years. why is it so ridiculous that he knows how to shank a guy?

Yeah, if anything is ridiculius it is a guy like Hemsworth being a hacker. But I let that slide. However he is better than trained killers at the end of the film and even in prison you do not get that good.

BLACKHAT

I liked a couple of things about the film. The soundtrack was very well done. It had some interesting cuts in it that I enjoyed. The cinematography of all the various locales and general settings were nice to look at. I did enjoy some of how the story was presented with the hacker crime thriller plot but the main problem I had was Hemsworth. I didn't like his accent. It wasn't very good. I didn't find him truly believable as this resourceful hacker who also is good at hand to hand combat and shooting guns. I just couldn't accept it. Then there was the Asian female who became his love interest. That didn't quite capture me either. Finally, we have the villain. He was very lame and very uninteresting. Such an elaborate plot just to make money off tin. I couldn't believe the film was that long for that? This is a forgetful film. It did make me want to check out Heat again though as I haven't watched that one in a while.

Grade - C

He wasn't so much better as willing to let innocent people be his bullet sponges.

Movie is long, cold and slow. None of the actors are that great and the cinematography is inconsistent (it's blurry/grainy in parts). But it's alright. I was into the story throughout and Mann still knows how to stage great action scenes.

Wei Tang is a total babe.

Blackhat is an unintentional comedy- and a hilarious one at that.

Looking at it through this lens (happened after they decided to start the Chinese girl/Hemsworth relationship) the laughs never stop. From the earnest but transparent acting from the Chinese girl, to her stilted dialogue, the film's trying to convince you Hemsworth is hacker and then Jason Bourne, the unrealistic stupidity of the extras/other humans, the anti-climactic resolution... and many more winning scenes, Blackhat is comedy of the top order.

Had a ball laughing.

As a serious flick, it fails on every conceivable level. I wanted to have a good time and so it became one, but if this is the best Mann can deliver these days, I'm not sad that Blackhat won't even be able to make $10m and is going straight to Blu-Ray in Australia.

Blackhat

Another good, serious, mature Mann thriller. Hemsworth is solid (actually the best I've seen him other than Rush), the action is tense, and the story is important. It's not as good as previous Mann thrillers, about on-par with Public Enemies. Mann isn't as awesome when he's out of his Los Angeles comfort zone, and he completely dropped the ball with the music here (no great tunes like in previous films) despite having some very good and powerful scenes (especially towards the end). The Chinese contingent let the film down; Wang Leehom seemed to care more about being seen as a super serious model of Chinese prestige than acting. The Chinese really can't act. They're either too silly or too serious. That being said, Tang Wei was pretty good with her elegant beauty. Oh, and Viola Davis was good, too. As the film reaches its dramatic crescendo, I was pleased enough with it, and as Hong Kong's metropolis features heavily in the film, as a good substitute for LA, I must say, it satisfied me no end. And as I saw the film in Hong Kong, and was only a few stops away from Quarry Bay, it felt all the more real. All the usual Mann-isms are there. The up-close and grainy cinematography, the sound mixing, the cool real-world dialogue, and the shootouts.

B+

I disagree with this. Her English is actually pretty fucking great. Perhaps it's just her accented delivery, but in China Tang Wei is regarded as having superb English ability.

Perhaps you missed it, but Mann addresses it early on. Hathaway goes to prison for 18 months for fighting and kicking the shit out of someone. That's the part that tells you he knows how to kick ass. For me, that's all I need. Then he goes to MIT, then he does hacking and gets banged up again. I mean, he's hardly fighting against trained martial artists. These are just Indonesian scumbags, hired-hands, and thugs from the street.

Plus, Mann loves the idea of men reforging themselves in prison. This is explicitly referenced here from the shots of him doing pushups to his, 'I am doing the time. The time is not doing me' line.

I appreciated that way of looking at it.

I kind of love this movie, but it's not great. Everything Mann shoots is amazing, the scenery shots, the close-ups, that's perfect cinematography for me. The acting is good too, everyone delivers, but Wei Tang is more good to look at that anything else. Hemsworth plays the hacker-role really well, and Viola Davis makes every movie better. She's like the black female Fassbender. The score is subtle and very good too. What I didn't like so much was the romance, which just does not seem genuine enough, and feels too unnecessary also. The ending however well filmed, is also a bit of a let down, as the shoot-out at the cars just tops it. Damn, Mann is so goood with guns and shoot-outs. I wish I could have gotten more of that in here.
I enjoyed it a lot, but it's not on par as a whole, to Mann's best. He's 72 now and I doubt he'll make another movie; Blackhat is then a nice final effort of him to close with.

B+