Like Transformers: Age of Extinction, Michael Mann's action thriller feels like it's been designed to bedazzle Chinese cinema-goers.
It's about a brainy Yank with a beefilicious chest (in this case, Chris Hemsworth) who takes on the craven US government, spends a lot of time with a Chinese girl (Wei Tang), and does what a man's gotta do in Far East locations (Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia).
There are topical references to cyber-hacking, nuclear disasters and NSA surveillance techniques. And the digital video visuals are distinctive. But the corny dialogue, (co-written by Mann), robs the proceedings of any tension. So does the crude packaging of Tang and Hemsworth (she looks good in sunglasses! As already mentioned, he has a nice torso!)
Yet to be released in China, Blackhat (based on a popular name for criminal hackers, by the way) has bombed just about everywhere else. The global village may be vulnerable to computer geeks and unscrupulous corporations, but it's managed to block the progress of this opportunistic dud. Well done, everybody. Justice has been served.
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