Blackhat (Michael Mann, 2015)

[flyonthewall2983]

First stills emerge, along with some details from Mann himself about the plot.

[Feiereisel]

But what’s it really about? "It's about a blackhat hacker who has done four years of a 15-year sentence in federal prison," Michael Mann told Empire. "He is given a last chance at freedom if he can identify, locate and apprehend a cybercriminal at work doing large-scale crime for profit somewhere in the world. In the process they've caused the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, but no one knows what their big hit is, or who they are or where they are."

Wow. The first half of Mann's explanation sounds like it's precisely in his wheelhouse--shades of Miami Vice and Heat--but the second half--nuclear meltdowns, cyber-terrorism(?)--suggests a global scale that's unprecedented for one of his films. I'm even more eager to see it now.

[oh yeah]

Been eagerly anticipating this since it was announced early last year; I'm still mystified why post-production took so long, why there's no teaser/trailer yet and only two stills, and most of all why the film is being dumped in January. In any case, though, I think Mann works best on the cutting edge, with stories set in the present, and I'll be glad if this film is more Miami Vice than Public Enemies (which I do love, anyway). I'm very interested to see how he's evolved his aesthetic to suit the story, too; I imagine it will indeed resemble Vice with all the wall-to-wall technology and everything digitized, globalized and bled of humanity.

[flyonthewall2983]

It sounded like Universal needed to adjust dates and move things around for whatever reason. This wasn't the only film to get lost in that particular shuffle. 50 Shades of Grey was supposed to originally have been out by now for example.

[flyonthewall2983]

Any info on whether this was shot in digital?

[Feiereisel]

Any info on whether this was shot in digital?

IMDb's tech specs page for the film says it was shot with an ARRI Alexa XT Plus. I'm not sure how trustworthy these pages are, but it's something to go on.

I'd be surprised if it wasn't shot digitally, though, given Mann's ardent embrace of the format and the terrific results.

[whaleallright]

I believe Mann has stated flatly that he's never going back to film.

[Feiereisel]

I believe Mann has stated flatly that he's never going back to film.

Heh. I believe Mann states everything flatly.

I love his commentaries because sometimes it feels like he's scolding you.

[Messofanego]

Public Enemies was a huge disappointment (inconsistent cinematography of digital shakycam vs steadicam wide shots), but I'm obviously on board for anything Mann makes. I don't know how I missed out on Manhunter until recently, which was brilliant. Thief is the only one I haven't seen and need to.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Trailer

[flyonthewall2983]

The most interesting element is that this seems to have way more globe-trotting than any of his previous pictures were so that'll be an interesting change. Some of it reminded me of Skyfall, though way more herky-jerky in spots which may or may not go down well with some. Having not seen Hemsworth in any of his other roles leaves a big question mark to me if he can pull off leading what seems to be a much more intellectual work than any of the other big actioners he's done.

[oh yeah]

Looks about as fantastic as I predicted (I've been waiting for this trailer for over a year now, ha). I also am not sure about Hemsworth, but Mann has always gotten great performances out of mediocre actors, so who knows. What I'm most (pleasantly) surprised by is how much the trailer looks like Miami Vice 2, in terms of the imagery, the nighttime cinematography, the gunfights, the specific sheen of the digital look... it all brings to mind MV more than any of Mann's other films. And since that's pretty much my favorite Mann (or at least tied with Heat), I couldn't be more excited for January 16.

[flyonthewall2983]

[ArchCarrier]

Second trailer

[oh yeah]

As I said above, it reminds me of Miami Vice more than any of his other films -- not just the imagery, but the whole post-9/11 mechanized, paranoid world that that film inhabited looks like it will become the main focus here instead of just subtext. For my money, no one else working today makes films so evocative of the actual world we live in, of the crisis of post-modernity, globalization, technology, and how these things isolate us and alter the structure of our lives, and this looks to be Mann's grandest statement yet on that subject. I also predict much less bally-hoo about the specific digital look Mann uses -- for one thing, judging by the trailer Blackhat seems much more polished, clearer-looking and less deliberately grainy or "home-video" than Vice and Public Enemies. Also, I suspect that in the 6 (!) years since Enemies, with most new films being shot on digital and many being influenced by Mann's rough, painterly approach, the visuals of Blackhat will not stick out as being so "weird" or "wrong" like his last two films did in many quarters.

Anyway, I can't wait. More than Inherent Vice or any other film, this is the one I'm dying to see. I like that we got to actually hear Hemsworth speak at length in this trailer, and while it's impossible to say from such a short clip, he seemed fine. I'm sure Mann was able to get a competent turn out of him -- maybe not a Russell Crowe in The Insider-caliber transformation, but at least a nice surprise along the lines of Foxx in Collateral or Bale in Public Enemies. That's one of the most impressive things about Mann, how he transforms previously mediocre or even poor actors into great ones, at least for one movie. I'm hard-pressed to think of a bad performance in a Mann film not named The Keep. Maybe a false note from smaller players here and there, but he always gets the best possible work out of his leads.

