Blackhat (2015)

A furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta.

Director:

Michael Mann

Writer:

Morgan Davis Foehl

Stars:

Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Wei Tang

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Hemsworth	...	Nick Hathaway
Leehom Wang	...	Chen Dawai
Wei Tang	...	Chen Lien
Viola Davis	...	Carol Barrett
Holt McCallany	...	Mark Jessup
Andy On	...	Alex Trang
Ritchie Coster	...	Elias Kassar
Christian Borle	...	Jeff Robichaud
John Ortiz	...	Henry Pollack
Yorick van Wageningen	...	Sadak
Tyson Chak	...	Tech
Brandon Molale	...	Sort Guard
Danny Burstein	...	Associate Warden Jeffries
Archie Kao	...	Shum
Abhi Sinha	...	Daniels

Storyline

Nick Hathaway, an extremely talented hacker who has gone astray, finds his way out of a 15 year prison sentence when parts of a computer code he once wrote during his youth appears in a malware that triggered a terrorist attack in a nuclear power plant in China. This opportunity will reunite him with an old friend but will also put him in the middle of a power game between the American and Chinese government as well as an arch villain hacker whose identity he has to find if he wants to keep his freedom and his life.

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Plot Keywords:

hacker | chinese | computer | cybercrime | one word title | 

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Taglines:

We are no longer in control

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin Spanish

Release Date:

16 January 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blackhat

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,415,000, 18 January 2015, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$8,005,980, 31 December 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Forward Pass, Legendary Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Michael Mann film to be shot with anamorphic lenses since Heat (1995).

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Goofs

The address 9135 West 8 street in LA, CA would not be in zip code 90005.

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Quotes

George Reinker: The U.S. Government would like your technical advice on this. In exchange for that, we're going to furlough you right out of here. You sign that on the last page, and we'll get you processed.
Nicholas Hathaway: [begins skimming the agreement]
George Reinker: You'll wear an ankle bracelet and be accompanied by a U.S. Marshall. Your computer access will be restricted. If you wanna study the whole document, you can go right ahead. I can come back in a month or two.
Nicholas Hathaway: No, I'm done.
[pushing the folder back]
George Reinker: You didn't sign it.
Nicholas Hathaway: Yeah, why...
[...]

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Alternate Versions

Michael Mann premiered the Director's Cut during a retrospective of his films at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 10, 2016. This version is three minutes longer than the theatrical release, and opens with the hacking attack on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, rather than the Hong Kong nuclear plant attack, which has been moved to the middle of the film. Some scenes and dialogue exchanges have also been cut or shortened. This version was shown on FX on May 9, 2017, and several days later it was made available on DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV and other streaming services.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movies So Bad They Were Pulled from Theatres (2017)

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Soundtracks

The Chink
Written by Anthony Wen, Kenji Lin
Performed by Kenji Lin
Courtesy of Sony Music Publishing, Ltd.
Taiwan Branch & Fine Gold Music

User Reviews

Deliberately paced and tense with enough intrigue to keep you guessing. If you a fan of Michael Mann you will enjoy this.

"This isn't about money. This isn't about politics. I can target anyone, anything, anywhere." After a terror attack hits a Chinese factory it is tracked to a malware attack. When it is found that parts of the code were written by Nick Hathaway (Hemsworth) he is brought in to help find the attacker. With his freedom on the line he must now work with the FBI in order to track down the cyber terrorist before they strike again, and execute a more horrific attack. Michael Mann is a very interesting director. Unlike most directors he assumes the audience can catch up to what is happening and doesn't treat us like we are incapable of figuring out the plot without exposition after exposition. He uses technical language throughout this movie, but as you watch you can figure out what is happening. I really appreciate that. As for the movie itself it is tense and exciting. Michael Mann has done movies like, The Insider, Heat, Collateral, and Miami Vice and this movie has the feel of those. Deliberately paced and tense with enough intrigue to keep you guessing. This is a good movie that I liked, but not something I think I would watch again. Overall, If you a fan of Michael Mann you will enjoy this. I give it a B.