Blackhat

This is the best version of Blackhat you'll ever get. It comes with not only the US and International cuts on UHD disc, but also the incredibly rare Directors Cut on Blu-ray. If in any doubt about the passion that Arrow Films has for their film releases, when fans poured their hearts out to Arrow about the lack of inclusion of the Directors Cut on the release, Arrow delayed the film for months so that fans could get all 3 x versions of the film in one package. If you're worrying about the quality difference in the Directors cut only being on Blu-ray then don't! It looks fantastic, and has been encoded in a high quality bitrate that makes this less known version of the film shine! Packed to the gills with extras, it's a must for Michael Mann fans. And yes, the film holds up really really well. Watching the directors cut for the first time was like watching the film for the first time. It's punchy and thrilling as you'd expect from the guy that brough you Heat.

Like for Mario Bava and Black Sunday, sit back, relax. Dramatically, Michael Mann's Blackhat is a remarkably passive movie that rolls along like a video shot through the window of a passenger train trundling its way through the Austrian countryside. It makes me think of a combination of Miami Vice and 24, of a three part TV miniseries, cut together as a two hour plus, of a movie. It also makes me think of the decent enough original version of Heat and the nutty re-heat that Michael Mann thought was an improvement, on the original, that only made Heat, even more implausible. As it applies to Blackhat and Heat, the street shootout, in particular, to which, no one pays any attention. Stuff happens . . . One hopes that the Chinese have taken steps to make their nuclear power stations, triple redundancy, less vulnerable to incels of gamers, with access to a RAT :-)

I first saw this movie on a you tube trailer, and I liked what I Was watching, which is why I ordered it from Amazon UK. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed, in fact what great movie to watch. If you have ever wondered how easy it is to hack into things, then watch this movie, and don't worry there is plenty of action that goes with this movie. For me this was a must have I my library.

With its uninspired trailer and poor (to date) critical reception I had fairly low expectations for "Blackhat" and watched it only out of loyalty to Michael Mann, who is one of my favourite directors. I'm glad to report then that my initial gut feelings about the movie were proved entirely wrong. As ever with Mann's films, the cinematography is stunning (and in "Blackhat" is in globe-spanning locations) and is worth seeing for this alone. The visual aspect of some scenes made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up - a long time since a film has done that to me. Script-wise and plot-wise, some of it seems to be partially re-hashed from previous MM pictures - it steals bits, both visually and also dialogue-wise, from at least some of the following: "Collateral", "Heat", "Miami Vice" and "Manhunter". However there are lots of original bits too. One minor annoyance - which is surprisingly kept to a minimum: you know how every time in Hollywoodland when someone goes near a computer, it goes "beedly-beedly beep"? A noise that no computer (least of all those used by the FBI and CIA, one imagines) has ever, ever made involuntarily? Well you would hope that a director of Michael Mann's originality could get around that - well, he does in some parts but not in others. Maybe the producers asked him to up the beep quota so that half-wits and old ladies would know that THIS IS A COMPUTER. Cast-wise Chris Hemsworth and Wei Tang mainly appear to be there for their looks whereas John Ortiz and Viola Davis are under-used. The plot - loosely speaking - about cyber crime isn't one to inspire off the page but seeing the film helps, as does an interest in the subject matter. I suspect people who are not into technology will not be into this. The movie shapes up well for the first two thirds or so, but there are some holes credibility wise, particularly towards the end - unless that is, in Indonesia you can wave around guns and knives in public and people just walk past you? I've never been to Indonesia so please tell me if I am wrong. The film looks good on BluRay and is worth the extra if you have a player however it has the usual, confusing, Universal Studios standard menu. The extras are limited to three short documentaries - there are no deleted scenes. Anyway, for Mann fans like me, this is another film that hits the spot. For anyone else - well there probably isn't enough action for action movie fans - Mann's films are action films for film buffs i.e. technically great but possibly a bit boring for those who like their big orange CGI explosions. There will be much worse films out this year given favourable reviews by the recognised critics - glad to note that at time of writing my fellow Amazon reviewers at least, are in agreement that this is a good film.

