Movies - TV
Every Michael Mann Movie Ranked Worst To Best
By GINO ORLANDINI
12. Blackhat
The problem with this hacker film is that instead of being a Michael Mann film, it’s more like a movie product that was made to succeed internationally but ultimately failed. Mann did not write the lackluster script, there is zero chemistry between leads Chris Hemsworth and Tang Wei, and the film just seems like a bunch of bad action movie tropes pieced together.
11. L.A. Takedown
This feels like a bad ‘80s TV movie-of-the-week version of Mann’s “Heat” before the classic heist movie was made in 1995. It’s a bit jarring to see unknown actors playing the parts that would be made famous by, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but the movie can be seen as a trial run for Mann’s fantastic script and his skills shooting in visually interesting locations in L.A.
10. Ali
Mann was not involved with the film’s biggest flaw, which was the overly ambitious script that tried to do too much by fitting a decade of Muhammad Ali’s life into a three-hour-long film. While Mann’s directing was solid, the fight scenes lacked drama and Will Smith’s performance wasn’t convincing.
9. Public Enemies
While “Public Enemies” isn’t unwatchable, it’s surprisingly boring in light of the promising true premise about legendary bank robber John Dillinger with Johnny Depp in the lead role. Mann also seems to make a stylistic error by employing the Sony PMW EX1 camera, which makes shots appear grainy and low-budget and doesn’t fit the film’s depression era.
8. The Keep
Written and directed by Mann, 1983’s “The Keep” is both a cheesy and daring horror World War II movie set in a creepy medieval fortress in Romania. As Mann seems more interested in making an ‘80s-era fantasy than a historical film, he goes overboard with the chintzy special effects and a synthesizer score.