Black Hat (2015, Michael Mann)

I caught "Blackhat" at the theater yesterday, and man, I’m still reeling from how good it actually was.

The movie follows the classic thriller blueprint.
The core subject could have been any international crime spree, but they went with cybercrime—now, I don't know the first thing about coding or high-level hacking, but knowing Mann's obsession with detail, it’s highly likely the technical side is airtight and all those procedures are actually doable.
But the story isn't some boring, uncinematic slog.
The lead—played by Thor himself—is basically the ultimate archetype for programmers—even though he's a hacker, the guy can clearly hold his own in a fight, handle a gun, and he's got some Jiu-Jitsu skills too. The film is packed with explosions, shootouts, and brawls. And let me tell you, the action sequences are executed brilliantly!
HOWEVER. The one thing that really sets this apart from the mountain of other modern thrillers is the sheer maturity and adulthood of the characters—it honestly felt like I was watching a gritty thriller straight out of the 70s.
When conflict breaks out, it’s treated as something serious and grueling with actual consequences, rather than just mindless entertainment.

What makes this film truly standout, though, is that phenomenal visual style and this sort of apocalyptic atmosphere.
"Blackhat" looks incredible; there are these stunning panoramic shots and everyday locations that Mann manages to make feel surreal—almost like you're watching a sci-fi flick instead of a contemporary drama.
If I had to imagine a film adaptation of a newer William Gibson novel, like "Spook country," this is exactly what it would look like.

The plot is intricate, and the characters are layered—at no point did I feel like I was watching something designed for teenagers or someone with an attention deficit, which is a massive plus in my book.

I am honestly disgusted by those incredibly low scores on Rotten Tomatoes for what is, in every sense, a top-tier thriller and a total visual masterpiece!
Definitely recommend seeing this on the big screen!

I read the synopsis and the premise actually looked solid, but after seeing the trailer, I’m officially out. The reason? Shaky cam.

Look, I’m all for shaky cam in > flicks like > or >, but it has absolutely nuked > movies over the last decade. > was a disaster, > was a disaster... honestly, > was the only one where it wasn't totally unbearable, mostly because that movie is actually high quality and I didn't even notice it as much—it actually fit the vibe.
But man, the way he forces this filming style into his recent stuff just makes me sick. This one will probably just end up waiting for better days on some streaming service.

Caught this one yesterday. Honestly, I’ve never been much of a fan when it comes to Michael Mann—he has this habit of taking a premise that should be high-octane and gripping, then stretching it out into this long, drawn-out thing with an atmosphere that just... I don't know, wears me down? I have to admit, it's probably just a matter of taste, though, because I find it really hard to actually sink into his movies. If I’d known he was at the helm before I headed to the theater, I probably would’ve skipped it entirely. The one thing about M. Mann that’s always fascinated me, though—and I mean this sincerely—is how he took Manhunter and gave it such a distinct style that even for a movie from '86, it looks like it was filmed at least a decade later. :-)

The guy was ahead of his time; he cemented his legacy with Miami Vice and Heat.

I’m a huge fan of Mann, but this one really loses its way toward the end. The hunt for the hacker was gripping, but once that Black Widow scene hits, everything just devolves into one cliché after another. Everyone’s entitled to a miss, and Mann is no exception.

The redeeming quality of Mann is that he doesn't force hidden meanings upon the viewer through tired tropes or, even worse, heavy-handed exposition. With his work, one can extract context from the data he leaves behind, and what is particularly refreshing is the sheer freedom of interpretation granted to the audience. It is entirely possible to sense his perspective on modern global crime while simultaneously forming—or even validating—your own. The issue, however, lies in the execution on a purely cinematic level: Black Hat is so riddled with holes that it feels arbitrary, bordering on "style over substance," though not in a fun, trashy way, but rather in a somewhat pretentious manner.
To begin with, the characters lack depth. They aren't mysterious; they are simply either hollow or constructed as mere checklists of desirable traits for a given situation. One gets the impression, especially when certain characters exit the narrative, that this is all just Nick's struggle, driven by stock motivations and met with stock problems. In reality, this entire plot could have been resolved in a ninety-minute film, perhaps just someone working on a laptop in a prison library. On a positive note, the hacking scenes are finely detailed; actual hackers served as consultants, and it is a welcome change to see actual Linux being used on screen rather than those generic green-text displays reminiscent of the 70s. But no, the film opts for an "epic" scale, aiming for a massive global thriller, which results in Nick ballooning into a "one-man army" type...
Since we are discussing epic scale, the problem with Black Hat is its inability to maintain engagement. It catches your attention momentarily, only to let go, which compounds the feeling of randomness bolstered by convenient, generic resolutions. Logical inconsistencies arise throughout the process—though listing them all would be an exercise in futility—yet the film never reaches a true action-packed climax nor establishes a clear stance on its theme. Quite simply, for a film with such ambitions, Black Hat is mediocre. Given that it runs well over two hours, one might even call it bloated.

