{"id":3673,"date":"2015-01-16T05:32:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T12:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3673"},"modified":"2015-01-16T05:33:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T12:33:02","slug":"review-blackhat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3673","title":{"rendered":"Review: BLACKHAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The fact that \u201cBlackhat\u201d looks and sounds shoddy is surprising given the talent involved and the presence of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh. It\u2019s obvious that Dryburgh and director Michael Mann made a choice to deliver a rough looking film, but the question is why?<\/p>\n

When a hacker takes down a nuclear power plant in China, computer expert and Chinese military Captain Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang) is called in to investigate. This leads him to the United States, where he enlists the assistance of his former MIT roommate, Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth). The problem is that Hathaway is in prison for computer hacking. In time, Hathaway\u2019s temporary release will be approved and a cross-country chase for the bad guys (those in the \u201cblackhats\u201d) begins.<\/p>\n

Director Michael Mann (who brought us \u201cHeat,\u201d \u201cCollateral\u201d and many others) struggles here to make computer hacking visually interesting and thrilling. The opening sequence in which a nuclear power plant is attacked through a computer is well-paced. There is a Tron-like animation drilling down through the wiring and computer chips through the fiber optics and into the code itself. These scenes may be frustrating to some, who will call it dated, but I liked the representation initially. Sadly, the promise is wasted and what we ultimately get is a collection of B-movie action sequences involving fights and gunplay poorly shot on purpose.<\/p>\n

I say \u201con purpose\u201d because the dirty visual scope of \u201cBlackhat\u201d is intentional. The effort smacks of an artificial attempt to recreate the low-end feel of an indie film production in hopes of elevating the import of the less than interesting narrative. It is as though the gifted Mann and his technically-skilled cinematographer Dryburgh, are slumming. It doesn\u2019t work out like they had planned. Compare Mann\u2019s work with gifted cinematographer Dante Spinotti, who shot the comparatively beautiful 1986 film \u201cManhunter,\u201d and you quickly realize nothing here is done by mistake.<\/p>\n

Visually, action shots have focus issues with some shots looking like something from a low budget music video in which the filmmaker uses a Snorricam. This is a technique in which the camera is attached directly to the subject. But combine that with low light shots that are blotchy and noise-filled\u2013reminiscent of home videos\u2013and you get viewer distraction. The effect is to take the viewer out of the film. And it might even be nauseating in places similar to complaints levied at \u201cThe Blair Witch Project.\u201d<\/p>\n

The amount of time I\u2019ve spent talking about the look of \u201cBlackhat\u201d indicates how much of an issue it is. But the story is not worth much analysis. Instead of trying to make coding and computer hacking interesting, the script from Morgan Davis Foehl (his first) falls back upon typical action thriller elements. And aside from the way these scenes are shot and the sound recorded, those \u201caction\u201d sequences barely register against other more exciting and thrilling offerings at your local theater. Any war sequence from this weekend\u2019s \u201cAmerican Sniper\u201d is far better paced and executed.<\/p>\n

What frustrated me is, why inject this level of gunplay and action into a film that is really, at its core, about people who sit at computers and type? Given the no doubt Chinese producing partnership for \u201cBlackhat,\u201d the somewhat foreign sentimentality seems aimed at an Asian audience. The odd score swells in an over-the-top obvious fashion in an effort to inform the audience of impending emotional entanglements. The matching of Marvel superstar Hemsworth with Chinese star actress Wei Tang (\u201cLust, Caution\u201d) forces them into many romantic embraces wholly for marketing purposes in places other than the U.S. This relationship never seems to ring true, however, and gets ever more strained as the action ratchets up.<\/p>\n

Computer hacking can make for exciting and interesting cinema. Look no further than the critically lauded, recently Oscar-nominated documentary, \u201cCitizenfour.\u201d But with \u201cBlackhat\u201d the producers were probably hesitant to dive fully into the computer and stepped away from it in favor of the cheap thrills found in gunplay and violence. And the viewers suffer because of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACKHAT is a visual mess…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3673"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3679,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions\/3679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}