The upcoming cyber-thriller Blackhat finds Thor actor Chris Hemsworth playing a genius criminal hacker, whom the government has freed to try to catch an international network of hackers. The first trailer for the movie, which was directed by Michael Mann (Heat, The Insider, Public Enemies), shows just how explosive the storyline is literally.
From the start, tension runs high as images of computers and Internety screens show how everything in the world is connected before its revealed that a cyber agitator is targeting financial markets. As it happens, the only person who could help them is a genius coder from MIT named Nicholas Hathaway (Hemsworth), who was serving a 15-year sentence before bargaining to commute his case to help out the authorities. From there, its all running, guns, explosions and scenes of Hemsworth hulking out as he and his compatriots trace the hacker network around the world.
This isnt about money, a villainous character says toward the end of the trailer. This isnt about politics. I can target anyone, anything, anywhere.
They dont know who [the terrorist] is, where he is, and they dont know why hes doing what hes doing, Mann recently told Entertainment Weekly about the film. Theres no apparent motive. The people theyre working against are high-speed, world-class. Theyre dangerous, violent, and that launches our story.
Mann and Hemsworth gave Comic-Con attendees a first look at scenes from the film this past July. The movie will premiere in theaters on January 16th, according to Deadline.