In this episode of the show we talked about Michael Mann’s last (to date) directorial effort, his 2015 hacker thriller Blackhat, which turned into quite an illuminating discussion despite the fact it is one of Mann’s least liked outings.

So we spent a good few hours trying to understand why this movie didn’t work for anyone upon its release, why Mann feels as though it was an unfinished piece worth tinkering with and even whether the very idea of applying his signature realistic lens to the subject matter of hacking is not enough to make it interesting. Maybe hacking is just uncinematic and it can only be either completely unengaging when depicted realistically or infantile and campy if consciously rendered entertaining. At the risk of spoiling the episode, I don’t think any of us exhibited any burning love towards the film and most of us are self-confessed Mann-fans (as evidenced in the Miami Vice episode). But at least I think we gave this troubled movie its day in court.

In addition, this episode served as a soft-start of what I called the “Circling The Matrix” episode series where in the run-up to the Christmas release of Matrix: Resurrections we will devote each episode to discussing a movie that somehow (thematically or otherwise) can be tied to The Matrix movies. And to top it all off we will record a Patreon-exclusive podcast in December where we will talk about even more Matrix-related films. I guess what I am saying is: get ready for a pre-Christmas season of hackers, cyberthrillers, and science-fiction.

Tune in and enjoy!

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