more at:
http://film-na-dan.blogspot.com/2015/05/blackhat.html

The concept behind this movie is killer, but it feels way overblown, and honestly, that ending is a complete disaster. It shifts from being genuinely gripping to just being exhausting to sit through. They definitely missed the mark somewhere. ☕

This movie might end up becoming a bit of a cult classic within the tech community, though I suppose they could have considered a broader audience—the heavy technical jargon and computer terminology might be a little dry for some people. Personally, I thought the film was alright, but it seems to suffer from the fact that Mann often tries to convey so much yet leaves things feeling somewhat unfinished!

The first half of the movie is actually somewhat decent.
As someone working in the IT field, I have to say this is one of those rare instances where hacking is portrayed with a fair amount of realism—even if there are still some typical Hollywood flourishes mixed in—but the core concept is basically how things work. You don't see all that nonsense with flying 3D graphics or anything like that. 😁
However, once you hit the second half, 🤮

The characters feel totally cardboard, the plot becomes completely nonsensical after the midpoint, and so on... I suppose it might be mildly interesting just to see what they're talking about, but the movie is forgettable the moment the credits roll.

Working in IT, I can say the whole hacker aesthetic and all that tech stuff is fine, but...

To me, the movie just suffers from much deeper issues—it’s slow, honestly. It was just boring and unengaging. I couldn't bring myself to care about the quasi-romance at all, let alone Hemsworth's character. Come on, it's supposed to be this great love story? If I were him, I’d have probably just slept with her the second I got out of prison... And then there's the villains. At the end, they're chasing money, even though they have enough hacking power to manipulate the entire stock market—which is exactly what they do in the film anyway—to get rich. I found the motivations for everyone in this movie either completely nonsensical or just plain idiotic. Or maybe the film was just so tedious that I ended up half-ignoring the plot, even if it actually did try to establish why anyone was doing what they were doing somewhere along the line.

It’s a solid movie, but I always feel like something is missing when I watch a Mann film (well, except for The Last Mohican).

I honestly don't get why they had to lean so hard on 80s and 90s tech vibes for the impulse travel and data transfers. Can't we show the raw power of modern electronics in a different way? Regardless, it's still a good flick.

I’m feeling pretty let down by this one... I mean, it’s Michael Mann, so you expect something more, right?
Everything about this movie just feels incredibly shallow.
Honestly, I get the distinct impression this was engineered specifically to appeal to the Asian market—which, knowing how things go, probably means it'll be a massive hit over there.
That shaky cam footage? It doesn't add anything. It certainly isn't building any tension; it's just annoying.
I should probably sit down and write out a full breakdown of why this failed, but frankly, I just don't have the energy left. Just disappointed.

I finally sat down to watch it, and I find myself agreeing with the general consensus here regarding the disappointment. It was a subpar film, and I suppose I really expected more from Michael Mann. The only redeeming quality might be the sound design during the firefights; I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for how Mann handles gunshots. 👍

The hacking aspects are depicted with some realism, though I can't help but feel the whole thing looks like it was ripped straight out of a cheesy "Cybersecurity" commercial.

What an absolute disaster of a movie... truly terrible. I actually had to sit through it in two separate sessions just to stay awake because it was so incredibly dull and uninspired.
Spoiler alert... though why bother, considering what a pile of garbage this film turned out to be.

