Yes No Maybe So: "blackhat"
Sunday, September 28, 2014 at 12:00PM It's a challenge to keep up but better late than never, right? What do you make of blackhat in trailer form? It looks like another robust thriller from the (Michael) Mann. The movie is due in mid January and should provide nice counterprogramming to the two diammetrically opposed types of movies that tend to play in that month: studio prestige movies aiming for Oscars vs. mainstream studio dumping ground movies that they know aren't strong enough to compete for holiday or summer dollars.
Let's take a look through our Yes No Maybe So prism. And the first yes is obviously diversity in casting!
• Not one. Not two. But THREE actors of color The Film Experience loves in major roles in a mainstream flick: Leehom Wang and Tang Wei (both from Lust, Caution - Michael Mann's casting director has good taste) and of course the one and only Viola Davis, she of genuine Great Actor Chops and Movie Star Presence (the ideal combo) who we are in major danger of losing full time to TV because Hollywood is super-dumb about anyone, not just women of color, who don't fit into the only kind of actress mold they know what to do with: young, usually blonde, skinny, traditionally beautiful. (Consider the perfect example of this problem: the flurry of big screen interest in Mad Men's January Jones versus the delayed "but what would we use them for?" interest in Christina Hendricks/Elisabeth Moss when that show was dominating TV conversation)
More Yes votes?
• Super slick looking and sometimes uber professionalism and mainstream gloss is the perfect thing to pass 2 hours of time.
• Antony & The Johnsons in a movie trailer? Sold.
• The Color! So much of it. Does any auteur gets shots of cities / events / places / things as consistently well as Michael Mann? The cinematographer on this one is the talented Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano, The Painted Veil) who actually hasn't worked with Mann before.
NO
• Stop pretending Chris Hemsworth is Brad Pitt, Hollywood. NO SALE!
• So let me get this straight: this Nicholas Hathaway person (Chris Hemsworth) is not only a brilliant genius with mad computer geek skillz but he's also a badass convict who is built like Thor, runs super fast, romances hot ladies, and also has major hand-to-hand and firearm combat skills. How many suspension cables are supposed to keep this disbelief at bay?
• There are a lot of "Korean Thug"s in the credits on IMDb. Let's hope this fares better than Lucy in the race relations department.
MAYBE SO
• The opening titles could be mistaken for a thriller variation on Men Women and Children . I know movies have been doing this fear-peddling about modern technology for as long as they've existed but I find it annoying. Especially when movies themselves keep so fully embracing every new technological marvel they can harness to make the movies bigger and bigger.
• Something tells me this will not pass the Bechdel Test. (Is Tang Wei only window dressing as Hemsworth's love interest?)
P.S.
• I love these three shots because...
...our heroes look so vulnerable which amps up the tension and also: partially constructed buildings are so cinematic and Michael Mann gives good cityscapes.
...I fantasized that Viola was part of a big action setpiece which is something we haven't seen her do.
... I fantasized that it was Geena Davis in a cameo as a reporter onscreen.
Reader Comments (23)
Of course YES, only because I love all the Manns since the 80's
"Stop pretending Chris Hemsworth is Brad Pitt, Hollywood. NO SALE!"
Actually, comparing career trajectories, he kinda is the new, improved version, as far as acting chops and box office. Looking forward to Chris' Fight Club...
It's a January release at a time when all of the late Oscar releases will be expanding so the rest of us can see them Also, it looks boring and conventional. No.
This is totally getting a qualifying run right? If the studio actually thinks it's good, I'd be surprised that they wouldn't give it an awards push.
You are not losing Viola to TV. The Emmy's love to correct Oscar's mistakes. Hence Judy Davis, Glenn Close, Barbara Hershey, Patricia Clarkson, and Amanda Plummer being multiple Emmy winners and nominees.
I'm grateful that Mann made sure to cast Davis. But this could have been easy a Jodie Foster female-led vehicle that Davis could have taken. If anyone at the studio level had any balls.
Yeah, I have no problems with Hollywood being on the Chris Hemsworth train. He used his charisma to good effect in Rush and I think he hits just the right notes as Thor. I even liked him as Kirk's dad in the 2009 Star Trek.
Viola's TV role will do a ton to help her profile/recognition among the general public. She will get booked on more talk shows to promote this movie now than she would have before.
Give Davis Hemsworth's part and vice versa and I'd actually be excited about seeing this.
Finally, another high-profile role for Tang Wei. She lost so much momentum after Lust, Caution. Such a shame.
they cut off her momentum, that's different
I'm here for Michael Mann, I even liked Public Enemies, so I'm a YES because it's a director I like and for all of your reasons as well. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that Viola's role was the female lead, but this movie doesn't really seem to have a female lead at all (despite obviously female characters), so hopefully it's just a case of a misleading trailer. Also, while I agree that there will never be another Brad Pitt (love him), I'm cool with Chris just being Chris. I only know him as Thor and whatever his name was in Cabin in the Woods, but I think he has some talent.
