Blackhat promises a searing thriller

MANILA, Philippines - With remarkable vision, filmmaker Michael Mann has forged a decades-long career delivering compelling tales of unique characters on the frontier edge of worlds undergoing change. From The Last of the Mohicans and Heat to The Insider and Ali to Collateral, Miami Vice and Public Enemies, he has remained one of the industry’s most compelling storytellers, and his level of artistry has created an indelible influence on other filmmakers and audiences.

This year, Mann returns to the big screen with Legendary Pictures’ propulsive thriller Blackhat — a story of one man, a blackhat hacker, trying to outrun his past and take control of his future — within the brave new world of cyber interconnectedness of all things. As director and producer, Mann brings his signature artistry to weave a compelling film set across an array of exotic Asian locations in the US and Asia, captured with his stunning signature visuals.

Blackhat follows convicted hacker Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth), furloughed from federal prison, and his American and Chinese partners as they try to identify and hunt down a world-class and dangerous cybercrime network from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, Perak, Malaysia and Jakarta. But as Hathaway gets closer, his target becomes aware of him and the more personal the stakes become.

Mann and Blackhat writer Morgan Davis Foehl began crafting a compelling story that was drawn from the complex and fascinating facts of an activity largely hidden from view. Discussing his draw to the project, Mann reflects, “For a subject to arrest me, I have to feel there’s some mystery, some frontier.” He found that in the cyber revolution. “It’s one of the few pieces of technology that has had a massive social, cultural and political effect on our lives… probably the biggest single effect since the printing press. It is changing the way we are.”

(Now showing in theaters nationwide, Blackhat is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.)