Blackhat

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Leehom Wang, Wei Tang, Viola Davis, William Mapother
Directed by: Michael Mann
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Drama
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary:A jailed hacker (Chris Hemsworth) is released to help a joint U.S.- Chinese task force hunt an elusive cyber terrorist.

Review:

Tim: Michael Mann is certainly a gifted filmmaker. Outside of the awful Miami Vice, I have seen 7 Mann movies that I enjoyed. Blackhat unfortunately doesn't reach that level. This is a perfectly fine cybercrime movie. There's not a whole lot to like, but besides the absurdly long run time (2 hours, 13 minutes means this is a bloated affair), there's not a lot to hate, either. It's ultimately too generic and forgettable, but it's not without a few nice sequences.

I tend to like movies about hackers. It's fascinating to see this aspect of the world and I tend to learn a lot when you dive into their world. I didn't appreciate the weird looks inside a computer- I'm not sure what Mann was trying to achieve there, but it adds very little and takes up too much time. Those scenes were weird and unnecessary. As a whole, though, I did find the story somewhat intriguing. I wanted to find out who the cyber criminal was and what we was trying to achieve. When we finally do get the answers, they were fine. I wasn't hit with great disappointment, but I wasn't wowed, either. I kind of shrugged my shoulders- okay, fine. That sums up this film.

I'm not sure if Chris Hemsworth was the right choice to play this hacker. I didn't think he did a terrible job, but there's probably a dozen actors who could have pulled it off better. I really enjoyed the international cast- there's quite a few Asian actors involved, which was very positive to see. People are getting more and more upset about Hollywood whitewashing, so it was a nice departure to see an international group of characters portrayed by international actors. It's a sad statement of the current world, but that's a plus for this film. Leehom Wang added a good supporting performance. It was nice seeing Viola Davis, but this felt like a role she's played all too frequently in the last decade. I will say that the cast as a whole was a bit of a letdown. Everyone was fine, but there wasn't a truly remarkable, standout performance in the cast. The whole cast moved through the motions, but I never loved any of them.

The story was decent. It never kept me on the edge of my seat (I would have had to care more), but it wasn't a major detriment. I was interested in what was happening and did want to see what came next. I might not have had an emotional investment, but I was never fully bored, either. Mann manages to keep the movie moving along so that a mild dullness was maintained at all times. That's not exactly a win, but I wasn't actively praying for the movie to end, either.

Mann is a good enough filmmaker to prevent Blackhat from being a total failure. However, the movie is far too long, especially because we're not treated to anything strongly compelling. It's all okay, which always translates into disappointment. I thought the movie was fine, but it's certainly not one I would ever want to watch again. By delivering a completely average movie, Mann avoids the worst fate, but no one would ever call this movie a success.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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