Blackhat

As computers and phones (and other technology designed primarily to irritate us) come to dictate every facet of our lives, Hollywood moves to present this brave new world on the big screen. But watching people stare at screens and feverishly click away at keys does not make for an audio-visual feast. This is a problem that Michael Mann, in his first film since 2009's Public Enemies, is faced with and unfortunately it remains a problem unsolved.

Chris Hemsworth is a super hacker doing serious time for super hackery. He's given a chance of a reprieve when the FBI team up with the Chinese to track down another super hacker who has super hacked his way into a Chinese nuclear power plant and caused a core meltdown. Leehorn Wang is the man in charge of the operation and he wants Hemsworth, the only man he reckons can make sense of the on-screen gobbledygook. An American-Chinese team is assembled with every one circling each other and no one trusting the slippery Hemsworth.

Whether it's The Net, Hackers, Firewall, or Men Women And Children or any other computer-based story, watching people watch a screen is dull. Dull dull dull. There's a lot of standing around discussing code and the three short action sequences which occasionally wake Blackhat from its stupor is a poor return for 133 minutes – this is Bourne minus the excitement. The director does his best with a handheld camera and close ups (and a Tron-esque voyage into the working of a motherboard) to instil some energy but this lacks the Mann Magic, as if the story doesn't inspire him to his usual visual flair. Dull dull dull.

Like Crockett and Tubbs in Mann's Miami Vice remake, the characters here exist only to mouth dialogue that moves the story forward. Hemsworth's character is preposterous: a super nerd... with flowing locks and chiselled body... who can kick ass. The romance with Wei Tang is to convince the audience that not everyone on screen is an android, but because this is a Mann romance it doesn't look like either party are enjoying themselves. The nondescript villain might deliberately lack presence but the final revelation of his mysterious motivation doesn't make up for a lack of persona (and in fact is a direct lift from Bond).

But – and this is a big but - Blackhat is a thriller for adults, which in itself is something with superheroes clogging up your nearest Marvelplex. Those action sequences, however brief, hint at intelligence behind the bluster (the third one is really stupid or really different), and it doesn't pander... all that much. Plus there's Viola Davis: underused but brings depth and melancholy to her one-note character.