Blackhat is a timely exploration of terrifying cyber-terrorism, headed by a rising star and directed by a veteran known for crisp action and slick style. Why then is it such a disappointing movie?
Because of Morgan Davis Foehl’s pedestrian script, which by the end makes James Bond adventures seem Shakespearian in comparison. Because director Michael Mann piles on the stylistic touches well past the point of meaninglessness. Because the dialogue is as sparse as in a Clint Eastwood western and more cryptic than logical. Because of a finale at a Chinese festival involving people shooting each other in the middle of the crowd and nobody present doing much of anything about it at all. Because each dramatic point is telegraphed ahead of time; because its attempts to visualize electronic transmission are childish; because somebody gave the green light to make this mess without enough oversight, or the foresight to kill it.
The premise seems promising, but the payoff is minuscule. Chris Hemsworth is colorless as the hacker, the “only man” who can catch the new cybercriminal on the block. Viola Davis is wasted as the FBI agent willing to let him do his thing, tracking the villain across the planet. A couple of action scenes — at a shipyard and a shootout on a street — are done pretty well, but then that final confrontation arrives and logic flies past the moon. Remember to strap magazines to your abdomen before a shootout; it’s likely to save your skin!
Espionage movies aspire to ambiguity and duplicity, but they still have to make sense. Whenever this one threatens to, the characters run in the opposite direction. And talk about disappointment: when Hemsworth finally intuits the villain’s plan, our reaction is really? All this effort for that? Destroying a nuclear power plant as a test run for that? Wow. What a letdown. This whole movie is a letdown. Only Ritchie Coster makes a favorable impression, as the bad guy’s baddest henchman. He’s the baddest of the bad, in a bad movie. ☆ 1/2. 26 January 2015.