BLACKHAT

Despite its relative failure at the box-office BLACKHAT is typical, and typically brilliant, Michael Mann. The theme is cyber-crime, the plot almost irrelevant. This is Mann at his sinewy, abstract best; another visual tour-de-force, (DoP Stuart Dryburgh), as hacker extraordinaire Chris Hemsworth and associates track a mysterious cyber-criminal from China to the US and back again. When the denouement comes it's actually a bit of let down until you realise it never mattered that much to begin with. What does matter is Mann's remarkable handling of the action and his brilliant build up of suspense; even when we know a bomb is about to go off under a car it still shocks us when it eventually happens. Unquestionably this is his best film since HEAT and like HEAT it has a terrific gun-battle midway through, (here we get two great gun-battles mid-movie), and a brilliantly choreographed shoot-out for the climax. Okay, so it doesn't have De Niro or Pacino but then this is hardly an actor's piece. It's a director's picture and it puts Mann, now 71 but working like a 30 year old, right back on top.