Movie Review - Blackhat

Blackhat (2015)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Leehom Wang, Wei Tang, and Viola Davis

Directed by Michael Mann

I'm not sure movies can get more boring than Blackhat.  There's only so much typing and clicking and looking at words and numbers on computer screens that one can take in a movie and Blackhat crosses that threshold at about the twenty minute mark.  By the end, it attempts to turn into a bit of an action movie, but it's too late to garner the interest of the audience who has all but abandoned the proceedings at that point.

Chris Hemsworth is Nick Hathaway, a convict who is released from prison under the condition that he help the US and Chinese government track down a cyber-terrorist who has somehow managed to cripple both a Chinese nuclear power plant and a portion of the US stock trade.  As military officer Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang) of the Chinese cyber-terror unit and Carol Barrett (Viola Davis) of the FBI butt heads, Nick attempts to figure out both the location of the terrorist and his next area of attack.

Unfortunately, the film really does just wallow in blandness for about ninety minutes.  Hemsworth's Nick mumbles a great deal of his lines and isn't the least bit captivating as a character that lacks any gravitas -- either good or bad -- for the audience to care about joining for the ride.  Much of Viola Davis's screen time is spent staring at a computer screen or chastising Nick for thinking too much outside of the box which, of course, is what's needed to catch the bad guy.  An ill-conceived romance between Nick and Dawai's sister Lien (Wei Tang) -- who, quite honestly, I'm not sure as to why she is permitted to tag along in the secretive governmental investigation -- is just plain silly and hurts the film more than anything else.

As mentioned, during the final act, the film attempts to morph into an action piece and while several of these scenes are shot with a keen eye showing that director Michael Mann hasn't lost all of his mojo, it's too little too late.  Blackhat is unfortunately one of the most blandest films I've seen in a long time.

The RyMickey Rating:  D-