Hackers (Movie)

Hackers
File:Hackers 1995 poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Iain Softley
Written by	Rafael Moreu
Produced by	Michael Peyser
Cinematography	Andrzej Sekuła
Edited by	Chris Blunden
Music by	Simon Boswell
Production company	United Artists
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	September 15, 1995 (1995-09-15) (US)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$7.5 million

Hackers is a 1995 American techno-thriller film directed by Iain Softley and written by Rafael Moreu. The film stars Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Fisher Stevens, Matthew Lillard, and Lorraine Bracco. It follows a group of teenage hackers who uncover a corporate extortion conspiracy and must use their technical skills to expose the real villain.

While initially a box-office disappointment, *Hackers* gained a cult following for its stylized portrayal of hacker culture, cyberpunk aesthetic, and early depiction of the internet. It has since been recognized as a key influence in popular representations of hacking and digital counterculture.

Plot

In 1988, 11-year-old hacker Dade Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller), under the alias "Zero Cool", is arrested for crashing 1,507 computers and banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday.

Seven years later, now calling himself "Crash Override", Dade moves to New York City and quickly becomes involved with a group of underground hackers including Kate Libby ("Acid Burn", played by Angelina Jolie), Cereal Killer (Matthew Lillard), and Lord Nikon (Laurence Mason). They compete in online exploits and pranks while exploring the digital world of payphones, modems, and early internet systems.

When Joey (Jesse Bradford), the youngest of the group, hacks into a supercomputer belonging to the Ellingson Mineral Company and unknowingly downloads part of a file related to a scheme called the "Da Vinci" virus, he triggers the attention of the company’s security officer, Eugene “The Plague” Belford (Fisher Stevens).

Belford frames the hackers for a planned ecological disaster, demanding a multi-million dollar ransom to "stop" the virus. The group must rally together, uncover the truth, and use their collective hacking skills to clear their names and expose the real criminal.

Cast

• Jonny Lee Miller as Dade Murphy / "Crash Override" / "Zero Cool"
• Angelina Jolie as Kate Libby / "Acid Burn"
• Fisher Stevens as Eugene Belford / "The Plague"
• Matthew Lillard as Emmanuel Goldstein / "Cereal Killer"
• Laurence Mason as Paul Cook / "Lord Nikon"
• Jesse Bradford as Joey Pardella
• Renoly Santiago as Ramón Sánchez / "Phantom Phreak"
• Lorraine Bracco as Margo Wallace
• Wendell Pierce as Agent Richard Gill
• Alberta Watson as Dade’s mother

Production

• Hackers* was filmed in and around New York City and London in 1994. Director Iain Softley sought to portray a heightened, stylized vision of hacker culture, blending cyberpunk influences with a glossy MTV-era aesthetic. The script was based on real-life hacker stories, though the visuals are deliberately fantastical.

To prepare for their roles, the cast received basic lessons in computer literacy and underground hacker terminology. Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller met on set and were briefly married after the film’s release.

The score was composed by Simon Boswell and supplemented by a now-famous electronic music soundtrack featuring tracks by The Prodigy, Underworld, Orbital, Leftfield, and Carl Cox. The soundtrack has been credited with helping define the techno-industrial aesthetic of 1990s cyberculture.

Reception

• Hackers* was released on September 15, 1995, and earned $7.5 million against a $20 million budget, making it a box office failure. Critical reception at the time was mixed, with some praising its style but criticizing the unrealistic portrayal of hacking.

Roger Ebert gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "smart and entertaining" despite being "wildly implausible." The *Los Angeles Times* wrote that it "gets the style right but the substance wrong."

Over time, *Hackers* became a cult classic. Its fashion, music, and hyper-realistic visuals have been reappraised as prescient or emblematic of the mid-1990s digital zeitgeist.

Legacy

• Hackers* is considered one of the most influential portrayals of hacker subculture in film, despite its inaccuracies. It helped establish a cinematic language for depicting cyberspace, often favoring style over technical realism. The film popularized terms and tropes still used in media depictions of hacking.

The movie has been cited as an influence by cybersecurity professionals and hacker communities, and screenings remain popular at tech conferences and retro film festivals.

In 2015, the film was re-released for its 20th anniversary and has been preserved through Blu-ray and digital editions.

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack to *Hackers* was released in 1995 and later followed by two additional volumes due to its popularity. Notable tracks include:

• "Halcyon + On + On" – Orbital
• "Voodoo People" – The Prodigy
• "Cowgirl" – Underworld
• "Little Wonder" – David Bowie (later featured in promos)

See also

• Cyberpunk
• WarGames
• Sneakers (film)
• Hacking in popular culture
• List of cult films
• Information warfare

External links

• Hackers at IMDb
• Rotten Tomatoes – *Hackers*
• Soundtrack.net – *Hackers* OST
• Electronic Frontier Foundation