Blackhat (2015)

Elevator Pitch: When an explosion occurs in a Chinese nuclear power plant due to an internet worm, its origins are recognised by an army officer who had spent time in an American University. He is sent to get Nick, his friend and a now imprisoned hacker on the case, and they and the Chinese man’s sister start to track the origins of the malware, taking them across the globe and frequently putting their lives in danger. When the FBI insist that Nick should be removed from the case the team goes rogue, and are now on the track of vast sums of money which have been paid to the villains.

Content: No sex or nudity, although Nick and the Chinese woman form a relationship. The movement of the malware is frequently illustrated by those shots of something travelling along wires and through computer components. Then the team spend a lot of time looking at computer screens as dense columns of numbers scroll down, and occasionally are required to engage in shoot-outs with the villanous hacker’s armed guard. They travel bewilderingly from country to country in private jets.

A View: Well! You could almost predict the trajectory of this film from a hopeful premier to the bottom of the pile. Most critics critisized the casting of Chris Hemsworth, although its failure was not his fault. I found its obvious aim at satisfying the Chinese market irritating, even though the Chinese actors also did pretty well. The combination of computing and gunfire just did not seem to work. I kept wondering – what are they doing now? So maybe a watch for nothing while doing something else.

Additional Info: My illustration of the film is not obvious, but it was really the only scene which really impressed me. I don’t know where it is, but I liked it.