When I began work at a film archive in the late ’90s, my first job was to go through a major collection of videotapes that had been donated. The VHS tapes were from the estate of a retired railroad worker who was addicted to taping movies and other specials off TV. He started pressing record in the late ’70s when the first consumer VCRs hit the market. I watched most of the tapes in fast forward to get an accurate listing. During this process of watching hundreds of tapes and the multitude of movies, I came to a realization: A majority of scenes involving people typing in movies were rather boring. Didn’t matter if it was a manual typewriter, electric typewriter or a computer keyboard, the act of a person silently pecking at keys with a voiceover was rarely exciting or emotional. Which brings us to the question of how can you make a movie in the 21st Century about cyber hacking without it being a person at a computer pecking away on a keyboard? Blackhat is a cyber thriller from Michael Mann (Heat & Last of the Mohicans) about the damage a guy with a laptop can cause. Even though he’s created a movie about cyber hackers, Mann keeps the typing to a minimum and the action to the extreme.
A nuclear plant in China gets cyber hacked and explodes when the pumps don’t refresh the water in the reactor chamber. The Chinese government doesn’t appreciate that they got a reverse China Syndrome pulled on them. They bring in their military expert Captain Chen Dawai (Lust, Caution‘s Leehom Wang) except he can’t help because the computers that were infected are in the radioactive control room. He discovers U.S. plant had received the same attack and fought them off. The FBI doesn’t want to let the Chinese too close to their intelligence operation since many of their cyber attacks originate in China. But they give into letting Chen see the code. Chen flies to America with his sister Lien (Lust, Caution‘s Tang Wei) that’s also a computer genius. The FBI has determined that two Blackhat hackers might have made the code for the virus. The first part that gets into the system is rather efficient while the second part that causes the damage is sloppy written. Chen identifies the first part of the code easily since he created it with his roommate at MIT. He wants his old pal to join him on the case, but the FBI has issues since Nicholas Hathaway (Thor‘s Chris Hemsworth) is serving time in a maximum-security prison for a cyber bank heist spree. But he is able to get his pal sprung since the FBI doesn’t want more reactor meltdowns. FBI Special Agent Carol Barrett (Suicide Squad‘s Viola Davis) has to keep a leash on Hathaway and block Chen from seeing anything the Chinese government doesn’t need to know. The hacker’s next attack is the Chicago Mercentile Exchange. The price of Soybeans to soar out of control and cause a worldwide panic. Chen and Hathaway sense that the hacker and their backer are planning something even bigger. They end up going around the world tracing ISP addresses. While Hathaway has no intention to return to prison, he also can’t abandon the case since what’s good is freedom is the world is radioactive.
Blackhat didn’t do well at the box office when it was released back in 2015. There is something about having Hathaway come off as the ultimate dreamy computer hacker. Can you really think someone as buff as Hemsworth would spend all night downing Mountain Dew and Taco Bell while hacking away? He even looks like he cares about personal hygiene. Although when it comes to invading the body space of others, Hathaway is extra close to Lien. It’s not unusual to be a science nerd and have a rock solid physique. Dolph Lundgren has a Chemistry degree and was going to do post-graduate work at MIT when he was distracted by dating Grace Jones and fighting Rocky. Hathaway comes off as the dreamiest computer nerd ever. Then he gets into fire fights with Chen and the FBI when they track down the bad guys. Michael Mann has given us almost too much in the character. But the action scenes take us away from the boredom of just watching Hemsworth typing away and looking for the bad guys like he’s picking through Yahoo Chat groups. Michael Mann doesn’t allow this techno thriller to get too dull.
The boxset gives us three different versions of the film. First there’s the U.S. Version that runs 133:27. There’s also the International Version that lasts 132:55. I’m not sure what the difference is in the 32 seconds. Both versions are on the 4K UHD disc. The Director’s Cut last 132:08. This is more than a few cuts and an extra scene. Michael Mann rearranged the film so that it opens with the attack on the price of soybeans. The Nuclear Plant Reactor explosion comes later in the action. There’s also a different introduction of Hathaway in his prison cell. This is a serious re-write that Mann undertakes. This is a better and smoother version of Blackhat. This is a superior cut. There’s no commentary track from Mann to explain why he didn’t make these changes in the original postproduction. At least we have this superior version of Blackhat finally out.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The U.S. Version and International version are 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible). The Director’s Cut is on Blu-ray disc. All three films look fine since they were shot on digital video. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 for all three versions. You’ll hear the action all around the room. The movies are subtitled in English.
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Andrew Graves.
Audio Commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry has them having fun with the “Black Sheep” of Michael Mann’s filmography. They also have fun with the idea of the handsome dreamy hacker.
Firewall (18:44) has cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh discuss how a film about computers gave him powder burns and hearing loss. He gets into how he graduated with an architecture degree, but took a job as driver and helping out the Gaffer crew in a movie. This lead to working in commercials. His odd break through was shooting a short film that played with Jane Campion’s first film. She hired him to shoot her second film and more. He was the DP on The Piano. He began work with Michael Mann on the unlucky Luck series on HBO. This is what led to him coming on board for Blackhat.
Zero Day Threat (30:33) allows production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas go in-depth about what his job entailed on Blackhat. He had to work in several countries and work on the set. Michael Mann wanted everything looking factual and correct. He goes into an abandoned Spielberg project.
Archival Extras include The Cyber Threat (13:02), On Location Around the World (9:30) and Creating Reality (17:01) that were on a previous home video release. This allows Michael Mann discuss the reality he’s trying to bring together in the film. He dragged Hemsworth to a steelworks to get a feel for his characters childhood.
Image gallery has over a dozen press photos and behind the scenes shots.
Arrow Video presents Blackhat. Directed by Michael Mann. Screenplay by Morgan Davis Foehl. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, Viola Davis, Ritchie Coster, Holt McCallany, Yorick van Wageningen & Wang Leehom. Boxsets Contents: 3 movies on 1 4K UHD and 1 Blu-ray disc. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: November 27, 2023.
