30 years later, Hackers is still the perfect hit of ‘90s nostalgia
Under the cover of night, Kate “Acid Burn” Libby and Dade “Crash Override” Murphy are dumpster diving for corporate secrets when a random security officer catches them in the act. Instead of running, they stare at him for a moment until Kate (Angelina Jolie) pulls out a flare gun and fires it right at the guy, casually referring to the weapon as her “subway defense system.”
This off-kilter interaction is just one of many wild moments that make Hackers such an absurd and charming rewatch, 30 years after director Iain Softley unleashed it on the world.
Released on September 15, 1995, Hackers stars Johnny Lee Miller as Dade, a talented hacker, whose unlawful internet activities as a child got him banned from using a computer or “touch-tone phone” until his 18th birthday. With that ban finally lifted, he rediscovers the internet and falls in with a group of high school hackers as they uncover a massive criminal conspiracy. All hell immediately breaks loose. At one point, someone creates a virus that causes oil tankers to capsize. I’m not sure that’s how boats work.
In addition to the absolutely incredible internet handles — Ramon “Phantom Phreak” Sánchez is probably my favorite — Hackers is unintentionally hilarious in so many other ways. Most of its more serious, tense scenes don’t quite stand the test of time. During one moment that’s clearly meant to be heart-pounding, the film’s villain (Fisher Stevens), who prefers to be called “Mr. The Plague” snatches an important floppy disk out of Dade’s hand by holding onto a getaway car while riding a skateboard. (He’s not even going that fast.) He steals the disk, awkwardly skates by, and then slows down to grab back onto the getaway car while Dade looks on, just as confused as I am. Dade waits until the car has accelerated to a normal driving speed before he tries to run after it, so naturally, he can’t keep up. It’s so goofy you can’t even be mad at it.
The hacking scenes are a fever dream, too. One minute Dade is typing into a text box, the next his computer starts playing strange, trippy animations that seem more like a screen saver than anything to do with code. These bizarre interpretations of hacking make Jurassic Park’s infamous “It’s a UNIX system!” scene look totally normal by comparison.
But I can’t fault the flick for any of its shortcomings. The script definitely intends to be funny at times, but even though Hackers kind of biffs it when emotions are meant to be high, it’s still an incredibly fun watch. It tickles the ‘90s kid part of my brain and serves as a charming time capsule of that era. Angelina Jolie wears frosted white eyeshadow, while the male main character is in a red cropped top with dark cargo pants and a confusing set of red straps around his waist and thigh that don’t appear to serve any purpose other than looking cool. People use landlines and cassette tapes and floppy disks, electronics are encased in transparent, colored plastic. Everyone is rollerblading for some reason. People read and collect magazines!
It may not be perfectly accurate from a computer science perspective, but it scratches the nostalgia itch and captures the spirit of the era enough to make me yearn for a time when rollerblades were everywhere, and the worst thing an evil megacorp would want to do with your data is eat it (this is an actual plot point).
Watching Hackers is satisfying, like the sound of a VCR ejecting a VHS tape.