So, we’ve got hacker-Thor and some sexy Asian woman chasing a villain across the globe, getting into physical brawls with his henchmen... eventually, Thor takes out some hardened mercenary with a screwdriver, followed by some ridiculous ninja move from the main bad guy.
Yeah, this is definitely the high-stakes hacking thriller we were all waiting for. 🤣 Give me a break...

The villains are complete idiots who decide to TEST their cyber attack on not one, but two superpowers. 🤣 Because apparently, they couldn't find some small, insignificant country to practice on. Their goal is just to make some money—something they could easily do without threatening to blow up a nuclear silo... plus, they can manipulate the stock market! What more could they possibly need?!
Then we have this Black Widow-style fantasy software available right on the open internet via the NSA 😁 and some supposedly indestructible hard drive straight out of an Asian Chernobyl. 🤦 It’s pure nonsense; a classic case of deus ex machina when the screenwriter clearly ran out of ideas.

As for the cast, Thor is actually decent. But whenever that Asian actress comes on screen? It’s painful to watch her desperate attempts at acting.

I was hoping that at least the hacking sequences would be halfway decent, especially since people were praising that part, but everything we saw was just someone plugging in an infected USB drive or a phishing attack on an NSA guy. That’s it. We saw a few shots of a CLI (command-line interface, for those lucky enough not to spend their entire lives staring at a monitor just to earn a paycheck), probably some bash, whatever.

On top of all that, there’s the shaky cam and a movie that is just endlessly boring. Can it get any worse? Unlikely. Avoid this film at all costs.

I tried watching this movie... I really gave it a shot... but it just wasn't happening. Once the electrons (or bits, whatever?) started "racing" through the chips for the third time, you're just sitting there waiting for them to hit the next gate so the plot can actually move... toward what, exactly?? It felt like a total drag—all technical jargon and zero momentum. This was basically a "pseudo-IT" flick consisting of nothing but tech-babble and waiting for something to happen.
Maybe they're trying to carve out a whole new niche for IT movies? We've had the "computer geek" comedies and the gamer thrillers, so now we get... IT action?
So, here's the setup: a hacker gets locked up for a few years, totally cut off from any kind of computer access. Life goes on, and the tech world moves about three times faster than real life. Then, boom—he's released as a consultant because, by some freak coincidence, the bad guys decide to use his teenage hack as the ultimate platform to screw over the entire planet. Of course that’s how it works, right? Otherwise, he’d be irrelevant, just playing Super Mario while everyone else does the real work. Sure, the protocols haven't changed much in years, and the tools are just as effective (and well-known to those people), but hey, they've got this untapped network genius who confidently claims the signal is being rerouted through multiple nodes 🤦

Seriously, looking back at these 15 posts, there are at least 10 different reasons why this movie sucks...

Michael Jackson10 said:I actually tried watching this movie... I really did... but I just couldn't do it. When those electrons (or bits, whatever?) started "racing" through the chips for the third freaking time, and you're just sitting there waiting for them to hit the next logic gate just so the damn movie can move forward... move forward into what exactly??

Same exact thing happened to me. As soon as I saw that overplayed, chewed-up crap about stuff racing through microchips at the start, I thought I was dreaming. 😲

I was thinking, "No way, this isn't a Michael Mann movie, this can't be real!!!"

Shut it off after 15 minutes.

And yeah, I have zero motivation to finish it.
Like, seriously? He decided to make this one after all those absolute masterpieces he did before? 🤦

Man... It wandered off into nowhere fast. Once that IT guy started tearing into the haters at the bar like he was just messing around, I totally checked out. There was zero point in watching anymore.
It was actually decent enough up until that point, though—the dialogue had those snappy vibes you’d see in a Segal movie. But from Mann? Nothing even close to "M".

Honestly? Kind of a bust. There are plenty of gorgeous shots—classic Manov wide angles that probably set some kind of record for sheer scale 😁—but the script is such a mess that I could barely finish it. I don’t even know how to explain how bad it was without sounding dramatic, but yeah, it's a slog. It just goes to show that all the high-tech gear, pretty cinematography, and talented directors in the world won't save you when modern scripts are basically just a pile of garbage.