Hackers (film)

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Hackers
Poster design by Dawn Patrol[1]
Directed byIain Softley
Written byRafael Moreu
Produced byMichael Peyser
StarringJonny Lee Miller
Angelina Jolie
Jesse Bradford
Matthew Lillard
Fisher Stevens
Lorraine Bracco
Renoly Santiago
Laurence Mason
CinematographyAndrzej Sekuła
Edited byChris Blunden
Martin Walsh
Music bySimon Boswell
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
September 15, 1995
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$7,563,728 (US)[2]

Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens. The film follows the exploits of a group of gifted high school hackers and their involvement in a corporate extortion conspiracy.

Plot summary

In 1988, Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (age 11) is arrested and charged with crashing 1,507 systems in one day and causing a single-day 7-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction, his family is fined with $45,000 and he is banned from owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday. Seven years later, Dade (Jonny Lee Miller) calls a local television station, dupes the security guard into giving him the modem's phone number and successfully hacks into the station's computer network, changing the current TV program to an episode of The Outer Limits. However, Dade is "attacked" by a hacker (handle "Acid Burn") on the same network. During the conversation, Dade identifies himself by the new alias, Crash Override, to hide his old alias.

Dade enrolls at Stanton High School in New York, where he meets Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie), who is assigned to take him on a tour of the school. After Dade learns that Kate is "Acid Burn", they feud over who is the better hacker. The real trouble begins when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into an Ellington Mineral Company supercomputer to prove to the rest of the group that he is an elite hacker. To validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT employee Hal (Penn Jillette) detects this unauthorized entry and summons computer security officer Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens) to deal with the problem. He realizes the file being downloaded can prove that The Plague is stealing from the company via salami slicing. The Plague enlists the U.S. Secret Service to recover the file by claiming that it is the code to Da Vinci, a computer virus that will capsize the company's oil tanker fleet and he needs that code to destroy the virus.

Joey is arrested and his computer is searched, but the Secret Service finds nothing, as Joey has hidden the disk containing the files. In response, Dade and Kate decide to settle their disagreements with a hacking duel, with hacks focused on harassing Secret Service Agent Richard Gill (Wendell Pierce), a known enemy to the hackers, who was involved in Joey's arrest. Kate and Dade's hacker friends—Ramon "Phantom Phreak" Sanchez" Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein and Paul "Lord Nikon" Cook act as judges. After being released on parole, Joey reveals the disk to Phantom Phreak in a public park; but they quickly realize that they are being followed by the Secret Service. The next day, Phreak is arrested. He uses his phone call to inform Kate that he hid the disk in a boy's bathroom at school. That evening, Kate and Cereal Killer ask Dade for his help; but, because of his record, he declines. Kate then asks Dade to copy the disk so that, if anyone else is arrested, they have the disk as evidence. After determining that Dade is not the one who hacked into Ellington, The Plague attempts to enlist Dade's help to find the one who did. First, he offers Dade a free high-powered laptop. Later, he threatens to have Dade's mother incarcerated with a manufactured criminal record. At this, Dade agrees to deliver Kate's copy of the disk.

Meanwhile, Kate, Lord Nikon, and Cereal Killer attempt to discern the contents of the disk. Dade joins them; and, after working all night, they learn the truth—it's designed to salami-slice $25 million from Ellington transactions. Dade reveals that he knows Plague is behind this scheme, because he was the one who wanted Kate's copy of the disk. He admits he gave Plague the disk and reveals his earlier hacking history. Determined to stop the scheme, the assembled hackers plan to hack the Gibson again. Kate and Dade go dumpster-diving for employee memos with passwords; Cereal Killer installs a hidden microphone in the Ellington offices; and Nikon poses as a delivery boy wandering the Ellington cubicles, memorizing employee passwords as they enter them. From the memos, they discover the Da Vinci virus is set to capsize the oil fleet the next day, which would provide the perfect cover to distract from the salami-slicing worm. In need of help, they seek out Razor and Blade, the producers of a hacker-themed pirate TV show, "Hack the Planet."

The next morning, they evade the Secret Service and converge on Grand Central station, where they use payphones to begin their assault on the Gibson. At first, their attempts are easily rebuffed by Plague, who calls Dade to warn him to escape before he is arrested. However, Razor and Blade have contacted hackers around the world, who lend their support with virus attacks, distracting Plague long enough for Dade to download the incriminating file to a floppy disk.

Shortly after crashing the Gibson, Dade and company are arrested. As they're being led away, Dade surreptitiously informs Cereal Killer, hiding in the crowd, that he's tossed the disk in a trashcan. As Dade and Kate are being interrogated, Razor and Blade jam the local television signals and broadcast live video of Cereal Killer, revealing the plot and Plague's complicity. Plague is arrested when he tries to flee to Japan under the alias "Mr. Babbage." Their names cleared, Dade and Kate go on a date at a swimming pool on the roof of a building, their friends showing off their latest hack—the lights in several adjacent office buildings spelling out "CRASH AND BURN."

