Rated R for violence and some language.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis and Tang Wei
Director Michael Mann (Heat, Miami Vice and Collateral)
This is not a squeal to Michael Mann’s (best) film, Heat, but it sure felt like it.
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.
I generally like Michael Mann’s films…and I loved Heat, but I was not a fan of Blackhat, even though at times it looked and felt exactly like Heat.
Mann has a way of having his actors say more with their silence than they do with their words. My favorite scene in Heat is between Ashley Judd and Val Kilmer and neither one of them speak a single word as she warns him of the police waiting for him. Mann has done that time and time again. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t…it did not in Blackhat.
I’m also a fan of Chris Hemsworth…and not just because he is a great Thor. I’ve enjoyed his work in other films, but I felt like his performance was flat. I just did not buy him as a brilliant computer hacker, and if you don’t buy that, the rest of the film falls apart.
I like Mann, I like Hensworth, and I thought this was going to be great. But truthfully, it was barely watchable…I say “Skip It.”
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no sex or nudity shown, but there are a few scenes that imply sex.
The violence is pretty realistic with blood and some details shown. There are also 3 F-words and several other profanities.
CONVERSATION STARTER
- Why does Nick agree to help capture Blackhat?
- Would you say he knows what is right and what is wrong?
- What do you think that verse means?
- Have you ever experienced knowing what you ought to do, but struggling to do it? What happened?
- How can you do a better job of knowing what is the right thing to do…and doing it?
Read James 4:17
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.