Blackhat

Remember the first time you surfed on internet ? I remember, must have been in 1996, at my school Agnebergsgymnasiet in the library. To be able to find information online about all kinds of stuff was so cool. Then i found out you can chat with people worldwide. I found myself using Aftonbladet Chatt, must have been between 1997-98. To communicate with people in all ages was fun, and you could sit there for hours ( i was a nerd then, and i probably am still today ). As the millenium approached, internet became bigger, and faster. You could do more things, use many web sites in educational purposes. You could even order everything online, from clothes, dvd´s, music, musical instruments, shoes, books, no matter what you were looking for. As we moved into the year 2000, things kicked off really fast. For each year, you could do so many things with internet, you did not have to leave your house, to order food, groceries, you could also get laid, paying professional prostitutes. Nowdays it seems that we need internet to survive ordinary day life, where many of us use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and also make their own blogs. If there is one problem that we all can see with internet, is that bad people can use their skills to make crimes. They can empty our bank accounts, steal our identities, even buy things for themselves and we have no idea who is using our money. Some of these people might get caught, but some are very intelligent and learn how to stay hidden from the law. With technology developing for each year, i would not be surprised if we will see more crimes happening on the internet. In present day it seems that criminals are becoming more dangerous online, and know how to use the web to do whatever they want. Blackhat, is a new film, that take on the subject of criminals using internet to. I have not really read much about this film, except for seeing a trailer in the cinema earlier this year. Chris Hemsworth in the lead role looks like a good idea, since he have delivered in the past ( in most of his films, not sure if Red Dawn can be included ). Is Blackhat actually a suprisingly good action thriller, or is this a cheap rip off just to make money at the box office ?

In Chai Wan, Hong Kong, a nuclear plant explode, when an hacker causes the coolant pumps to overheat. Not long after this tragedy, in Chicago, the Mercantile Trade Exchange gets hacked, and disaster strikes. The Chinese Government and the FBI are convinced that this was caused by a Remote Acces Tool. China´s cyber warfare unit, send military officer, Captain Chen Dawai ( Leehom Wang ) to find who is responsible of these crimes. Captain Chen set up a meeting with FBI Special Agent Carol Barret ( Viola Davis ). Chen reveals that he and his former college roomate, Nicholas Hathaway ( Chris Hemsworth ), they came up with the code in the RAT. Nicholas is spending his time in prison, sentenced for computer crimes. Chen ask if Nicholas can be released, if he helps them find information on who is behind this operation. At first it seems that Nicholas does not want to leave, but he eventually changes his mind. He is told that he needs to follow the teams orders, the team is sent to Hong Kong, to locate the paramilitary named Kassar ( Ritchie Coster ) He is confirmed to be behind the money transfers from Chicago. They manage to locate Kassar, but he and his men kill some of the soldiers. The mission fails, and Kassar is on the run from justice. The nuclear Power plant have stabilized, so Nicholas hacks into NSA to use a data tool called Black Widow. From this tool, he finds out information that the hacker is located in Jakarta, while Chen´s sister Chen Lien ( Tang Wei ) find out iformation that the hacker have been buying photos of a remote site in Perak, Malaysia. Nicholas dig deeper into the truth, as he hacks inside the NSA. Since this was done without permission, the US government demand that he have to go back to prison. FBI Agent Carol and her partner Marshal Jessup ( Holt McCallany ) are ordered to detain Nicholas. They manage to keep him to stay, and help them with the investigation. Kassar is ready to take his next move, unless Nicholas can find a way to stop him.

Remember the 1995 film with Sandra Bullock called The Net ? When this film came out, it really started a discussion on how we can steal people´s identities, using internet. It was one of the most original thrillers of the 90´s and became a box office success. Blackhat may be a cyber internet thriller, mixed with terrorism and plenty of action, but the truth is that there is not much original to be found with this film. While The Net may look old today, and may have no impact on how internet really turned out, it is still a good thriller. Blackhat is not awful, the problem is that the film tries to do so many things at the same time. Everything is really serious, and the actors try to act like this is the biggest criminal event of the century. To make a film look serious, and still mix in over the top action, and acting from The Tori Spelling School Of Beverly Hills, is not the greatest combination. When you read that the director is Michael Mann, you know he is a legend. Who have not seen his film Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, or his 90´s classic The Last Of The Mohicans ? He have continued directing films, maybe you did see Public Enemies with Johnny Depp ? With his latest film Blackhat, he wants to deliver plenty of patriotic action, but somewhere along the way he gets lost. The plot is too thin to hold up the action sequences. I can enjoy action films with a thin plot, if they are well made and have great acting. This is one of the reasons i find myself dissapointed with the final results of Blackhat. I know Michael Mann can do action films, he have proven himself in the past. Maybe he simply did not manage to capture the same feeling as he is used to do. The lead actor Chris Hemsworth needs no introduction. He is a great actor in the Thor films, The Avengers and Snow White And The Huntsman. Chris is the biggest advantage to this film, even if he have acted much better before. He feels more like a character, than some of the other actors who feel very predictable. Blackhat do have a few moments where you at least can unplug your mind, just to see some action scenes , including fights and guns. Apart from this, i can´t say there is much to recommend about this film. I suggest you rent Michael Mann´s classic film Heat instead, if you want to see a good action classic. I can understand why Blackhat bombed at the box office, people want quality these days, not just an ordinary genre films like this one.

Rating: DD