Blackhat

[projekktor id=’17065′]

Blackhat is a cyber action thriller co-written, produced, and directed by Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Collateral). The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, Viola Davis, Ritchie Coster, Holt McCallany, Yorick van Wageningen, and Wang Leehom.

Set within the world of global cybercrime, Legendary’s BLACKHAT follows a furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners as they hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta.

The term “black hat” is a classification of a hacker who “violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain”. Basically, they’re the bad hackers doing illegal things for themselves or someone else. The opposite, logically, is a “white hat” or “ethical” hacker. This group breaks cyber security to test systems and look for potential flaws.

Mann hasn’t had a big hit since Collateral was released in 2004. His 2006 adaptation of Miami Vice was met with mixed reviews, as was 2009’s Public Enemies. They were by no means gigantic flops, but they didn’t meet the bar Mann set with his run of films in the 90s: The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, and The Insider. To thank the Hang Seng Bank for allowing Mann to shoot in their lobby for five days, the director donated close to $40000 to the Community Chest of Hong Kong charity in the bank’s name.

Read our review of the film here.