After hackers sabotage a Hong Kong nuclear plant and then the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago, it is up to a federal agent (played by Viola Davis) to convince the FBI to work with China to locate and apprehend the cyber attackers. On the Chinese side, the leader of the team, Chen Dawai, convinces the FBI that incarcerated hacker and his friend, Nick Hathaway (played by Chris Hemsworth), is the only one who can effectively aid in the investigation. However, he must be released from prison. Taking the deal to take down the cyber criminals to be granted freedom, Nick agrees to help. However, as the chase goes on, these hackers may be much more dangerous than everyone was originally suspecting, and many lives will be at stake if Nick and co cannot thwart their future plans in time.
If you don’t know what the title refers to, “Black Hat” is a very skilled hacker who uses their abilities for malicious purposes. On the other hand, a “White Hat” refers to a hacker that uses their knowledge for good and to thwart the efforts of black hat hackers. Now with that out of the way, as someone currently pursuing a cyber security degree, I thought the premise was interesting. And as someone who certainly appreciates looking at Chris Hemsworth on the big screen that further convinced me to give this one a shot. What’s not to like, right? Well, for the most part this cyber thriller delivers. I think it was a bit light on the technical terms. I feel like the script writers probably took an introductory class to the cyber security field because I didn’t sense much depth when describing the actual attacks, but I understand that it’s for an audience that knows little to nothing about the field, so they do dumb it down in that sense.
The film isn’t filled with a lot of action sequences, mostly a few battles with various firearms, so when they happen they feel pretty jarring, but I liked them. The cinematography is noticeably different as well. It felt grittier and less showy. And you have a sense that anybody is vulnerable with ups the intensity by several notches.
I was surprised about the run time of this film. It’s a story that could easily play out just fine in an hour and 40 of 50 minutes tops. However it clocks in at 2 hours and 10 minutes. Needless to say, one flaw of the film certainly is the run time. Also, as much as I love seeing Hemsworth shirtless, his multiple scenes came off as if he has a clause in his contract that requires him to be shirtless for x amount of times in any given movie. But when you are voted the Sexiest Man Alive, then I suppose you’re entitled to that.
Overall, the film is not as smart as it could be, but it’s still entertaining.
*This review is a guest review for my friends over at The Grand Shuckett.