'Blackhat' proves disappointing thriller
Visually muddied, dramatically torpid and confoundingly plotted, “Blackhat” represents a major disappointment from Chicago's cinematic stylist Michael Mann.
This international cyberattack thriller couldn't be better timed in light of the Sony Pictures hacking incident by the so-called Guardians of Peace.
Yet, “Blackhat” already feels dated with its mysterious hack attackers taking cues from Alan Rickman in “Die Hard” by using a terrorist front to camouflage the old-fashioned motive of greed.
“Blackhat” also follows Michael Bay's latest “Transformers” sequel in cementing commercial ties with China's burgeoning movie market by using Chinese actors in key roles.
On computer screenwriting software, “Blackhat” probably looked like a perfect release: a cutting-edge international thriller in which Americans join the Chinese in stopping unknown hackers from “dropping the hammer” on some unknown target very soon.
“Blackhat” telegraphs its disappointing content in its lengthy introduction resembling a second sequel to “Tron.” The camera swoops inside the innards of computer circuits as they set off a disaster at China's Chai Wan nuclear power plant.
Next, the soy market goes crazy when someone manipulates the stock prices, netting the attacker $74 million.
Panicked, the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and other groups need help.
They turn to imprisoned cyber expert Nicholas Hathaway (“Thor” star Chris Hemsworth, minus his hammer). He's in jail not for cyber crimes, but for attacking someone.
Nonetheless, FBI agent Carol Barrett (the always-great Viola Davis) takes charge of Hathaway after springing him from the clink.
Hathaway is joined by Chinese military computer officer Dawai Chen (Chinese music star Wang Leehom). Conveniently, they are old college buddies. Even more conveniently, Chen has an attractive, available sister Lien Chen (“Lust, Caution” star Tang Wei) with eyes for Hathaway.
Working from Morgan Davis Foehl's tech-jargon-heavy screenplay, Mann drags us through a mind-boggling technological procedural peppered with purloined passwords and illicit URLs.
He stops occasionally for a firefight between the good guys and the murderous henchmen of the disappointing uber-villain (Yorick van Wageningen), resembling an adult computer geek who still lives at home with his parents.
“Blackhat” trots around the globe, and we're never quite sure of where the characters are and what they're doing.
None of them seems to connect, especially Chen and Hathaway, whose sexual relationship is as murky and unappealing as Stuart Dryburgh's contrast-challenged HD digital cinematography.
By the end — a massive Jakarta parade shooting in which not a single policeman is around — “Blackhat” reveals its major deficiencies.
Chief of these is this plot stickler: Why does the computer villain bother with concocting such a large, risky, complicated cyber plan to make money when he can knock down a quick $74 million by simply manipulating stocks?
“Blackhat”
★ ½
<b>Starring:</b> Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Tang Wei, Wang Leehom
<b>Directed by:</b> Michael Mann
<b>Other:</b> A Universal Studios release. Rated R for language, violence. 133 minutes