[flyonthewall2983]

Unfortunate (and admittedly somewhat amusing with the leaked emails) as it is otherwise, the attack on Sony has unwittingly made this all the more prescient and could add to it's box-office numbers.

[Luke M]

I know it may be trivial, but I can't get past the casting of Thor as a superhuman computer hacker.

[flyonthewall2983]

“We live in what we think is a compartmentalized world in which there is something called privacy,” Mann told Variety by phone, having just finished several marathon days of sound mixing and color timing. “A better analogy is that we’re living in a house where all the doors and windows are open and we’re in a very dangerous neighborhood, but we don’t know it.”

[teddyleevin]

Just saw the trailer for this in cinema last night and the digital looks really cheap. Cheaper so in exterior shots. It looked less filmic than Sherlock.

[Feiereisel]

Just saw the trailer for this in cinema last night and the digital looks really cheap. Cheaper so in exterior shots. It looked less filmic than Sherlock.

You're not wrong. It's shot digitally--wholly unfilmic. I'm not sure what you mean here--Mann does not and has not shot on film for going on a decade. Calling it "cheap" seems nebulous..does it detract from the quality of the film for you, or is it a convienent excuse to write his films off? Either is fine, but let's be honest about it.

I'd hold up Collateral, Miami Vice, and Public Enemies as compelling counter examples of the efficacy of digital filmmaking. The immediacy and rawness of the methodology play into Mann's career-long obsession with hyperrealism and verisimitude; intensity trumps artifice, all the way back to Thief. Hopefully Blackhat will continue the trend.

Also, the budgets of the films put the lie to the "cheap" sentiment--it's empirically is not cheap, so what's really being said, here? Let's unpack as it deserves to be unpacked.

[oh yeah]

The same reason why Mann's digital films are so polarizing is also why I love them so much -- there's just virtually nothing else that looks like them. He doesn't give digital a classy celluloid sheen, like Fincher, nor does he just point and shoot like all the other hacks who've adopted digital purely for the cost. The way Mann gets that sense of immediacy -- of the pure "now," the fleeting moment -- in both Miami Vice and Public Enemies, I find absolutely stunning. The former film I've probably seen more than all but a few other films, as there's just something so incredibly addictive about its minimalist and melancholy style. And the latter film struck me as a mild let-down at first, seeming a bit conventional compared to Vice, but after maybe six viewings now it's only gotten better and richer and I would easily rank it along with Vice, Heat, The Insider and Manhunter as Mann's best work. Collateral is probably my least favorite non-Keep Mann film, mostly because the stunning form of the film is mismatched with an unusually hacky script (it's the only film of Mann's that he didn't write), but it's still one of the best thrillers to come out of Hollywood in recent years.

[teddyleevin]

Just saw the trailer for this in cinema last night and the digital looks really cheap. Cheaper so in exterior shots. It looked less filmic than Sherlock.

You're not wrong. It's shot digitally--wholly unfilmic. I'm not sure what you mean here--Mann does not and has not shot on film for going on a decade. Calling it "cheap" seems nebulous..does it detract from the quality of the film for you, or is it a convienent excuse to write his films off? Either is fine, but let's be honest about it.

I'd hold up Collateral, Miami Vice, and Public Enemies as compelling counter examples of the efficacy of digital filmmaking. The immediacy and rawness of the methodology play into Mann's career-long obsession with hyperrealism and verisimitude; intensity trumps artifice, all the way back to Thief. Hopefully Blackhat will continue the trend.

Also, the budgets of the films put the lie to the "cheap" sentiment--it's empirically is not cheap, so what's really being said, here? Let's unpack as it deserves to be unpacked.

I remember having the same gut reaction to Public Enemies, but even worse because it was a period piece. It's on a huge screen but it looks like it's made for television or a student film. There is absolutely a uniqueness to it, but something about it makes me queasy to watch. What's the frame rate?

It does detract from my enjoyment from the film, as I wager this experience couldn't be more subjective, but I can't say it detracts from the "quality." However, the groan-worthy schlock of the scripts does.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

A terrific NY Times profile of Mann for the film. Not surprised but impressed nonetheless by Mann's commitment to researching the details. I'm wondering if Stuart Dryburgh called up Chris Doyle for tips on working in Hong Kong.

[flyonthewall2983]

Cyberhacking EPK featuring Mann, his cast and consultant into that world.

[oh yeah]

Reviews have already started trickling out and they're decidedly mixed; the film has a 53 from 19 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, whatever that's worth. Essentially this seems to be as I predicted: Miami Vice 2, in that it's very uninterested in telling a conventional story and more interested in mood, texture, and urban poetry. Actually this seems to be possibly Mann's most divisive film to date, as the ones who like it are almost all self-admitted Mann buffs and most of the ones who don't like it absolutely despise it for its unconventional formal and narrative techniques. Me, I'm psyched to catch a Thursday night preview, or Friday at the latest.