- In the European version of the film, the description of Lozano and his affiliation with the "Los Zapotecas" gang at approx. 26 minutes into the film is shortened.
- Michael Mann premiered the Director's Cut during a retrospective of his films at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 10, 2016. This version is three minutes longer than the theatrical release, and opens with the hacking attack on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, rather than the Hong Kong nuclear plant attack, which has been moved to the middle of the film. Some scenes and dialogue exchanges have also been cut or shortened. This version was shown on FX on May 9, 2017, and several days later it was made available on DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV and other streaming services.
- The initial Director's Cut was created by Michael Mann for a retrospective screening of his films at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2016. In 2017, FX showed a different version of the Director's Cut, with further editing changes by Mann. This version contains all the changes made for the Brooklyn screening, but also many other changes, including elongated shots, truncated shots, different shot order, alternative angles, re-framing, rearranged dialogue, different audio, different music cues, and additional scenes. Virtually every scene in the film has been altered in some way, however small the changes may be in some cases. This version was subsequently made available on various streaming services, and in 2023, Arrow Video released it on Blu-ray for the first time.
- The opening scene is the trade exchange hack to drive up the price for soy futures. In the Theatrical Cut, this doesn't happen until approximately 14 minutes into the film, and it comes after the nuclear power plant at Chai Wan has already been breached. This re-positioning reflects the original intention of the filmmakers. However, very late in editing, Mann decided to switch the scenes so as to create a more impactful opening; "I made one major shift in the movie; it's a huge shift. The nuclear explosion used to occur after the storm drain, late in the movie. That's huge. It's like putting a hand in a socket, pulling it out the other side. I decided, "No, I have to have these events occur in the front." I had to reconstruct a lot of dialogue all along the way. Halfway in his interview, Hathaway says, "The nuclear reactor I heard about," but he didn't hear about it. He hadn't heard about the nuclear reactor because the nuclear reactor never happened that early. It was kind of tricky. It became much better." Obviously, Mann changed his mind for the Director's Cut, and having the film open with the trade exchange attack and then build to the Chai Wan attack helps the pacing and narrative progression immeasurably.
- The Theatrical Cut opens with a stylized view of the planet from space, lit up by the vast grid networks communicating. The title then appears on screen, before the film cuts to the Chai Wan attack. Although that attack is in the Director's Cut, the shot of the globe is absent. There is no title card in the Director's Cut (-00:29).
- The depiction of the trade exchange attack is different in both versions. In the Director's Cut, several of the introductory shots are longer; the shot of paper blowing across the empty exchange, the shot panning upwards to the TV, the shot panning right on the market readout screens, and the subsequent shot panning left which focuses in on the number "1261" (00:13).
- In the Theatrical Cut, after the camera focuses on "1261", it then zooms in, with the number changing to "1254", before we see the inner workings of the computer. In the Director's Cut, this zoom cuts away before the number changes, showing a scene of an unidentified individual plugging a yubikey into a USB slot. We don't see the number change to "1254" (00:04).
- The sequences of the malware travelling through the trade exchange and Chai Wan circuity have been switched; the longer sequence from the Chai Wan attack in the Theatrical Cut is now used for the trade exchange attack and vice versa.
- Similarly, the scenes showing an unidentified Sadak (Yorick van Wageningen) completing the hacks have also been switched; the longer scene from the Chai Wan attack in the Theatrical Cut is now used during the trade exchange attack, and vice versa.
- Immediately after the shot of the soy futures numbers rising, there is an additional scene not in the Theatrical Cut. A shot of a freighter at sea is accompanied by an onscreen caption reading "Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands." A harbor pilot approaches the freighter and tells the captain where he is to dock. The captain grants him permission to come aboard and we see him boarding the freighter and arriving at the bridge. There, he takes a phone call from the harbor master, before telling the captain, "sorry, you do not enter into Rotterdam," explaining, "your insurance has been revoked." When the captain asks for more details, the pilot says, "we received an automated notice, something to do with the value of your cargo." The captain points out that they are carrying the same cargo as they do twice a month, every month; "200,000 tonnes of soy beans." The pilot then states, "the value's changed, you're under-insured" (01:15).
- Immediately after the above scene, the scene of the stock brokers has been edited differently, with the sequence of shots taking place in a different order, intermingled with a few additional shots not in the Theatrical Cut (00:08).
- The scene of Cpt. Chen Da Wai (Leehom Wang) putting on his tie has different audio. In the Theatrical Cut, this scene takes place immediately after the Chai Wan attack, and the news report says (in Cantonese), "...people living within a ten mile radius have been evacuated, indicating a possible reactor breach." In the Director's Cut, it takes place after the soy attack, and the report says, "a spike in soy is driving up food prices in Europe and Asia. Soy is the world's major animal feed. As it rises, so does beef, pork, and poultry." The scene is also edited differently, lengthening the shot of Chen in the mirror and the shot of him picking up his hat, and adding a shot of him walking towards the door (00:15).
