When he releases a film it’s an event and his approach to filmmaking is in many ways a barometer for others in the film industry. His Heat changed the way gunfights are shot and edited. His Collateral was a lesson in the raw magic of digital filmmaking. His Manhunter may have been overshadowed by the success of The Silence of the Lambs but it remains one of the best onscreen personifications of Thomas Harris’s literary rogue’s gallery of characters. Blackhat is a pretty good movie, which is acceptable for many but when it comes to Michael Mann it’s damning praise. With a rising superstar in Chris Hemsworth and a topic that is an all-too-scary threat the filmmaker wasn’t able to deliver something on par with his legacy and resume. Coupled with an awful release date in the dreaded mid-January slot, Blackhat just simply didn’t do enough with its assets to warrant its existence.