BLACKHAT

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE:  C
Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Wei Tang, Leehom Wang, Holt McCallanay, Yorick van Wagenigen, John Ortiz, Richie Coster, 
Written by Morgan Davis Foehl 
Directed by Michael Mann
Rated R (violence and some profanity)

Two of the most stylistically iconic directors working today are Ridley Scott and Michael Mann, and their influence on other filmmakers has been noticeable over the years. So it's not surprising that in the past two months we would see blatant tributes to both filmmakers. What is surprising is that the tributes have been made by Scottt and Mann.

In much the same way that Exodus: Gods and Kings so clearly set out to evoke the kind of epics Scott has been celebrated for (right down to multiple lines of dialogue referencing Gladiator), Michael Mann's new thriller Blackhat plays like an homage to his own filmography, so much so that in scenes when Chris Hemsworth and Leehom Wang were driving around at night I had to remind myself that their names were not actually Crockett and Tubbs.

Nicholas Hathaway (Hemsworth) is doing 15 years in prison for cyber crimes. Four years into his sentence, he catches a bit of a break: it seems that a cyber terrorist is using an algorithm designed by Hathaway. and his old college roommate Chen Dawai (Wang), a Chinese government agent involved in a joint operation with the FBI, suggest that the best person to track down this criminal is Hathaway himself.  Hathaway seizes on the opportunity and negotiates what starts as a proposed furlough into having his sentence commuted if he succeeds.The chase leads them through Chicago, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Jakarta (although they never do find Carmen Sandiego.). Chen enlists the aid of his sister, Lien (Wei Tang) because he needs a computer expert he can really trust, and Hathaway needs a love interest.    

Blackhat never rises above being a routine thriller, and the script by Morgan Davis Foehl is serviceable but bland. In addition, Hemsworth's character is awfully tough and multi talented for a computer hacker (at what point exactly did he learn to be crack shot firing a gun one handed?) and there are moments when I couldn't help but add my own RiffTrack ("The man we need is my former roommate, Nick Hathaway. We were underwear models together at MIT" and "So, this is a Michael Mann movie. I have long hair, and you're Asian, so we should probably have sex."),  and the love story between Hemsworth and his hair care stylist is more convincing than the love story being Hathaway and Lien.

That being said, Hemsworth once again proves himself more than capable of carrying a film, and Mann's stylish visuals and clever staging  go a long a way, and the movie is completely watchable. As a long time fan of the director, I couldn't help but enjoy the film.  As has been the case with every film he has made since Collateral, Mann embraces digital movie making to the extreme, not trying to disguise digital video for film. At times this can be an effective choice in bringing you into the reality of the story (though it works a lot better when the movie has a great sense of reality, or a story) but what I do take issue with in this film and others is the growing trend toward using a GoPro for shots in a major motion picture. I get it: the Go Pro gets shots that you otherwise never could. But a large percentage of the time, they are gimmick shots that I'd rather not see passed off as filmmaking in the first place.

As January releases go, Blackhat really isn't bad. It's just not that good, either.