Review of Hackers (1995) by Marcus M — 08 Feb 2017

(( some spoilers)).

When people think of Hackers whether real or fictional we think, Snowden, Mr.Robot, techy computer savants who spend countless hours in front of computer screens sifting through numerical code that would seem like gibberish to the layman. We don't think " highschool" kids ( who look 30), who dress like they're in a madmax film acting extremely flamboyant and depicting hacking as a mish-mash of every popular 80s arcade game with A.I.M trash talk( a.i.m.....Wow I'm old).

You know what though?.......

1 R3@LLY L1K3 TH15 M0V13. :D.

Hackers was released in 1995; the era of dial up internet, MtV(when it was edgy), payphones, and floppy disks. It stars Johnny Lee Miller as a genius computer hacker named Dade Murphy A.K.A: Zero Cool, Crash Override ( coolest hacker names ever in this movie). He was caught hacking by the FBI when he was 10 or 11, and banned from using a computer or LAN line phone until his 18th birthday.( First:What? Second: Stupid).

He moves to New York city with his mom and soon falls in with a group of low level hackers at his highschool (yes, there are echelons of hacking according to this movie.) A young and very hot Angelina Jolie is Murphy's love interest and rival hacker named (Acid Burn); they go back and forth with the love hate relationship in this movie, but this is just the subplot of the film.

The main plot involves Overrides lame hacker friend (Joey), who trying to impress his friends accidentally copies a garbage file from a major oil corporation that would expose a couple corrupt executives syphoning money. This is where we get our villian, the best and worst part of this movie. Our main villian is Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit1 and 2 and a litany of television appearances) who's a hacker ,and the C.T.O of the oil company who rides a skateboard everywhere and only lets people call him " The Plague" ( someone actually calls him Mr.The Plague). Our secondary villian is Lorraine Brocca (The Sopranos, Goodfellas) as a ditzy C.E.O who blindly follows everything The Plague suggests. They're an odd mismatched pair and look like Jessie and James of team rocket if James grew a beard.

The Plague plans to blame Dade and his friends for a hack he created to syphon money from the oil company. The movie is pretty much a expose the douchey evil corporate fatcats who oppress our lives and try to blame us for their misdeeds.

The movie is very campy and ridiculous throughout(Especially Matthew Lillard), but it's also fun. Of course the way they show hacking in this movie is nothing like real life, but how awesome would it be if it was. This movie is like if hacker who was a videogame and anime junkie got to direct a movie. It's ultra 90s awesomeness, and you can totally see elements from this film that have inspired the amazing show Mr.Robot. Yes, this movie is dumb but it's too much fun to pass up.

4/5.

P.s. awesome hacker names in this movie.

Phantom Phreak Crash Override.

Cereal Killer Acid Burn.

Lord Nikon Zero Cool.