BLACKHAT Review - High Stakes Hacking Thriller

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Category: Film

Published on Friday, 16 January 2015 09:44

Written by Janet Walker

BLACKHAT, from Universal Pictures, presents a cat and mouse cyber terror thriller traveling the information super highway and back alleys through the streets of Hong Kong and Los Angeles where ingenuity meets the latest technology each vying for dominance.

Directed by Michael Mann, BLACKHAT stars Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Lien Chen, Chen Dawai , John Ortiz, Holt McCallany, Richie Coster, Yorick van Wageningen and was written by Morgan Davis Foehl.

BLACKHAT opens in Hong Kong as cyber terrorists override the cooling system of a nuclear reactor, shift codes and shut down the cooling system. Within moments the nuclear reactor suffers a massive explosion. The obvious sabotage brings in local government as well and international cooperation as the investigation reveals a cyber terror connection which is here we meet Chen Dawai , Chinese Cyber military expert, played by Leehom Wang.

Simultaneously, in an American prison Nicolas Hathaway, played by Chris Hemsworth, is forcibly being removed from his cell and escorted to the warden's interrogation office. It is quickly obvious Hathaway is not the usual run of the mill criminal and is in prison for computer hacking crimes.

By this time the mysterious cyber terrorist has stuck again this time manipulating the futures market driving up the price of commodities. Unlike the nuclear reactor the dramatic rise in futures produces a 73Million dollar windfall.

Following the money seems to be the easiest trail to find the terrorist only as our whip smart F.B.I. team Carol Barrett (Viola Davis) and Henry Pollack (John Ortiz) find out the cyber M.O. doesn't fit a particular pattern dividing thought on culpability.

Hong Kong authorities, Chen Dawai and his sister Lien Chen played by Wei Tang, are American raised Chinese expert coders. Dawai  a graduate of MIT makes the request of the FBI to release Hathaway, his former roommate at MIT, with the circle complete the three along with two FBI agents, Carol Barrett and Agent Mark Jessup, played by Holt McCallany follow the trail.

BLACKHAT, a cat and mouse cyber thriller, with the bad guys seemingly one step ahead, presents a crash course in coding and with it exposes the vulnerability of every technological advance and dependency of all governments the world prides itself on.

 Unfortunately, Hathaway is a high stakes player and with that so skilled at both negotiation and coding that his deal was a full commuting of his sentence if he delivers the terrorist otherwise it is return to the cell to live out the remainder of his thirteen years.

What did I like about this – coincidently working on html coding hours before screening BLACKHAT, I had greater appreciation, even as I knew the talent were taking on roles which had them knowledgeable about the cyber coding terror that seems to be the new terror frontier.

For the coding neophyte, removing the tech jargon, which of course is intricate to the plot, and still it is possible to follow the story with only a cursory knowledge of coding. The idea of course are the high stakes behind finding the terrorist and of course, the criminal element, all crime is reduced to two or three motivations determine what those are become the central focus.

Of course, in any high stakes terror thriller there must be a damaging body count with each side taking significant hits.

Hemsworth and company deliver convincing performances as one understands BLACKHAT is purely entertainment with the plausibility of computer hacking to this degree possible. 

There are many nice elements to the film in addition to the use of technology. Knowing the advancements and my own limitations, it was interesting to see the newest versions and capabilities of hacking, cyber tracking and even smart phone elements.

BLACKHAT, a high stakes hacking thriller, is in theaters now. Check local listings.

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures