Movies and The Internet--HACKERS

I'm gonna take a break from my running journal and jump back into my series on films and the internet, with 1995's HACKERS. I was under the impression this film was older than THE NET, but it turns out they were released in the same year. Let's see what HACKERS has to offer.

Our protagonist, Dade Murphy (aka Zero Cool, aka Crash Override) is played by Johnny Lee Miller, who met and married Angelina Jolie after making this film. Jolie plays Kate Libby (aka Acid Burn), and she first meets Dade while they are simultaneously hacking some cable TV company.

Dade just moved to NYC, so he goes to his new high school and immediately meets the dynamic Kate, but he has to use his hacking skills to ensure they are in the same class.

Damn, if only I'd been more of a nerd, I could have used computers to help woo my high school crushes!

It's great how Dade immediately falls in with the cool hacking crowd at his school, especially because it allows him to meet this wannabe Jedi:

They don't really explain why he answers the door like that.

Eventually Crash, Burn and co. take on a company where they have uncovered one of those Superman 3 money-skimming schemes, and that means taking on Penn (minus Teller) and Fisher Stevens' hack team:

They need a bit of help, so they call in the international hackers, first going to London:

I'm fairly certain that is a real shot from London, but they must have blown their budget getting it, so they resort to inventive set design to replicate these Japanese hackers:

Well, that about sums up the plot, let's take a look at some favorite scenes of mine:

There are multiple shots of boys taking showers in HACKERS, perhaps they wanted to make a statement about the stigma of smelly computer nerds. I suspect, however, that they were appealing to the ladies' demands to see Johnny Lee shirtless:

If Matthew Lillard has ever looked funnier, please let me know.

That hooded-guy actually ends up being this cool dude who pulls a Living Color, Corey Glover move donning this goalkeeper jersey and spinning records:

Hacking mostly involves sitting at a desk and typing, so let's make it more extreme and hack on top of buildings!

In perhaps one of the most regrettable scenes ever put to film, someone thought Dade acting out his Travis Bickle was a good idea.

Finally, I couldn't stop thinking about how British actor Johnny Lee Miller must have practiced his American accent while watching FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF. Take a listen.

Well, do you hear it?

HACK THE PLANET!