“Blackhat’s hero Hathaway is a physical embodiment of the insidiously versatile power of cybercrime. Mann projects him into the world as a robust threat—to those at home and also to villains—a sexy, border traipsing, multidisciplinary force. In Miami Vice, the director’s last exploration of globalization through transnational crime, the vice cops could only achieve this ideal future state of border-melting freedom of mobility, of passion, and of action by donning the undercover mask of the hypermodern criminals whose life on the other side of the law achieved and maintained this seemingly utopian existence.”

Daniel Kasman investigates Michael Mann’s Blackhat at Notebook.