Blackhat (2015)

[Kurug3n]

Trailer

American and Chinese agencies work together to stop a conspiracy involving a cyber criminal, With the help of Nicholas Hathaway, a con who was released from the slammer, the authorities pursue the mysterious suspect as The dangerous search leads them from Chicago to Hong Kong.

New film from Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral, Public Enemies). I've always enjoyed his films even Miami Vice was alright so this is cool to see.

[dave jenkins]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/breaking-down-michael-manns-sharper-directors-cut-of-blackhat-20160211

[Novecento]

Thanks for sharing.

I missed this when it came out. Now I need to choose which version to watch... (once this new director's cut is inevitably released of course)

[Kurug3n]

I was one of the six people in audience on that opening Friday night and I remembered enjoying it. Chris Hemsworth is forgettable but the situation that the character was put in kept me interested in seeing it out. Then again I seem to be the only one around the people I know that enjoyed Miami Vice so who knows what my enjoyment of this means. The directors cut seems interesting with the changing of the meltdown from the beginning to the middle . Also, having a release of the film with Mann's commentary would be worth checking out.

[Novecento]

They aired the Director's cut on the US cable channel "FX" last night. Apparently it will be airing again this Sunday evening.

[Novecento]

The director's cut plays significantly better than the theatrical version - this is not just minor tweaking by Mann.

If you can turn a blind eye to the problems with the Hathaway character, then this is now a really great film oozing with Mann style. The problem with the Hathaway character is why is a computer hacker able to handle himself like a Navy SEAL? Happily the scene of him doing push-ups in prison has been removed.

[dave jenkins]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film11/4K_UHD_review_07/blackhat_4K_UHD.htm

Looks like I have to buy the 4K (which I can't play) in order to get the bonus blu with the DC.

[Novecento]

Looks like the regular Blu-ray release will include it as a limited edition:

https://www.arrowvideo.com/blackhat-limited-edition-blu-ray/14299342.html

I?ll probably get that one since I don?t have a 4K player either.

The Amazon.com specs are not updated it seems.

[Novecento]

My blu-ray only copy arrived today. 2 discs, 2nd one has the director's cut.

[dave jenkins]

My blu-ray only copy arrived today. 2 discs, 2nd one has the director's cut.

Good to know. Did you buy through amazon?

[Novecento]

Yeah, i figured their online specs must not have been updated, and i was correct.

[dave jenkins]

OK. I'll order from them as well. Meanwhile, anything about this new edition you'd like to comment on?

[dave jenkins]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Blackhat-Blu-ray/333600/#Review

Commenting on 1080P image quality:

Blackhat is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps their 1080 and 4K UHD presentations together in its verbiage about the transfer(s), as follows:
     Blackhat is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 with 5.1 sound.

     For the 1080p Blu-ray release, the high definition digital masters of both the US and International versions of the film were sourced from NBC Universal.

     For the 4K Ultra HD release, the 2K DPX master data files of both versions were sourced from NBC Universal and are presented in 4K resolution with HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The
     4K remastering and color grading was completed by David Mackenzie at Fidelity in Motion.

The above may beg the question, "hey, what is the Director's Cut, chopped liver?", and in that regard per the above information, it's perhaps salient to note that Arrow includes the Director's Cut on a 1080 disc in its 4K UHD release of this film as well, though that said, I didn't notice any huge differences in overall video quality between all three 1080 presentations included in this package. This looks very similar to Universal's old 1080 release, as may be hinted at by the provenance provided by Arrow, above, but there are some occasional differences, I'd say especially with regard to some of the most aggressively blue graded material, which definitely struck my eyes as a bit darker and more saturated in this version. I also noted no noise per Marty's original review, and to my eyes even the digital grain is a bit more subliminal in this presentation than in Arrow's 4K UHD version. As I mentioned in my review of that version, there's a built in heterogeneous quality to some of the visuals here based on the different cameras employed and due to so many tweaks that were added in post, but given that, detail levels are surprisingly consistent throughout. My score is 4.25.

N.B The 4.25 score is out of 5.