- Immediately thereafter, the scene of Chen walking towards the car and heading across the city also has different audio. In the Theatrical Cut, the news report says, "there have been reports of a cooling system failure involving the fuel rods. So far, eight fatalities have been reported, with twenty-seven hospitalizations. Despite the hazard, workers remain trying to fight against a meltdown." In the Director's Cut, the report says, "as a result, people may take to the streets as they did in Guangzhou and Shanghai. The speculation is that soy futures will go higher when the US commodities market opens tomorrow." The shot of Chen looking at the Chai Wan plant on a tablet has been replaced with a shot of him looking at a news report about a possible public protest. The sequence of shots is also different throughout the scene, and several alternate takes and angles have been used. Additionally, the high-angle shot of the car heading across the bridge has been removed (-00:10).
- Immediately after the above scene, the Theatrical Cut cuts to the sequence that introduces Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) and then cuts to the scene of Chen meeting his superiors. The Director's Cut immediately cuts to Chen's meeting, with Hathaway's introduction taking place later.
- The meeting between Chen and his superiors has different dialogue throughout; the Theatrical Cut makes numerous references to the Chai Wan attack, the Director's Cut to the trade exchange attack. The dialogue in the Director's Cut is the original dialogue recorded on set; the dialogue in the Theatrical Cut has been dubbed. The scene is also edited differently in each version and features multiple alternate angles. Overall, the Director's Cut is shorter (-00:53).
- Immediately after the meeting, there is an additional scene in the trade exchange server room. IT director Jeff Robichaud (Christian Borle) is trying to figure out how the attack took place when FBI agent Carol Barrett (Viola Davis) enters the room. Robichaud and Barrett then take a call from Chen, who tells them that the Chinese know about the attack and would like to see the malware code. They debate the issue and Chen suggests a "joint liaison group" to investigate the attack. Barrett doesn't agree to anything just yet (01:42).
- During the scene where Barrett pitches the idea of working with the Chinese to her boss, Henry Pollack (John Ortiz), there is an additional shot of Pollack asking Robichaud, "drawbacks of giving up the code?" Robichaud replies, "none; it'll surface anyway" (00:06).
- During the scene where Chen meets with Chen Lien (Tang Wei), multiple alternate angles are used and several shots are different lengths (some extended, some truncated). There is also an additional line of dialogue, with Chen telling Lien, "the black hat hit Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago, rocketed soy through the roof, rode the run up." This replaces the dubbed line from the Theatrical Cut, "a black hat hit the Chai Wan reactor." Overall, the Director's Cut is longer (00:06).
- In the Theatrical Cut, the trade exchange attack takes place after the scene between Chen and Lien, before then cutting to the FBI briefing scene. In the Director's Cut, it cuts straight from the scene with Chen and Lien to the briefing scene.
- The briefing scene is edited differently. In the Theatrical Cut, before the film cuts to the scene, Agent Daniels (Abhi Sinha) can be heard saying, "the melt down in China and the run-up in soy yesterday was facilitated by the same RAT." This line is absent from the Director's Cut. In the Theatrical Cut, Daniels then says, "how it got loaded in in the first place, we don't know, but once inside it de-cloaked and became what it really is - a remote access tool." In the Director's Cut, he says, "how it got loaded in in the first place, we don't know, but once it got in, here's how it cracked our firewall - it masqueraded as a software update, complete with a legit digital signature, and then became what it really is - a remote access tool." Throughout the scene, several different angles are used, and some of the shots are edited together slightly differently. Overall, the Director's Cut is longer (00:03).
- In the subsequent scene where Chen, Lien, Barrett, and Pollack talk in Pollack's office, alternate angles are used throughout. The Director's Cut also features a line not in the Theatrical Cut - when Pollack defends Daniels's expertise, Chen replies, "we don't have time to pace ourselves by the slowest guy in the room" (00:02).
- In the next scene, when Barrett comes to see Chen about Hathaway, immediately when he opens the door, Barrett has a dubbed line saying, "you must be kidding." The rest of the scene is then edited slightly differently, with more pauses between the dialog than in the Theatrical Cut (00:02).
- Immediately after the above scene, in the Theatrical Cut, we cut to the scene of Hathaway being interviewed by Agent George Reinker (Jason Butler Harner). In the Director's Cut, however, we cut to Hathaway's introductory scene, which took place earlier in the Theatrical Cut. The scene is also edited differently in both versions. In the Theatrical Cut, there are several shots of the guards searching through inmates' cells, implying it is a block-wide search. In the Director's Cut, these shots are absent, with the guards heading directly to Hathaway's cell. The subsequent scene where Warden Jeffries (Danny Burstein) questions Hathaway about the device found in his cell, and the next scene where Hathaway is delivered to solitary confinement are both absent from the Director's Cut, which cuts directly from the guards carrying Hathaway to him entering the interview room to speak to Reinker. The overall implication in the Director's Cut is that the guards came to his cell to take him to the interview (-01:23).
- During the scene between Hathaway and Reinker, the dialogue is different. In the Theatrical Cut, both the trade exchange and the Chai Wan attacks have already taken place, but in the Director's Cut, only the trade exchange attack has happened so far. In the Theatrical Cut, when Reinker gives Hathaway the document, Hathaway says, "the reactor in China I heard about, but the spike in soy futures, I didn't know about any of this." In the Director's Cut, the line referencing the Chai Wan attack is absent. The rest of the scene plays out the same. There is no time differentiation.
