10 Best Spy Films That AREN'T James Bond

As has been sadly typical of Michael Mann's films in the last two decades, Blackhat didn't receive the praise or attention it merited when it premiered in 2015. 

A gutsy cybercrime thriller that once again brings Mann's delicious fusion of emotion and technical authenticity to the foreground, Blackhat surely has to be next in line for a reappraisal following the cult resurgence of his 2006 all-vibes classic, Miami Vice, with both films sharing the same digital beauty and thematic heft the director honed with 2004's Collateral.

Like Miami Vice, Blackhat is a film about longing - in this case, to escape a world shaped by terror and digital intrusion. But it's also a film rooted in geopolitics and espionage, with the story focusing on two former college friends - one an officer in the Chinese army's cyberwarfare branch and the other an incarcerated hacker - teaming up to take on a group of cyber criminals who are targeting both Chinese and American financial and energy infrastructure.

Leehom Wang and Chris Hemsworth play the aforementioned duo, with Mann rounding out his cast with a formidable contingent of talent, including Tang Wei, Viola Davis, and a scene-stealing Holt McCallany. The real star here, though, is the vibrational frequency of Mann's direction, which ensures Blackhat isn't just another globetrotting action film but instead a unique, emotive contribution to the espionage genre.

Given the tepid response it received in 2015, the likelihood is that a great many Mann afficionados (and a great many more spy movie enjoyers) are yet to take a chance on Blackhat. Fortunately, Arrow Video released a brilliant 4K edition of the film in 2023, which is well worth a purchase.