Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
I realize in writing this that Hackers is not one of the worst movies ever to be made. To some, it may even be one of the best. I’ll concede that. However, I think that now, and possibly down the road a pace, there are several people who may not want this one on their permanent list of movies they want to be remembered for. The ones that come to mind first are Angelina Jolie, who was not that far away from her Oscar winning performance in Girl Interrupted, and less obviously, Jonny Lee Miller and everyone else in the cast except Matthew Lillard, who was in a word, awesome in this movie.
No matter how much we like this movie, we have to admit that performances are not the strong suit for the film. The story gets our attention, and the stylish set design, geek environments, cool music and costume design keeps it there. The colors are good, the pace is fast, and the story appealing to all the cyber geeks in the world who all fancy themselves heroes capable of saving the planet with their single-minded devotion to their computers. Now me, I couldn’t hack my way through a salami with a meat cleaver. But I can appreciate the appeal.
Iain Softley brings this as his second film, the first Backbeat, was about the Dead Beatle Sutcliffe, and he has since done Wings of the Dove , a period piece, and K-Pax, 2001, a movie I personally liked a lot. This one is pretty much devoid of the sensitivity shown in his more recent efforts, and is instead focused on being hip. The high school where the movie was filmed is a an elite and very real high school in Manhattan, and many of the extras were students at the school. It is fascinating to watch now, and hard to watch the “advanced technology” of the day with the same fascination we watched with in 1995, before half the world was on the Net.
The movie follows the standard 'brilliant misunderstood teen' format but it gets a little more interesting in that none of these kids appear to have fathers. They are all living with their strong career minded mothers. And the kids have a mission greater than raging hormones, although their hormones do rage. Because a super OLDER hacker has a diabolical plan, which will, incidentally create a global Exon Valdez situation, while he absconds with a paltry 25 million dollars.
So we are able to see the hackers beat back evil, as well as have a lot of fun doing it. The feds don’t have a clue, and the bosses, exemplified by Margo (Lorraine Bracco) just don’t get it. The world belongs to the hackers. You may notice that money does not seem to be an obstacle for the technology that was extremely expensive in 1995.
Best Lines in the movie:
(Crash Override:) Mess with the best and Die Like the Rest.
(Dade:) B-l-o-w Me
(The Plague:) Thank You.
(Acid Burn:) God gave men brains bigger than dogs’ so they wouldn’t hump women’s legs at cocktail parties.
THE PLOT
Hang in there, this won’t take long.
The movie credits roll as we watch a young Dade Murphy chastised and punished for hacking into computer mainframes and instilling a virus that messed with Wall Street. It is a quick jump to 1995, where the terms of the kid’s probation a (not to own or touch a computer or telephone until he is 18 years old) are lifted on his birthday, and he is hacking into MTV programming. We find he and his mother have moved to New York for his senior year.
The new high school (although we are not told this ) is a special elite school for math and technology freaks, and there are several computer geeks and hackers who Dade gets tight with, including a guy named Phantom Phreak, who acts as sort of a guide, Cereal Killer, who is savvy but seems to be a little off his nut (although looks are deceiving) , a kid named Joey, and Kate Libby, otherwise known as Acid Burn. Kate Libby is sexy and competitive and knows how to dress. Her mother is a famous author.
They spend a fair amount of time showing off their skills to each other. Then one day Joey hacks into a mainframe computer (Gibson) and downloads a “garbage” file. It turns out this file has something the bad guys and the feds want badly. In order to get Joey released, they need to go and find out what’s on the disc. And of course the job ultimately boils down to Crash and Burn.
THE CAST
Jonny Lee Miller as Dade Murphy/Crash Override/Zero Cool. As much as I’d like to say I was impressed with this kid’s acting ability, I can’t. Flat and uninteresting all the way. Probably struggling with trying to sound American. He was 23 years old when this was filmed, but has been acting on TV and films since he was 10 years old.
Angelina Jolie as Kate Libby (Acid Burn) This movie turned her into a teen icon, and Lara Croft was certainly a logical followup to this role. I still have to say there was very little to her performance but her looks to recommend it. I would not mention it on my credits if I were Ms. Jolie. Of course, I would also deny the Lara Croft thing, and probably avoid talking about the one she did with Denzel Washington as well. She was 20 years old when this movie was released.
Jessie Bradford as Joey Pardella. Vote him as the cast member the most changed since this film was made. He was the only one that seemed to be his age. He was 14 when the movie was filmed, and did a passable job. Given his ability, however, this may turn to be a major embarrassment for him some day.
Matthew Lillard as Emmanuel Goldstein (Cereal Killer) looking neither Jewish or Puerto Rican, his character was created by a generation frustrated by the fact that they didn’t get to go to Woodstock. He is by far the most interesting and fun character in this piece, with a bizarre personal style of dressing, most of the most intelligent quotes, and a good heart as well. He was also the oldest of the kids pictured here, 25 at the filming. He has been in some really stinking movies, and a few good ones. I think he is an excellent actor, and I believed him as a teenager, where I couldn’t believe Miller and Jolie.
Laurence Mason as Paul Cook (Lord Nikon)..a relatively small role as one of the geeks.
Renoly Santiago as Ramon Sanchez/Phantom Phreak -this kid isn’t bad, but he’s doomed to character acting, I am afraid. In Con Air, he played an effeminate prisoner. Very strange.
Fisher Stevens as Eugene Belford/the Plague-now if I were this guy, I would leave this off my resume. This fellow can act, does Shakespear, and deserved a better role than this one.
Alberta Watson as Lauren Murphy-A good Mom, who is nothing but honorable. Does a lot of TV, and does it well.
Lorraine Bracco as Margo, the publicity agent for the company that fronted Belford, the bad guy. Loraine had done a movie with Connery, and it seemed to me that she could have done better than this part in this movie. She plays computer DUMB in a way that marks her as a victim.
Wendell Pierce as Agent Gill-this is his type of character roll, and it fits.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
Oh you should definitely watch this movie, especially if you need a little lift about the future of teen-agers. However, you would do well to remember that few of these actors were teen-agers, and fewer still gave anything close to what they should have been capable of. It’s still fun to watch it. I can’t complain. IMDB reports a gross of 7.54 million in the US, but I can’t help but think that estimate is low since everyone I know seems to love it, and own a copy of the DVD.
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See Simply_Crispy’s profile page for links to their reviews!
A young hacker prodigy meets other kids like himself when he and his mother move cross-country and settle in New York City. High school takes on a new...More at Family Video
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