- The scene when Hathaway is furloughed out of prison features several alternate angles throughout, and some of the shots are of a slightly different length. Additionally, when Chen hugs Hathaway and says how good it is to see him, Hathaway's line, "not half as good as it is to see you" been moved to approximately six seconds later in the scene. The Director's Cut also features a shot of Barrett watching Hathaway that is absent in the Theatrical Cut. There is no time differentiation.
- In the scene in the trade exchange server room, Robichaud's line, "look around" is absent, and his line, "I have to run the morning backup" has been moved to slightly earlier in the scene. After Robichaud says he is the only one with access to the server room, there is some additional dialogue with Chen saying, "maybe you walked it in and infected your system unwittingly," to which Robichaud replies, "I scan this routinely. It's clean." When Hathaway sits at Robichaud's desk, in the Theatrical Cut, he says "may I?", indicating the keyboard. In the Director's Cut, he says nothing. Robichaud's "sure" is also absent, as is the moment when Hathaway looks at Barrett and says, "can I have some approval now?" and she nods in response. Throughout the scene, different angles are used and several shots are edited to different lengths than in the Theatrical Cut. Overall, the Director's Cut is shorter (-00:04).
- The next scene features some additional dialogue at the start as Hathaway looks at the code and says, "so he takes the RAT, injects it into your system, opens up a back door, down which he sends his payload. That jacks up soy futures. That's all very cool..." This line then leads into him saying, "but this section of his code right here is a mess", which is the scene's opening line in the Theatrical Cut. Later in the scene, when Hathaway speculates that, "he's going to bring down heat", there is an additional line of dialogue with Barrett asking, "he doesn't care. Why?" (00:09).
- As Hathaway and Lien approach the door to Reyes' apartment, there is a shot showing a bunch of mail hanging from the mailbox. There is no time differentiation.
- The scene between Barrett, Chen, and Gary Baker (Spencer Garrett) is edited differently with multiple different shots, angles, shot order, and shot durations used throughout. In the Director's Cut, we see that Robichaud is also at the meeting; he isn't seen in the Theatrical Cut. Overall, the Director's Cut is longer (00:02).
- In the scene in Reyes's apartment, there are two additional shots; one showing the landlady (Sophia Santi) reacting to the discovery of Reyes's body, the other a longer version of Lien sitting down at the chair and breathing heavily (00:03).
- After Hathaway and Chen find Reyes's body, in the Theatrical Cut there's a scene where Barrett takes a call from Marshal Mark Jessup (Holt McCallany) and tells Chen that Reyes is dead. He then suggests switching from searching for buyers of soy to sellers. This scene is absent in the Director's Cut (-00:21).
- Immediately after the above scene, the scene where Hathaway tells Lien about the email on Reyes's computer uses different angles. Additionally, some dialogue has been removed - when Lien says, "You get into not enough for one day?" and Hathaway answers, "look, I play it my way, it works. It don't, at least I own it." Also removed is the brief moment of Hathaway looking at Lien after she says, "I go too" (-00:14).
- Immediately after the above scene, the scene of Hathaway and Lien in the taxi on their way to the meet is absent (-00:42).
- The scene in the Koreatown restaurant has numerous changes. Right before Lien asks Hathaway why he was in prison, there is an additional shot of Hathaway looking intently around the restaurant. Right before Lien says, "you talk like you are still in prison," some dialogue has been removed - she says "open your eyes" to which he responds, "what d'you say?" A few seconds later, her line, "Get your thinking to where you are, not where you've been" has also been removed. A few seconds later, after he says "Okay, tell me, what is it I'm supposed to start seeing so fast?", some more dialogue has been removed - she says, "where you are", to which he answers, "What, Koreatown? This restaurant, this table? What?" She then says "you'll be in the rapid stream of decision-making. Having to make intuitive choices" (-00:21).
- The scene of Barrett and Chen examining the trade records uses different angles and is edited differently. Also, in the Theatrical Cut, Barrett asks Chen "where", but in the Director's Cut, she asks "what country?" Overall, the Director's Cut is longer (00:15).
- The scene of Hathaway searching for the computer in the back of the restaurant and then sending Sadak a message is longer, with several additional and extended shots (00:05).
- In the Theatrical Cut, immediately after the ambush in the restaurant, there is a scene where we hear (but don't see) Hathaway calling Chen and saying, "when Reyes was killed, the email on his computer was bait. Whoever this is wanted to see if we were on Reyes's trail. We're burned." In the Director's Cut, Hathaway says "when Reyes was killed, the email on his computer was bait. We're burned" directly to Lien in the back of the taxi. He then says, "Whoever this is wanted to see if we were on Reyes's trail" to Chen over the phone. There is no time differentiation.
- The sex scene is longer and is edited differently, with a few shots elongated (00:06).
- Immediately after the sex scene, the scene of Hathaway talking about his father is absent (-00:43).
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