Blackhat

Blackhat (2015)

31% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 123 reviews)

Runntime: 133 minutes

Directed by: Michael Mann

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Tang Wei, Wang Leehorn, Holt McCallany

From: Legendary/Universal

Here's my first 2015 motion picture. It was one I wanted to see last week but due to circumstances beyond my control I had to wait until last night to do so. My Letterboxd review is below and I'll return Wednesday afternoon.

My first 2015 film is one I was interested in seeing, even after hearing very mixed reviews, a middling score on the IMDb and a rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I had still heard some who rate it pretty highly meaning that there was the possibility I'd enjoy it myself.

While I understand the complaints (except for the one about it being “boring”), it was a film I enjoyed, even if it wasn't great, it can be quite ridiculous-including Thor as an expert computer hacker-and it doesn't always make sense and it's amusing how the villain's ultimate plan seems awfully familiar to the plan presented in a not beloved action film from the 80's that I won't reveal for spoiler reasons. Despite such niggles, I was entertained even if I did not think it was as great as it could have been considering the director.

Looking at what happened last year, cyberterrorism is a now relevant fact of life. Its ultimate end goal isn't quite what is portrayed here but it can still be quite damaging so I was glad to see a film about various hackers, from the destructive kind (known as black hat hackers) or the other ones (white hat and grey hat) and the various tricks of the trade they do to succeed. I am not a leet hacker myself by any means but I am familiar with various concepts of the computer world so I was happy to see them presented in the film. You don't need extensive knowledge of that field to understand the movie but for me I was happy to know such info.

It being an adventure that not only takes place in the United States but also Hong Kong then Southeast Asia was of interest to me, along with the multi-ethnic cast, which delivered performances that are at least fine. The cinematography-well, not the grainy hand-held-is pretty and I enjoyed the action scenes that we got. Thus, overall this was something I am glad I saw on the big screen and I am glad I enjoyed this cybercrime thriller more than many others did.