After a sudden electronic breakthrough of the Hong Kong nuclear plant and commercial groups in Mercantile, Chicago, by unknown men, a young man named Nick Hathaway, a very talented inventor, was recruited. The young man was released after 15 years in prison and was recruited by the FBI and the CIA to apprehend those pirates known for their skill in the electronic piracy of many major international institutions that caused the cyber attacks. This young man lives a global adventure from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta to carry out that mission.
[Hemsworth] spends much of the film tapping away on keyboards, frequently looking down at his hands - no, really, the expert computer hacker looks at his hands to type.
Nobody can top Mann's urban night scenes, with their oily neon and skyscraper light grids, but for the most part this plays like Heat without the heat.
Given our brave new cyber world, someone in Hollywood is going to have to come up with a better way to do it. Watching actors tap out code as big buzzing screens of digital data flash on the screen just doesn't cut it.
It should have been a Jason Bourne flick. Instead, it's sort of a poor man's version, so try not to think too hard about that, or the whole thing will turn mildly ridiculous.
The movie's most depressing feature is its naked pandering for overseas box office. If there's one thing worse than appealing to the lowest common American denominator, it's appealing to the lowest common global denominator.
It has a decent ludicrousness and Mann's one-of-a-kind talent for using digital photography and naturalistic light to complicate and invigorate anonymous spaces.