Cast and Credits

Production

Screenplay

The screenplay, written by Rafael Moreu, is highly inspired by the hacker and cyberpunk subcultures.[4] He saw the film as more than just about computer hacking but something much larger: "In fact, to call hackers a counterculture makes it sound like they're a transitory thing; I think they're the next step in human evolution."[5] He had been interested in hacking since the early 1980s. After the crackdown in the United States during 1989 and 1990, he decided to write a script about the subculture. For research, Moreu went to a meeting organized by the New York-based hacker magazine 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. There, he met Phiber Optik, a.k.a. Mark Abene, a 22-year-old hacker who spent most of 1994 in prison on hacking charges.[5] Moreu also hung out with other young hackers being harassed by the government and began to figure out how it would translate into a film. He remembered, "One guy was talking about how he'd done some really interesting stuff with a laptop and payphones and that cracked it for me, because it made it cinematic".[5]

Pre-production

The cast spent three weeks learning how to type, rollerblade and got to know each other. They also read a lot about computers and met with actual computer hackers.[6] Actor Jonny Lee Miller even attended a hacker's convention.[7]

Shooting

The school scenes were filmed in Stuyvesant High School and the surrounding area in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan in November 1994.[8]

Post-Production

Softley did not use CGI for any of the sequences in cyberspace. He said they used "more-conventional methods of motion control, animation, models, and rotoscoping to create a real, three-dimensional world, because... computer graphics alone can sometimes lend a more flat, sterile image."[4]

Marketing

MGM/UA set up a website for Hackers that soon afterwards was allegedly hacked by a group called the "Internet Liberation Front." A photograph of the film's stars Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller were doodled upon, and the words "this is going to be an entertaining fun promotional site for a movie," were replaced with "this is going to be a lame, cheesy promotional site for a movie!" The studio maintained the site during the theatrical run of the movie in its altered form.[4][9][10]

Soundtrack

The music soundtrack was released in 3 separate volumes over a number of years. The first volume was composed entirely of music featured in the film (with the exception of Carl Cox's "Phoebus Apollo"), while the second and third are a mix of music "inspired by the film" as well as music actually in the film. The most featured song in the movie is "Voodoo People" by The Prodigy.

Some tracks are by Guy Pratt. According to Pratt on Twitter,[11] they feature an uncredited guitar performance by David Gilmour.

Hackers

Complete Track List from Hackers Soundtracks

"Hackers"

  1. "Original Bedroom Rockers" - Kruder & Dorfmeister
  2. "Cowgirl" - Underworld
  3. "Voodoo People" – The Prodigy
  4. "Open Up" – Leftfield (feat. John Lydon)
  5. "Phoebus Apollo" – Carl Cox
  6. "The Joker" - Josh Abrahams
  7. "Halcyon and On and On" - Orbital
  8. "Communicate" (Headquake Hazy Cloud Mix) - Plastico
  9. "One Love" – The Prodigy
  10. "Connected" - Stereo MCs
  11. "Eyes, Lips, Body" (Mekon Vocal Mix) - Ramshackle
  12. "Good Grief" – Urban Dance Squad
  13. "Richest Junkie Still Alive" (Sank Remix) - Machines of Loving Grace
  14. "Heaven Knows" - Squeeze

Hackers 2: Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture 'Hackers'

  1. "Firestarter" (Empirion mix) - The Prodigy
  2. "Toxygene" - The Orb
  3. "Little Wonder" (Danny Saber Dance Mix) - David Bowie
  4. "Fire" - Scooter
  5. "Narcotic Influence 2" - Empirion
  6. "Remember" - BT
  7. "Go" - Moby
  8. "Inspection" (Check One) - Leftfield
  9. "Cherry Pie" - Underworld
  10. "To Be Loved" (Disco Citizens R&D Edit)[Mix] - Luce Drayton
  11. "Speed Freak" (Moby Remix) - Orbital
  12. "Get Ready to Bounce" (Radio Attack) - Brooklyn Bounce
  13. "Off Shore" (Disco Citizens Edit) - Chicane
  14. "Original" - Leftfield

Hackers 3

  1. "Why Can't It Stop" - Moby
  2. "Godspeed" (BT Edit Mix) - BT
  3. "Absurd" (Whitewash Mix) - Fluke
  4. "Quiet Then" - Cloak
  5. "I Am Fresh" - Monkey Mafia
  6. "Phuture 2000" (Radio Edit) - Carl Cox
  7. "An Fhomhair" - Orbital
  8. "Fashion" (Ian Pooley Mix) - Phunky Data
  9. "Psychopath" (Leftfield Mix) - John Lydon
  10. "Stop & Panic" - Cirrus
  11. "Strong in Love" - Chicane
  12. "Hack the Planet" - Brooklyn Bounce
  13. "Diskette" - Simon Boswell
  14. "Launch Divinci" - Simon Boswell

