Hackers (1995)

It's a fun little movie. Yeah, it's a dated product of it's time. For me that's a charm. The 'hacking' is dumb; but if you let go of that stuff it is an enjoyable movie.

You can tell this was made for teenagers simply because it involves high school scenes, and I just love how the business's administrator goes around telling him to call him by his nickname and rides a skateboard through the whole business. Then with the teenagers, when one "hacks" the school's system to set off the fire sprinklers for a girl's revenge, I can't help but laugh at the whole situation, he's got an umbrella and if the school knew who did this, it would get him a nice introduction of the police along with a very possible sue to at least pay for the damage.I will admit, when I first saw this movie in the 90's, you could call it a favorite movie. But I have to say, when I look at it later on, I can't help but laugh at a good majority of the movie, especially the whole Hacker term. The term Hacker at least in the IT field is nothing but a computer nerd, someone who can analyze things to understand how they work. Usually doing this to customize products for their needs, or just understanding how they work out of curiosity. Apple Computer's co-founder Steve Wozniak is a classic example of a true Hacker.

Yes, Hackers rests comfortably on a throne of mediocrity. Its time and place etched into the American cultural psyche: 1995. The Information Superhighway was making its way into the lexicon, digital graphics were revolutionizing film-making (specifically compositing, and very soon outright fabrication would be feasible [3D]), and the media started talking about how computers would eventually replace TV's.And riding this wave of media buzzwords, cultural trend, and just plain mythology–yes, some of this film is quite simply false–was the film Hackers. A veritable "magic carpet ride" into the a cultural mythology that vaguely resembled the reality of the information age. This film was very topical and current; watching this is partially like opening a time capsule from 1995. In fact, if there are any -actual- time capsules from 1995 to be opened in 2045 (or whatever), I hope they include this film. They probably should include a projector too, and an explanation of what celluloid is and how to thread it... but I digress.But, I have to look at it on its own merit.So, here are the cons: The characters are one-dimensional and cliché–and I mean, bad. It's style hasn't aged particularly well–like I said it was riding a cultural wave that partially imaginary. Its villain is dopey and unhateable. Its plot is strangely slow. You would expect the film to move faster than it does–it really doesn't get started until about 30 minutes in. Most of what it is doing before then is showboating and character development; however as I said the characters are horrifyingly clichéd and watching them develop narratively was uninteresting. Factual errors galore. They've been picked apart down to the letter, no need to rehash. Ubiquitous montage and b- roll sequences to burn screen time–and every last one of them tacky as all hell.Here are the pros: It captured the imagination of a nation at the time and, to some extent, contributed to the "nerds are cool" attitude. I personally would have been thrilled to grow up when nerds were cool–but I'm happy to take a few arse-kickings for the team. It has a definite spunkiness to it and the young characters represent essentially the new (at the time) techno rebels. The plot is relatively solid, once it gets going. And, it's fun. It may not be great, but it's fun.The soundtrack is a slightly mixed bag, it has a few atrocities but is mostly solid (UNDERWORLD).12 years later, this film is definitely showing its age. It certainly is not terrible, and has some good qualities to it. But it certainly is no masterpiece. You can choose to take the bad with the good and enjoy it, or you can choose not to suspend your disbelief and get irritated with it.

Hackers is directed by Iain Softley and written by Rafael Moreu. It stars Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason, Renoly Santiago, Fisher Stevens and Lorraine Bracco. Music is scored by Simon Boswell and Guy Pratt and cinematography by Andrzej Sekula. Young Dade Murphy (Miller) gets banned from touching a computer again until his 18th birthday because of a infamous hacking stunt. Moving to New York with his mum, Dade meets like-minded techno heads at his new school. When one of them hacks into a scam masterminded by The Plague (Stevens), the gang find themselves framed and have to not only clear their names, but also avert computer catastrophe.I desperately don't want to be one of this middle aged squares who frowns at teenagers, I consistently worry about the widening generational gap. Yet Hackers is irritating beyond compare, a film that, were I a teenage techno geek, would probably be on my "epic" favourites list. The 90s saw a rush of cyberspace/computer based thrillers, think The Net, Antitrust, The Lawnmower Man et al, none of which had the savvy nous or intelligence of War Games a decade earlier or Sneakers from 92. The main problem with Hackers is that it forgoes plot in favour of bombarding the viewer with techno babble and flashy visuals, it thinks it's being immeasurably cool by having this bunch of genius hacker kids (who conveniently all go to the same school) take on the establishment, but it's desperately shallow and comes off as an excuse to showcase some pretty young things in a world that the writers know nothing about.Computer based crime is very real, now more than ever, and it's frightening, but this never comes to the fore here, the peril is preposterous and pushed to the sidelines. In fact the only thing scary here is Matthew Lillard's pig-tail plats! Softley, who made the rather great Backbeat, is more content with MTV style coolness than making his film stand on its own thematic two feet. It's all very colourful, but even the gorgeous colour only serves to make this teen hacker world seem like a space age cartoon, the fashions more at home in an episode of The Jetsons. If it was Softley and the writer's intention to create an alien teen world, one that the adults are bemused by, then that would be impressive, but I really don't think it's that at all, especially since it rings so false. The young actors are enthusiastic, but that's about it, leaving Fisher's villain to hog the limelight, while Bracco is woeful.I can "dig" fanciful entertainment and spandex, but I'd also like a bit of substance with my eye orgasms too, Mr Softley. Thanks but no thanks, dude. 4/10