Synopsis: Jailed hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) is temporarily released to help stop a cyber attack.
Stan's thoughts: Blackhat is the epitome of how difficult it is to make an exciting film about hackers. Firstly they spend all their time on computers writing and looking at code which isn't very filmic or dramatic. Secondly, it's quite technical so mere non-coding mortals like myself don't fully understand what it is the baddies are doing or what the goodies are doing to try and stop them.
In order to get around these problems Chris Hemsworth is not only a hacker but has been made into an action hero. He doesn't merely sit in front of a lap top tapping away, oh no, he goes out with the police chasing baddies and wielding a gun. In fact he seems to be quite good at wielding a gun and fighting and doesn't in anyway seem phased by getting involved in big shoot outs. Computer science classes can't be for the faint-hearted.
Sounds bad doesn't it? It is. In fact the first three quarters of the film is dull - the computer bits you don't understand and the action hero bits are so improbable they aren't even funny.
When the filmmakers seem to abandon all attempt at geekery and it is all about action in the last half hour, it's actually quite good fun.
Ratings
- Stan’s 42%
- IMDB 56%
- Metascore 51%
- Rotten Tomatoes 33%
- RT Audience Rating* 27%
* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher
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