[one-star-rating]Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Lehom Wang, Wei Tang[/one-star-rating]
At one point, director Michael Mann seemed unstoppable, with Thief, Heat, Collateral, and The Insider. Miami Vice and this film are doing major damage to his reputation, especially his ability to pick engaging projects. Blackhat is a paranoid techno-babble thriller – purposefully confusing and full of nonsense and dread – barely made better by Mann’s directing.
Some moments – like digital animation of a virus spreading through a computer system – are beyond cheesy. Plot points are ridiculous; if the cyber-terrorists’ overarching plan is correct, they’d never call attention to themselves by first blowing up a Chinese nuclear reactor.
That explosion starts Blackhat. In order to find the criminals, the US and China must team up. Their top advisors (Davis, Wang) demand that Hemsworth, a hacker in prison, gets furloughed to help. Hemsworth negotiates for his release.
So far, the plot is so riddled with cliché that it’s amazing Mann even read past the first ten pages of the script.
It gets worse. Hemsworth starts a relationship with the only woman around that’s roughly his age (Tang). Hemsworth and Wang were college buddies, and she’s Wang’s sister. So, there’s that tacked-on tension.
On top of that, bullets can pierce cargo holds and cars but not bus signs.
Having handsome, rugged Hemsworth as the lead is a major misstep if you’re shooting for believability. We can buy him as a Norse god or a racecar driver. It’s difficult to accept him as a computer genius who also lifts weights, is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, and can pull a MacGuyver, making weapons out of nothing.
Yes, Blackhat is that ridiculous. Yet, there’s no indication that this is supposed to be a silly film; we’re supposed to be scared and thrilled.
The movie skips around the globe, as these movies should. Blackhat goes from polished and rich to poor and exotic in a way that would make James Bond blush. It has a slick look to it, which is where Mann excels, even with mostly handheld cameras.
Though, honestly, even Mann wears thin here. We’ve seen all his camera tricks before, and in way better films. He focuses on the sides of actors’ faces – their ears – so much that it becomes distracting. The courtship of Hemsworth and Tang starts as he stares at her neck and legs in blurry focus in a cab – it’s a shot that feels like a misogynistic ‘80s perfume ad and a creepy rape fantasy combined.
[rating-key]
What’s most despicable is that this film starts with a message: “Cyber-terrorists can change the world, and you cannot possibly ever understand how you’re at risk.” It purposely confuses us with gibberish to ratchet up the fear. Then it dives into Bruce Willis territory, with the renegade being the only one who can save us all. The final scenes devolve into the worst action movie banality imaginable.
If he was emailed the script, Michael Mann should’ve immediately deleted it. As it is, I suggest you move Blackhat to your Junk folder.
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