So…this isn’t a very good movie, but it’s not 31% on Rotten Tomatoes bad either. It’s the worst film of the usually-excellent director Michael Mann’s that I’ve actually seen, but it turns out that even the worst film from Michael Mann is better than most.
What Works: It’s no surprise that a director drawn to highly systematic criminals (the well-organized robbers of “Heat,” “Thief,” and “Public Enemies,” the maniacally intelligent serial killers in “Manhunt,” the ruthlessly efficient hitman in “Collateral,” and the disciplined, new-school drug lords in the “Miami Vice” movie) would eventually want to direct a movie about computer hackers. It also makes sense since that’s where the actual crime is these days, and a movie about large scale bank robbers would have to involve keyboards more than machine guns.
And “Blackhat” is mostly set in Asian countries, continuing the theme of globalized crime Mann explored in the “Miami Vice” movie, and the settings are terrific. Mann’s roving camera explores the neon danger of the rising mega-cities of the new Asia in the same agreeably scuzzy way he did in Collateral. Even though Chris Hemsworth is not the most believable candidate for a skilled computer hacker, he does generate good chemistry with Chinese actress Tang Wei. [In fact, I cannot remember the last time a movie had a white man/Asian woman couple as its leads and they actually stayed together…I’m trying to remember one but can’t come up with it, and maybe that has to do with Hollywood’s absolutely dismal lack of roles for Asians but it’s nice to see at least some effort made.]
What Doesn’t: There is an inertness to too much of the movie, and it’s the first of Mann’s films where I felt the criminal’s processes were a little over the director’s head. I learned a lot about the professional trade of bank robbers in “Heat” or the new drug empires in “Miami Vice” but I’m not sure Blackhat really does that for computer hacking. It may be a little too knotty for its own good.
And there’s no denying that Mann is on something of a cold streak lately. I would say that his last inarguably great movie was “Collateral” all the way back in 2004, and there’s no denying that that was the last one really loved by a mass audience. [Meaning that it was not just watched, but rewatched.] I’m not sure what he needs to do to get his mojo back or what new inspirations he should draw from, but he is one of my favorite directors, and I’m hoping he finds “it” again.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Chris Hemsworth is a charismatic and even compelling actor, but he does not exactly radiate scholarly intelligence. I’m not saying he’s dumb in real-life, but he seems more street smart than a guy who’s believable as a technical whiz. All in all, the first great film about computer hacking as a criminal lifestyle still hasn’t been made yet, and even though Mann seemed like a natural for it, it looks like the task might fall to somebody else. Grade: B-