Review: Blackhat

Blackhat is Michael Mann’s shaky camera thriller about hacking in the modern era. When a mysterious blackhat hacker creates a nuclear disaster in China and leaves no clue about his next target, convicted ex-blackhat hacker Nick Hathaway (Played by Chris Hemsworth) is recruited by a America and China joint operation team to stop the looming threat. Leading the Chinese division is military computer security agent Dawai Chen (Played by Leehom Wang) and his network engineer specialist sister Lien (Played by Wei Tang). Watching over Hathaway is FBI agent Carol Barret (Played by Viola Davis) and a US Marshall (Played by  Holt McCallany). The team travels around the world to find and solve the mystery hacker’s plan, and for Hathaway to earn his freedom from prison.

Blackhat is a movie about hacking, but quickly drops some of premise in favor of intense action sequences. Following the temple of “Lisbeth Salander” from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Nick Hathaway is a harden brilliant computer specialist that spends a good amount of the movie fighting bad guys than staring into a computer screen. My wild guess that the hacking element would be secondary to the Chris Hemsworth factor came true ( You don’t make Thor a nerd just for his typing skills).  Michael Mann brings his usual themes to the film: tragic heroes, good verse evil, complex romance and violent action, but is that it doesn’t translate well into the hacking movie. With a world that is connected to computers, there is a certain difficulty in creating movies and TV shows with a “hacking” plot point, it’s either too realistic and boring or too unbelievable and comical. People who know technology will scoff at the crazy computer accessing methods and people who don’t understand computers too well be scared to turn on their Keurig Coffee maker.

Real hacking takes a large amount of time and luck to get access to secured stuff on computers. Most common “hacks” involve email password fishing scams and actual phone calls to people. Movies like WarGames, Hackers, Sneakers and SwordFish have a good mix of hacking jargon with unrealistic code breaking, but are presented in an entertaining fashion. I believe most people remember movies about hacking for either it’s sound track or super unrealistic hacking sequences.

You thought Chris Hemsworth is the first marvel actor to be a hacker?

Blackhat has some solid action and understandable hacking sequences that does not feel totally ridiculous. If you are a fan of Michael Mann’s work, you might be comfortable with his take on blackhat hackers. It’s not really an sophisticated cyber movie for computer nerds and it isn’t that suspenseful of a thriller as it was marketed. It’s a decent representation of modern day hacking, but doesn’t keep up with the pace. The movie starts with the idea of backdoor cyber hacking and devolves into gun fights; the movie tries to do a few things too many things and results in a couple of meaningless scenes, and ending sequence that feels rushed. I don’t dislike Blackhat, but it doesn’t offer me much to recommend about it.

[rating=3]