Oh, Michael Mann…
You can’t tell because disapproving looks do not translate through the written word but I am gazing upon my computer screen with the most disfavoring of expressions.
Mann, a unique filmmaker of masculine cinema (The Insider, Heat [DeNiro not Bullock], Miami Vice [television show AND movie]), directs his new film Blackhat as if it was 1988 and we are to be none the wiser. Men in sunglasses walking in cool-dude slow motion. In fact, a good drinking game would be to take a shot every time someone puts on a pair of shades. Chris Hemsworth, as our hero Hathaway, makes swift and sweet love with the most attractive woman on screen and INSTANTLY all of his motivations are shifted to hold on to that “love”. Silly stuff.
Then there is the style in which the entire film is shot. The camera never sits still and the action looks as if it was shot on a Go-Pro camera with a broken focus feature. In fact, the entire film is constantly blown out with a shallow, shallow field of focus that does not come across as an original technique but more as a distracting blurring that never let me invest in the film.
I truly got a pounding headache that made my eyes throb thanks to these two hours-plus of amateurish moving images.
None of the characters are developed so when people catch a bullet with their face or expand to bits and pieces in an explosion, nothing is lost. The bad guy shows up at the very tail of the film, says some words that are meant to hold weight but are hollow because we have no idea who he is or his true motivation. Then more violence occurs.
On a positive note, the gun shots sound very nice and loud. That’s about all I got.
Fans of techno-thrillers may enjoy the guts of the plot but it unfolds in a meandering style that trogs along. I’d save the money and wait for the edited version to play on the TNT channel where it belongs.