Yeah it was just mediocre, saw it last year and outside of some impressive scenery it was mostly forgettable. Felt like the exact opposite of Heat which was a fully engaging 3 hours that whizzed by, while this one was only 2 but went on forever.

It's not Heat, but what else measures up to that?! ... Exactly...

I thought Blackhat was solid... Very interesting how Mann incorporated the contemporary methods of hacking into the plot and various scenes... Very cool and with a realism that you don't see in other movies...

I like the movies mood... it's American Chinese connections feel authentic as opposed to false or forced... They are organic to the themes ofnthe movie and the characters, the MIT connection of Chen & Hathaway as basis of their friendship, the global and commercial/financial nature of cyber crime, Lien's attraction to and relationship with Hathaway, etc... The beaurucratic navigating, the way the plot moves from decision to decision, location to location, hack to hack, etc... It jas a rythym to it...

But the most underrated thing about this movie is how it was shot... Mann has finally cracked the digital look that he has been playing with since Collateral and Miami Vice... It's so appropriate here and seemless... It's cinematic without trying to look like film or get in the way of the movie... It feels like a modern cyber movie...

Underrated & misunderstood movie...

I thought that it was his most least engaging movie, all the aesthetics, the story - it felt more like a parody of a Michael Mann film rather than a Michael Mann film which is very strange to say.

I also noticed that Mann seems to enjoy reusing his musical scores which is fine but it also just reminds me of his other movies rather than tying them all together within a single Mann "universe" so to speak.

That being said, I absolutely detested the theatrical release of Miami Vice but absolutely loved the director's cut, it felt like two different films all together - not just a "here's more footage" film. I'm wondering if there's another cut of Blackhat that might be a little more engaging. I'd be willing to give that a try.

It seems to me that real programmers, for example, like the ones that created my favourite Utopia p2p application, look a little different and are engaged in completely different things. They do not seek to harm users, but rather try to help keep personal data safe.