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- Apr 22, 2012
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How am I just now hearing about this?
Always wanted a HEAT prequel
Always wanted a HEAT prequel
I will not hear an ill word against MIAMI VICE. It's the best.
I've watched BLACK HAT about ten or twelve times, and my reception has improved each time. Similar to LAST OF THE MOHICANS, in which Mann took a property that wasn't great (he explicitly states James Fenimore Cooper's novel is drek; and hacker films are notoriously terrible translations onto film), and he executed a high-energy, largely tacit narrative. Almost all his characters are given at least one badass moment to shine. Tang Wei's English delivery leaves a bit to be desired, but she looks like this:
I'd love to read novels set in Mann's universe, even though his muscular storytelling is my biggest draw.
Quite the specific comparison.It was like pulling teeth, out of my asshole.
I fucking loved it. I've been waiting for Mann to make something approaching that level ever since Collateral. Nowhere near as good, mind you, but unlike Miami Vice and Public Enemies, I was proud for Mann and grateful that I had the privilege to watch him work at such a high level again. The shootouts were vintage Mann, the chase to the subway reminded me of Collateral, and Hemsworth's growing obsession with the hacker was shades of William Petersen in Manhunter. I'm still not as high on his [recent] aesthetics [...] the shots of the team running around when they raided the bagman's place were fucking nauseating, it made footage from Cops look Oscar-worthy. I also would've liked a little more insight into Hemsworth's character. He has like three lines when he's with the sister in the restaurant for that trick meeting, and like two more lines after they do it, but otherwise we never really learn what makes him tick. The nature of the hunt (like Manhunter) precludes a rivalry like in Heat or Collateral, but to at least have gotten inside Hemsworth's head a little the way we get into Petersen's head would've made the film even better. Still, though, the plot was slick, the action was on point, and Mann's general command of the story made me feel for the first time in more than a decade now that Mann still has some gas left in the tank.
Michael Cera, Jesse Eisenberg and Kevin Hart.Will this just be a book or will there be a movie?
I wonder who they will cast.
Here's the template for a Mann crime-dramaI didn't realize Mann fans were so down on Blackhat. I was actually surprised by how good it was.
As far as Mann going back to Heatland: Leave it alone, dude.
Michael Cera, Jesse Eisenberg and Kevin Hart.
Quite the specific comparison.
I didn't like it either, but it kept popping up on cable and I kept gravitating towards it. Strikes me almost like an exercise of Mann challenging himself. Like, "What are three things film audience absolutely abhor?" Computer films, right there it's tough. And you'd love to say, "Well, MATRIX is a hacker film!" but it's like 95% kung-fu on top of that hacking -- and we all agree Lexi is the worst part of an otherwise flawless JURASSIC PARK. (Incidentally, Timmy, you weren't do anything but rushing Lexi -- why not help Alan and fetch the shotgun for him?). Then, you have marble-mouthed dialogue -- coupled with Mann's penchant for flat deliveries. Some audiences find his cadence wooden and off-putting. I think his dialogue, like his visual storytelling, manages to elegantly cut to the point. To the quick. Lastly, there are banal plot points. Stock manipulations and tin commodities aren't too sexy. We've seen nuclear hot rooms before, getting horny after battle, knife fights, coffee-spilled-on-my-documents gag. It's not very new, storywise. BLACKHAT was like fighting with one arm and both legs tied behind its back.
Or teeth up inside an asshole, I'm not sure.
The first thing I liked about it -- the only thing, really, that first time -- was Holt McCanally. I love the way he introduces himself wordlessly into the film by sneering at Hemsworth, and then his finale was pretty awesome. From there it was easy to enjoy how easily Viola Davis integrates herself in this type of universe. I also liked the strong villain, who figured out he was being surveilled, and took harsh vengeance for having lost his part of his crew. And I like that they get to stick together in the end. That usually doesn't happen in a Mann film.
This was also the movie I noticed Hemsworth speaks with a lisp.
MIAMI VICE sits at the nexus, perhaps nadir, of a few trends. The television show had become a well-worn joke by that point, and no one had much faith in Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as leading men. Farrell had used up a lot of credit, and Foxx was just coming into his own. Further, this was Mann's second film in his exploration into digital so it's a little jarring in places. The subsequent PUBLIC ENEMIES really bugs me, because adding the digital grain nearly destroys the experience of watching it, and it feels almost like a step backwards.I'm surprised so many Mann fans didn't like Miami Vice
I think the opposite. I love HEAT but it takes a while to get where it's going and I'm more aware I'm watching a thriller unfold. Because it's like a game of tennis, we have to wait for the narrative to bounce from McCauley to Hanna, seeing what each does with the moment he is given. We have to wait for the reflections in order to discern the context and direction -- where we are in the film, and where we're going.It felt like a student film, or practice film, leading up to Mann having the ability to make Heat. Instead of a movie that he made a zillion years after Heat.
I think the opposite. I love HEAT but it takes a while to get where it's going and I'm more aware I'm watching a thriller unfold. Because it's like a game of tennis, we have to wait for the narrative to bounce from McCauley to Hanna, seeing what each does with the moment he is given. We have to wait for the reflections in order to discern the context and direction -- where we are in the film, and where we're going.
With Mann's later work, the storytelling is still external but the internal is made much more vivid. We're drawn inside the psyches of the characters, feeling as they do and discovering their plans of actions as they do. Mann's current work is more immediate and visceral. You're locked in the moment, and that can be a problem once the moment is over. Like with porn, after you've come it becomes a bit embarrassing -- but IN THE MOMENT.
IN THE MOMENT.
Yes, yes I get the boredom, but this is what happens when you're not really a fan of movies but a fan of MOVIE. Every Mann film becomes either HEAT or not-HEAT. And that's too bad because there's some special shit going on there. I look forward to his new Ferrari film, but wished it was Christian Bale still and not Hugh Jackman.
And it's not just that I'm comparing every other movie he makes to HEAT, well I am...