After a devastating cyber attack leaves a Chinese nuclear facility severly damaged, a joint Chinese-American cyber unit discovers traces of a computer code written by Nick Hathaway, an extremely talented hacker. With parts of Nick's code being used in the hack, the FBI is forced to release him from prison, being possibly the only man capable of tracking down the cyber terrorist responsible. Michael Mann's Blackhat is a fascinating film for the simple reason that it's a hacker movie that's poorly written but very well-directed. The opening sequence is dumb but interesting, a sequence that attempts to visually capture the hacking of nuclear power plant as it happens. Reminiscent of the Nos sequences that used to be a major part of the Fast and the Furious series, the film showcases how something so small can be so devastating- something very important to establish in a Hacker film. Michael Mann is essentially evolving as a filmmaker, adapting to the new digital photography in a way that makes this film a visceral experience, with action sequences that are some of the most intense ones you can find. Typical of most of Michael Mann's recent output, Blackhat has a forced romance arch but the real problem lies in its inability to have a lead protagonist that is anything but boring. With the way the film is written, Nick Hathaway has no soul as a character til the last act, making it hard to be invested in the story. The story itself is also odd, being intentionally convoluted about the stakes at times, but Blackhat does a great thing by choosing to keep the antagonist almost completely in the shadows, giving the viewer no clue as to his intentions until the end of the film. Blacklist is certainly a silly film but Mann's film is full of interesting thematic discussions centered around surveillance and technology, keeping the film so interesting from a visual and audio perspective in a way that makes it hard to not enjoy the ride.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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