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List Price: $4.94 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 17786
Released: April 4, 2000 |
| Our Price: $6.54 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape |
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Editorial Review:
As a depiction of the computer-hacker underground, this movie is bogus to the bone. As a thriller, it's cartoonish and conventional. The premise (computer-happy kids hack into the wrong system, and the Forces of Repression come after them) is recycled from John Badham's 1983 WarGames. And the corporate-creep bad guy, played by Fisher Stevens, steeples his fingers and growls mossy villainous clichés. ("By the time they realize the truth, we'll be long gone with all the money.") For all its postmodern trappings the movie is working with sub-prehistoric storytelling tools. But it does succeed on one level, as a movie about adolescent bonding and alienation. The director, Iain Softley, helmed the Beatles-in-Hamburg biopic Backbeat, and he seems to have an instinct for the emotions that pull kids together around common interests and the insecurities that drive them apart. The familiar crises of loyalty and betrayal have an ache of real loneliness. It doesn't hurt that the two stars, Jonny Lee Miller (Sick Boy Williamson in Trainspotting) and Angelina Jolie (Gia), are just about equally gorgeous and charismatic; their longing glances steam up the screen. --David Chute
Hackers Reviews:
Hackers Movie 
2008-09-09 - This earlier Jolie movie exemplifies what innate talent the girl had even back then. It was great to see some of the other cast that went on to Scream, Con Air and some others. Definitely makes light of what the current technology was then and how it became ancient history in a short amount of time.
So bad it's good!
2008-09-09 - One of my favorite films ever, hands down! Yes, it's extremely unrealistic in every respect (from the way they look to the way they hack). It's not supposed to be realistic! If you pop this into your DVD expecting a serious exploration of the subculture of hackers, you'll be thoroughly disappointed, and maybe even mad. So know what you're getting into... This movie isn't about realism. It's about pure fun. If you suspend your disbelief and go with the flow, you're bound to enjoy the ride. Being a New Yorker, I especially well relate to the setting. I was the same age as the characters and the actors who portray them when this movie first came out. Being 20, hanging out at the arcade, going to parties atop skyscrapers and running around subway platforms - computers or not, for me it's quintessential New York of the mid-90s. And the actors? Angelina Jolie was a barely known teenager when this was filmed, and already she had a screen presence impossible to ignore. The interaction between the actors seems very natural, and every bit of it is fun. "Check it out, it's got a 28.8 bps modem!... Baby's sweeeet!" Absolutely hilarious.
Extremely accurate
2008-09-04 - This was the most accurate portrayal of hacking I have ever seen. The speed at which they are able to connect via analog modem was also very accurate. I thought that the personal, proprietary browser and instant messaging technology added a very interesting aspect to the film. If it wasn't for this movie, I would never have seen those kickflippin' graphics with the jail bars that load so quickly when you try talk to a corporate computer. The soundtrack also very accurate, as well as the references to the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture, were a real testament to the research the film company had to have done. By far, the most impressive and accurate character in this film is Mr. The Plague -- as a security expert myself, I felt the portrayal of his work environment could have itself been a picture of my very own work! (Except my work environment sadly does not feature Penn of Penn & Teller, nor is my skateboard quite as retro, but still)
The fact that prompts are plain text now but in 1995 they were huge, wavy, green letters just goes to show the degree to which Microsoft has slowed progress in the computer market.
I think this film wholly does inspire us to 'hack the planet'.
Cult classic at it's best
2008-05-19 - Ok, this is a cheesy movie. It glorifies the life of a hacker, and over-simplifies things so the audience doesn't get completely lost.
But the movie plays off of that. It's a classic, some will get it and will love it, others will not.
Either case, Angelina Jolie looks amazing back when she looked a little more natural.
great movie
2008-02-02 - yeah, this is one of many angelina jolie movies that was pretty good, other good actors in it too!
