Ones & Zeroes: Blackhat’s inelegant code

After some revisions, publishing my review for ‘Blackhat’ from a few weeks ago. Then I’ll be caught up on backlogged reviews. Look out for a review of ’71 soon…

When I was a script reader for a Hollywood producer, a screenplay about the introduction of the Internet to a small, third-world village came across my desk. I won’t go into more detail — because legally I can’t — but most of the action consisted of a teenage boy staring at his computer screen, typing occasionally and melodramatically moving his mouse to click on something important—just riveting.

Since that reading experience, I am skeptical when a movie’s major plot point turns on the culture-shifting impact of technology on human society. Making a movie about the power of computing that is compelling from a human angle, as well as visually engaging from an aesthetic one, is certainly a challenge — one that is rarely well executed. A few that come to mind are “The Matrix,” “The Social Network,” and “The Imitation Game.”

Michael Mann’s “Blackhat” is not one. Set in the present day, the film follows a team of federal agents, led by Carol Bennet (Viola Davis), as they investigate the cybercrime behind an explosion at a Hong Kong nuclear plant. Bennet assembles an international team of operatives and computer engineers, combining forces with Chinese officer Chen Dawai (Wang Leeham), his sister Chen Lien (Tang Wei), and convicted hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), who’s been released from prison, especially for this mission. The stakes are high for Hathaway. If he catches the hacker who infiltrated the plant’s computer system and caused the blast, he’ll go free. If not, he’ll go back to jail. One extra twist — the cyberterrorist has appropriated Hathaway’s code for said malicious designs. Hathaway must contend with the wrath that his own intellectual property hath wrought.

“Blackhat” is certainly packed with action — shoot outs in shipyards, car bombs, knife fights — but pivotal points, dramatized on computer screens, simply fall flat, (much like Apple’s latest interface update.) At one point, when Bennet’s counterterrorism crew is huddled around a cache of computer screens in their grungy Hong Kong headquarters, a technician shows three different maps, each color-coded to show the movements of a suspect they’ve been tracking. Each map is shown dramatically one-by-one and the team can’t make heads or tails of how the suspect’s paths are connected. The muscular Hathaway with his blond locks slicked back and a concentrated look on his face, steps in and clicks one button, revealing that the pathways overlap. And guess what!? They meet in the middle!

“Blackhat” writer, Morgan Davis Foehl, certainly doesn’t give his audience enough leeway to connect the dots or allow enough credence to the world of knowledge accessible through our smartphones.

While most of the film’s “tech-tonics” are obnoxiously over simplified, one scene is particularly alarming. To retrieve a powerful geo-location program that will place the suspected cyberterroist, Hathaway sends out a Trojan horse of sorts. As a cunning bit of cyber espionage, the exchange does alert us to the ease with which our security can be upended, even by our own hands.

The cinematography underscores this with an edgy touch. The camera voyeuristically watches from beneath a translucent computer keyboard as the same NSA official types away.

Unfortunately, most of the other technical sleights-of-hand are laughable. Miraculously, Hathaway’s side-kick-cum girlfriend, Chien is able to access data on her netbook when they’re in a remote South Asian desert. (I didn’t know Verizon had such great service.)

Viola Davis is one of the few highlights of this film, but it’s unfortunate that her talent remains so underutilized throughout the “Blackhat’s” rather unsophisticated plotting.

“Blackhat” as a film feels like a “glorified coder” — a term used to describe Hathaway’s own blackhat nemesis. Hemsworth’s character at one point says, “It’s not about ones and zeroes; it’s not about code.” Blackhat certainly isn’t, and even if it really were, I’m not sure that I’d go see it.