I'm going to echo the other people in this thread. I think Hemsworth has been better in his first starring vehicles than Brad Pitt was in the beginning of his career. Hell, even mid-career he was atrocious in Troy.
That said, Chris H. Looks miscast for this role.
Paul -- ewww. you can't be serious. Chris Hemsworth wishes he had Brad Pitt's range! Brad can adjust for *any* genre from the art film (Tree of Life) to the slapstick (Burn After Reading) to the romance and adventure and horror and everything really.
Drew -- she also headlines Hong Kong Oscar submission THE GOLDEN ERA a three hour epic so there's still hope that she becomes the international star she deserved to be. It'd be heaven if America got into her like they briefly did with Zhang Ziyi.
Nat--you're talking about mid-to-present career Pitt. When Pitt was Hemsworth's age (31), he was a hottie with a string of flops, wooden performances, co-starring roles and Interview With the Vampire on his resumé.
Brad Pitt has skated by on his looks and his movie star charisma, but he has (with a few exceptions) a very limited range--- see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for proof. He was the reason that that movie didn't work as well as it should've; his face was blank for the entire three hours running time, and I'm not just talking about the CGI they put on his face to make him look younger--- there's nothing going on behind his eyes. If it hadn't been for the always brilliant Cate Blanchett you wouldn't have been emotionally invested in their love story. He's just a blank, beautiful canvas in that movie, nothing more.
Nathaniel, it's cool if you fancy him, good looking, charming, nice family man, Hollywood glamour personified, but don't pretend he's a great actor, please.
I like him in Se7en and he did impress somewhat in Babel, Tree Of Life, Moneyball (must be on account of great directors).
nice to see all the love for Tang Wei,
LOVED her in Lust, Caution.
Concerning your concern with her only being window dressing, I think your concern is justified--- Mann is a macho man, he's interested in male behaviour, women are just there (for the most part) to look good.
He has great taste in actresses (Marion Cotillard, Li Gong, Naomie Harris, Jada Pinkett Smith and now Tang Wei and Viola Davis. But sadly they never get to do much.)
Funny: Christopher Nolan, who's obviously a great admirer of the Mann, treats his actresses/female characters the same way; window dressing, objects of affection, damsels in danger.
Ulrich -- sorry. I stand by my opinion that Brad Pitt has a ton of range and is still considered less than a great actor because he's one of the most handsome men in the world.. But he's one of those rare stars that can adjust his star persona to any genre... and dim it or turn it up as needs be to suit the tone of films.
any actor who can do as well as he did with characters as diverse as he played in these very very different films: MONEYBALL, BURN AFTER READING, 12 MONKEYS, SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB, TREE OF LIFE -- and that's just off the top of my head for 'best' examples -- has way more range and talent than people have ever given him credit for.
But i guess we don't see eye to eye because I though Benjamin Button was ALSO one of Cate's flattest performances so I blame Fincher.
But yes Brad's work is uneven.
Still... Hemsworth has yet to give any performance that's better than "good" and none that are particularly interesting. We'll see if he has any range in the next few years since Hollywood wants to keep handing him leads.
Yep, what Nathaniel said (was just about to post something similar).
As a massive fan of SE7EN, I have watched it many times. And what I picked up on the second viewing, and reinforced on every subsequent viewing, is how masterful Pitt's performance of the alpha male whose world view starts unraveling (quite rapidly at the end, obviously, but it's tested early). It should be studied by acting classes.
Now if I can just get us back to 2007 and remind everyone about the moment when Tang Wei graced the cinemas and how she made us feel with every glance of hers that pierced through the movie screen. The fact that Tang Wei and Viola Davis is in a major Hollywood studio film together and is being directed by Michael Mann is a great thing. Sure there's Thor but I'll get over that fact.
Tang Wei is also in Wong Kar Wai's next movie, The Ferryman.
AND she reunites with her Lust, Caution co-star (and Wong Kar Wai regular) Tony Leung.
Everyone should check out the excellent "Late Autumn", a Korean movie by Tae-Yong Kim, in which Tang Wei starred. She married the director!
I'm a no on this one. The preview is gorgeous but the plot is a combination of conventional and ridiculous, and I'm not a Mann fan.
Hemsworth is more talented and charismatic than Pitt. But I do not still think he is a very good fit for the film. And the film has this 90s feel I dislike.
"I fantasized that it was Geena Davis in a cameo as a reporter onscreen."
Looks more like Tracy Ullman from here.