I watched this movie and couldn't enjoy it. It lasted very long and some scenes didn't make sense. For example this that bothered me were the dialogue in the restaurant between Hathaway and Lien, the cop killing at least 3 guys with assault rifles without taking cover, the 'you are dead over 40°C' moment and the temperature keeps climbing, the end where he can stop a bullet with magazines and a knife with his scarf, he kills someone with a screwdriver (why no knife) in a crowded area no-one seems to care until they start shooting.

OK.This is not a quick moving film. And you have to be careful to follow and pay attention because the director moves quickly and at a high level.The writing is clean, the editing always serves the very tight feeling the Director is crafting.The best things about this film revolve around the actors. Viola is fun to watch, and the Chinese (?) Cast bring a certain unpredictability to the film.The main character arch is the problem. We don't know him, we get no background - he's unbelievable, and though Chris tries his best, they really should have moved him as far away from being recognisable as possible. Here he's half Thor/half Jason Bourne and unsuccessful as either.The film however, holds its own. It is authentic, it is terse without being loud and it's well made.Pour a Brandy turn down the lights and quiet down. It will reward you with a slow burning, satisfying feeling. It's never riveting but always solid. Like a good Brandy.

I really enjoyed this film.I have little to no idea about hacking, but I was able to keep up with the plot and really enjoyed it throughout. Michael Mann is definitely a serious director with loads of slomo sequences of people looking very stern and then having sex very intensely, it could be so stupid but he treads a thin line really well. This film is certainly of a piece with the rest of his work (I haven't seem Ali,), there are some familiar characters and tropes at work here, if you're a fan (I am) it's definitely not a bad thing.Some of the camera-work during the action sequences was really engrossing, he really got right in there and made It feel appropriately brutal and frenetic. I especially love the mixing of wide angle shots and what felt more conventional coverage, really cool, really crafted an atmosphere, And his music is always great, from Tangerine Dream onwards it's been cool!I think Mann is a director who still tries to push things forward, from experimenting with the audio perspective on Public Enemy to Hi-Def cameras on Collateral, I think he tries stuff out and commits which is commendable with so much money behind you, it's easy to not try anything new and then call putting up a Greenscreen the future. For all his experimenting he definitely has got a style which I think I would describe as being the good side of 80's. He reminds me a little of Friedkin, they both used Tangerine Dream!Viola Davis was really cool in this, she has some great delivery of very cutting lines.I never want to like Chris Hemsworth, he's too ripped to be a computer nerd and way too handsome. But I actually didn't question any of that once it got going, despite my want for him to be annoying he's a really likable actor and although at first I thought the accent was gonna be a bit dodgy, once again I went with it (on second thought this could be because he doesn't really say a lot and has a good line in looking moody).I liked the plot. I liked the bad guys! I like that they were awfully nasty but then turned around and seemed to care about their mate who was gonna die. Nice touch!I missed this at the cinema and assumed it was gonna be rubbish because it had a tiny release over here, but it was great! My girlfriend really enjoyed it too, although she couldn't keep up with the hacking stuff and nearly ruined the film asking me questions. That's not a criticism of this film though that's definitely on her.Apparently this isn't for everyone but I don't know why, I thought it was great and sadly overlooked.

The plot was good and interesting, the actors been well cast and performed good. The directing was for the first part of the movie good but got clumsy in the end. The only action scene that was good, was the brawl in the restaurant, all others been dreadful, unrealistic and brain dead.