Additional information

Songs featured in the film but not appearing on any soundtracks:

  • "Connection" - Performed by Elastica
  • "Real Wild Child" - Written by Johnny O'Keefe, Johnny Greenan and 'Dave Owen (VIII)' (as Dave Owens)
  • "Protection" - Performed by Massive Attack
  • "Combination" - Performed by Guy Pratt
  • "Grand Central Station" - Performed by Deep Cover

Reception

Hackers earned mostly negative reviews. Some critics praised the film for its stylish visuals but criticized its unconvincing look at hackers and their subculture. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "The movie is smart and entertaining, then, as long as you don't take the computer stuff very seriously. I didn't. I took it approximately as seriously as the archeology in Indiana Jones".[12] On the show Siskel & Ebert, Ebert gave the film thumbs up while Gene Siskel gave the film thumbs down, saying, "I didn't find the characters that interesting and I really didn't like the villain in this piece. I thought Fisher Stevens was not very threatening... The writing is so arch".[13]

In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Stack wrote, "Want a believable plot or acting? Forget it. But if you just want knockout images, unabashed eye candy and a riveting look at a complex world that seems both real and fake at the same time, Hackers is one of the most intriguing movies of the year".[14] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Despite her sullen posturing, which is all this role requires, Ms. Jolie has the sweetly cherubic looks of her father, Jon Voight".[15] USA Today gave the film three out of four stars and Mike Clark wrote, "When a movie's premise repels all rational analysis, speed is the make-or-break component. To its credit, Hackers recalls the pumped-up energy of Pump Up the Volume, as well as its casting prowess".[16] In his review for the Toronto Star, Peter Goddard wrote, "Hackers joy-rides down the same back streets Marlon Brando did in The Wild One, or Bruce Springsteen does in Born To Run. It gives all the classic kicks of the classic B-flicks, with more action than brains, cool hair and hot clothes, and all the latest tech revved to the max".[17]

However, in his review for the Los Angeles Times, David Kronke wrote, "All this is courtesy of the short-circuited imagination of Rafael Moreu, making his feature screenwriting debut, and director Iain Softley, who hopes that if he piles on the attitude and stylized visuals, no one will notice just how empty and uninvolving the story really is. All the sound and fury in the world can't disguise the fact that yowling music, typing montages and computer animation do not a gripping finale make".[18] In his review for the Washington Post, Hal Hinson wrote, "As its stars, Miller and Jolie seem just as one-dimensional—except that, in their case, the effect is intentional".[19] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "D" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "What's most grating about Hackers, however, is the way the movie buys in to the computer-kid-as-elite-rebel mystique currently being peddled by magazines like Wired".[20]

The film has a metascore of 46 on Metacritic[21] and a 31% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hackers Poster. IMP Awards Gallery. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  2. ^ "Hackers at Box Office Mojo". Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  3. ^ Hackers (1995) - Trivia. IMDb. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  4. ^ a b c Hackers MGM DVD 8-page booklet featuring trivia, production notes and a revealing look at the making of the film.
  5. ^ a b c McClellan, Jim (January 8, 1995). "Cyberspace: The Hack Pack". The Observer.
  6. ^ "Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie - The Happy Couple". Empire. June 1996.
  7. ^ Penfold, Phil (May 3, 1996). "Good Work If You Can Hack It". The Herald.
  8. ^ "Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association, Inc. - SHS | Stuyvesant High School". SHSAA. 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2010-04-16.
  9. ^ Hacked website - Original MGM/UA website after defacement by the Internet Liberation Front (on Archive.org)
  10. ^ Original MGM/UA website (on Archive.org)
  11. ^ "believe it or not David!" in reply to "who did the David'esque guitars on't 'Hackers' OST?"
  12. ^ Ebert, Roger (September 15, 1995). "Hackers". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  13. ^ Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert (September 15, 1995). Siskel & Ebert At The Movies: Hackers (Television Production). Chicago, IL: Buena Vista Television. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  14. ^ Stack, Peter (September 15, 1995). "Hackers Computes Visually". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  15. ^ Maslin, Janet (September 15, 1995). "Those Wacky Teen-Agers and Their Crazy Fads". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  16. ^ Clark, Mike (September 15, 1995). "Hackers accesses thrills". USA Today. pp. 4D.
  17. ^ Goddard, Peter (September 16, 1995). "Great road movie for info highway". Toronto Star. pp. C8.
  18. ^ Kronke, David (September 15, 1995). "Hackers: World of Hip Computer Nerds". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-09-02.[dead link]
  19. ^ Hinson, Hal (September 15, 1995). "Hackers". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  20. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 6, 1995). "Hackers". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
  21. ^ Hackers. Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  22. ^ Hackers. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-04-20.

External links