Blackhat

I knew something was wrong when Universal decided to release 2015's BLACKHAT nationwide in January -the cinematic dumping ground I've discussed here before.  This was a high profile thriller from director Michael Mann.  His previous film, PUBLIC ENEMIES, was a great disappointment for me, mainly because style alone failed to carry an uninspired screenplay.  Few would argue that Mann is a master of his craft.  Many would argue that his expertise can overcome lackluster writing and plotting.  Nonetheless, we have BLACKHAT, which confirmed my fears.

I would not have bothered with it had Mann not been involved.  But I'm always interested in his work - so otherworldly, so intoxicatingly sleek and dreamlike.  The style here is almost identical to COLLATERAL, HEAT, MIAMI VICE, and others.  How characters stand and converse, how they're lit.  I watched a making-of doc for BLACKHAT and there was the director, appearing professorial and focused on the (seeming) minitiae of how a character holds his thumb.  How extras sweep across a lot.  The actors rave about his insistence in creating elaborate character sketches, even bringing them to the real locations where those they will portray grew up.  It sounds like the stuff great films are made of.  It used to be, Michael.  What happened here?

The script.  Morgan Davis Foehl's story is really just a CSI episode with a budget, and with quick edits and pans around intense stares focused on computer monitors.  A few guns are raised. You can easily say this story of computer hacking is timely, but this adds no gravitas.  The film centers on a team determined to ferret out a mysterious "blackhat" hacker who has caused a meltdown of a nuclear plant in Hong Kong and soy futures to skyrocket in the Merchantile Trade Exchange. The motive does not seem to be political.   The good guys are a Chinese Army officer named Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang), his hacker sister Chen Lien (Tang Wei), his old MIT roommate Nick (Chris Hemsworth), and FBI Agent Barret (Viola Davis).

Nick is front and center as a hacker extraordinaire, sprung from prison for his skills (and that he and Chen Dawai wrote the original code used in the random access tool by the blackhat).  He is never once believable as an expert, or that he can even logon to a damned computer.   The fault isn't solely on Hemsworth, who plays it way too laid back.  It's that script again, which of course shoehorns a love story between Nick and Chen Lien.  At least Ms. Wei gets to display some real emotional responses.  The rest of the cast either seems confused or overdirected.

One can usually praise a Mann film for its "look".  Again, the director creates a striking palate.  Can anyone frame a city scape like him? Or stage a realistic looking, disorienting action scene?  Maybe because this was his first 100% digital project, the visuals occasionally look washed out and blurred. Could've also done without the journey into a computer's server.   Michael Mann is first and foremost a stylist, and of late his ability to create weighty drama has been lacking. One usually followed the other. 

I await the comeback.