Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Michael Mann, Umbrella Entertainment.
A hacker is loose and causing havoc, so a convicted super-hacker is released from jail to help a team of American and Chinese experts track down a cyber terrorist. It takes a Blackhat to nab another.
The scene is set. After a Hong Kong nuclear plant and the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago are hacked by unknown perpetrators, federal agent Carol Barrett (Viola Davis) proposes the FBI work with China to find the cyber-criminals.
An army officer in the China’s People’s Liberation Army cyber warfare unit, Captain Chen Dawai (Leehom Wang) is the leader of the Chinese team, who insists that convicted hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) should be released from prison (where he is serving a sentence for computer crimes) to help with the investigation. He also enlists the aid of his sister Chen Lien (Tang Wei), a networking engineer.
As Nick and his comrades chase their quarry, it becomes evident that the hackers have a sinister motive for their actions. The hack was caused by remote access tool (RAT), the code for which was written by Dawai and Hathaway.
The 2015 American action thriller is produced and directed by Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, The Insider). Mann was inspired to make Blackhat after reading about the events surrounding Stuxnet, which was a computer worm that targeted and reportedly ruined almost one-fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges.
While it is an example of the theme of mass surveillance in popular culture, Blackhat lacks the sophisticated presentation compared to similar genre films. Mann makes every effort to make the film as authentic as possible by engaging several reputable technical advisors and consultants.
The Blu-ray copy has bonus features worth watching.
