- 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.
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