[FILM] Thoughts Regarding Realism in Michael Mann's Blackhat (2015) [SPOILERS!]
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| Blackhat (2015) |
Technical realism is excellent, probably the best this author has seen, but a couple of lines are bad:
GPG encryption. You can't break it! They got that part correct. Two points:
"512 bits key seems a bit low for a GPG key, maybe they were referring to asymmetric encryption in GPG like AES.'
"We can't break it". Technically correct, but they are in China, so considering the hacker just blew up a nuclear reactor, a "pipe wrench" cryptographic attack should have been mentioned. This is either a goof or perhaps some self-censorship on Mann's part.
Prison realism is excellent. The Wire fans might recall the scene when Omar uses a phonebook as an improvised armour.
We finally come to Michael Mann's bread and butter i.e. gunfights.
In summary they were weak, the weakest in all of Mann's films.
Road gunfight.
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| Road Gunfight. |
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| Road Gunfight. |
1. RPG (IIRC) attack against car seems unrealistic because the bad guys had the drop on him with rifles.
2. One US Marshall with 1911 versus 3 or 4 guys with assault rifles, all within 30 - 40 meters. The Marshall forgets using his car as cover, stands in the open and kills 3 or 4 guys before he is killed.
This is a typical movie trope, that belongs in a Michael Bay's movie. Recall that Mann used Michael Gould (former SAS) as a technical adviser in several of his movies. One expects nothing but perfection from Michael Mann. This scene was a disappointment.
Final gunfight.
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| SHITTY SOUND ENGINEERING HERE. Michael Mann should be ashamed. (Note improvised neck armour.) |
The finale was emotionally satisfying but technically disappointing. Recall the famous "yo, homie" scene in Collateral. The sound of the HK 45 was memorable. In Blackhat, the final killshot sound that was supposed to be coming from a 9 mm pistol was fake, disappointing, probably added in post-production from the same library most Hollywood movies use.
Mann is famous for using production sound (sound recorded on location as opposed to the studio or from the foley CDs in post-production) so the final killshot was a big disappointment. Perhaps the scene was shot on location in Malaysia, and there were too many people to use real guns.
This is a preliminary review. This movie is about information security and guns, two subjects that interest INSMODSCUM, so a more critical viewing of the film is in order.
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Blackhat
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