Fluke_Skywalker I saw this three times in the early autumn of '95, and those admissions likely accounted for about half of its box office. I was dazzled by its visuals and techno-electronica soundtrack, and mesmerized by one of its young stars; a Ms. Angelina Jolie.I knew the instant I saw her that she was going to be a huge star. In fact, many people in the cast--then complete unknowns--would go on to success. Johnny Lee Miller, Matthew Lillard, Jesse Bradford, Marc Anthony, Wendell Pierce. But everything and everyone else ceases to exist when she's on screen.I talked the movie up to everyone who would listen, but my pleas fell on deaf ears. 20 years later it remains one of my favorite films, and as I understand it, it's developed a cult following. Through adult eyes, its "Hack the planet" lip service is pretty obvious for what it is, but strictly as a piece of pop art, I absolutely love this movie.

Sean Kaye I watched this today because it was on cable and all I can say is it was TERRIBLE! REALLY, REALLY TERRIBLE!! It is yet another cheezeball Kalifornia take on "the future", the future in the eyes of some sleezball movie producers trying to cash in on some boring segment of society (hacker kids?) that they totally did't know anything about but wanted to make a few bucks off of because they heard it was "the next big thing".The 'costumes' are so effected, the acting is terrible, Angelina Jolie is here, 20 years old and playing a troubled teenager and her acting is garbage. I've never thought anything of her but now I think even less. Not to rag on her because she's never been anything more than what she was in this movie: some kid who thought she was an actress.I can't believe the woman who played the shrink on the Sopranos had to lower herself to be in this piece of garbage. How sad.

atlasmb "Hackers" is a cyberdrama from 1995 that fails to deliver much drama. The technical aspects of the film might be called "quaint" by today's standards. Of course it is always difficult to create drama on film when most of the action is someone typing on a keyboard. The answer is usually to offer graphic (mis)representations of the internal actions. And maybe to project screen images onto the faces of the typists. This film never generates much heat. The impending catastrophe never feels like it is of consequence. The hackers and their enemies have a conflict that could be described as "cute". In fact, this film is more comedy than drama.The primary actors are all young kids. Seeing Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller (exes who met on this film) in the lead roles offers the greatest joy in Hackers. In 2013, Jonny Lee is now playing Sherlock Holmes in TV's "Elementary" and doing a great job. Angelina has turned in some very good performances since Hackers and is now an icon of American cinema and culture. It is also fun to see Fisher Stevens, Lorraine Bracco, Wendell Pierce (Suits"), Marc Anthony, and Penn Jillette.Dated stories do not have to feel dated. Consider "Wargames" with Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. That story is not just about computer activities; it has a very human story that drives the action. Unfortunately, Hackers does not have that much depth.

HelenMary Hackers is one of the original 90s hacker-slacker tech-geek movies off the back of, and updated, eighties' Matthew Broderick classics like Ferris Beuller and Wargames etc and early 90s films like Sneakers. It is stylized, not true of "real" hacking and the graphics and images (using city streets and building to represent circuitry), similar in look to some cyber parts of Johnny Mnemonic which was out the same year as well as a few other films from around the same time. It's a sexy, funny, much quotable romp with a sub-plot of romance. The main plot is mega-corporation conspiracy to hold tankers to ransom using a computer virus called Da Vinci and it's some College 'elite' hackers vs the FBI to be first to solve who is to blame and clear those who are innocent. Jonny Lee Miller is the hero of the piece and is gorgeous and confident, playing it cool and smooth opposite a young (and already stunning) Angelina Jolie often sans appropriate underwear. She is haughty and cold, and for only her first major film role completely sizzled. The chemistry between her and Miller was smoking, in art as in life.Overall the acting is a little overplayed and I feel that much of the film was tongue in cheek and not to be taken seriously, almost like a comic-strip adaptation. All the characters in the "gang" are larger than life from the extremely weird and intelligence-ambiguous Matthew Lillard as Cereal Killer (as in fruit loops) to the hyper 'boy wonder' Jesse Bradford as underdog-wanting-recognition Joey. Fisher Stevens plays manchild with boytoys 'The Freak' and does the role with crazy eccentricity and hubris together with his equally crazy partner in crime Margo (Lorraine Bracco) who is terminally hammy and over-the-over-the-top of everyone else but in a rather wooden and unconvincing kind of way. Look out for a young Penn Jillette (as in Penn and Teller). It's a great 90s film with a fab soundrack and wardrobe, especially Crash and Burn (Miller and Jolie), and a really exciting finale. However, whilst I like it a lot I don't think it aged well to appeal to a wider generation, but it remains a favourite of mine, which I watch every now and again for giggles and to bring back memories. That all said, the stand out message from this film is most certainly: "Spandex, it's a privilege, not a right!"