Like Michael Mann's Miami Vice from 2006 which everybody hated this movie also breaks with conventions and takes a very different approach. It sure has it's weaknesses with some lenghts and a story that is difficult to access. But as Michael Mann usually does he crafts his own universe around the protagonists and creates a unique experience by that. The film has a fascinating look and the soundtrack is also great (contrary to the discussion before the movies initial release!), the actors also deliver properly. I can understand that Blackhat probably is not on par with Heat or Collateral which were also directed by Michael Mann but I find the bad Imdb-ratings and all the internet hate this film receives to be completely unjustified. I also had my problems with the movie while watching it for the first time. From the second time on however I started to really embrace the movie and I had the same process with Michael Mann's Miami Vice movie from 2006 which I couldn't grasp in cinema and then absolutely fell in love with watching it numerous times at home. So, I recommend the same to anyone reading this, I have begun to really appreciate this movie and I guess like many other Mann films in the future this will be viewed as a classic. The BD is great by the way and a great reproduction of Mann's intention. Highly recommended!

cant fault the product in terms of playing quality. plays just as you would expect, film itself is very dull and fell asleep half way through.

This film may or may not be good but as it has no subtitles I can't really say. My fault for not checking beforehand I suppose (which I will make sure to do in future).

Ein bisschen hat mich dieser Film an Miami Vice erinnert. Da ist einerseits die riskante, stürmische Beziehung des Hauptdarstellers zu einer Asiatin, andererseits gleichen sich die Bösen aus beiden Filmen in ihrem "Flair". Ich meine, wenn es in dem Film um Drogen in Miami ginge, würde das auch zu diesen schießwütigen Handlangern passen, nur gehört hier halt noch ein Programmierer dazu und es geht ums Internethacking. Die Schießszenen rufen einem wiederum Heat in Erinnerung. So gesehen ist es ein typischer Michael-Mann-Film. Und wie auch zum Beispiel Collateral, lebt dieser Film von seiner Atmosphäre. Man fragt sich die ganze Zeit, wer hinter allem steckt und was seine Pläne sind. Diese Ungewissheit erzeugt eine dichte Spannung. Am Ende, wenn die Dinge klarer werden, verliert der Film etwas von seinem Reiz. Die Action nimmt langsam zu, auch wenn gar nicht so viel passiert. Sie ist geerdet, körperlich, dreckig und stellenweise brutal, definitiv kein Transformersoverkill ;-). Natürlich hat der Film ein Problem: Wie soll man etwas spannend darstellen, was man größtenteils nicht sehen kann, weil es praktisch im Nanobereich auf irgendwelchen Computerchips stattfindet? Im Film wird die Malware als angreifende Punktarmee gezeigt, welche durch die Leitungen strömt. Na ja. Auch hat man seine Zweifel an der Realitätsnähe, was die Fähigkeiten der Hacker betrifft, aber da ist die Dramaturgie halt wichtiger. Insgesamt hat mich der Film aber doch gut unterhalten, sodass ich ihm sogar 5 Sterne statt 4 gebe. Vor allem auch deshalb, weil hier so viele 1-Stern-Kritiken zu finden sind, die vollkommen überzogen sind und zu einem Schnitt von 3 Sternen führen, was der Film in meinen Augen nicht verdient hat.

Like the movie Blackhat.

Blackhat è un film per pochi, proprio come dimostrano gli incassi flop ai botteghini di tutto il mondo è un film da intenditori Michael Mann è senza ombra di dubbio uno dei più grandi registi viventi e questa sua opera suda stile in ogni sua inquadratura la fotografia è eccezionale, i dialoghi minimalisti ed essenziali, il coinvolgimento è tipico dei film alla Miami Vice ma qui anche una spanna sopra un film imperdibile ad un prezzo lancio veramente ottimo alcune scene vi resteranno impresse indelebilmente nella memoria è difficile descriverlo per me è stato uno di quei film che al cinema, dopo la fine, ti fanno restare ancora seduto quei 5 minuti per riprenderti

This is a terrific Michael Mann film. There is a lot of hand-held camera footage here but it is all to great effect. The look and feel is grim, steely and increasingly tense as the complicated, twisty plot unfolds. Mann has provided just enough exposition to comfortably understand what could have been an unnecessarily complicated good hacker/bad hacker plot. The colors and the exotic locations are extremely interesting and contribute a lot to the story. The acting is fine, especially the enigmatic Tang Wei as the brooding girlfriend and the always mesmerizing Viola Davis. Perhaps the most skillful effect in the entire movie is the Director's brilliant use of music: sheets of digital sound bubbling underneath, then crashing all around when needed for full effect. Perfect for a movie about computer code. Any fan of previous Michael Mann films (Thief, Heat, Miami Vice, Collateral) will recognize and enjoy his very distinctive style here.

Auch hier guter Film