Hackers is a 1995 film that follows the misfortunes of the young hackers Dade Murphy ("Crash Override"/"Zero Cool", played by Jonny Lee Miller), Kate Libby ("Acid Burn", played by Angelina Jolie) and their friends. It was written by Rafael Moreu and directed by Iain Softley.
The movie failed to make a profit at the box-office, but has developed a cult following from its video release despite (or, in many cases, because of) egregious inaccuracies in its portrayal of hacking and hacker culture, one of the most prominent being that metaphorical and graphical sequences are used as a substitute for the real actions involved in hacking and systems administration.
It is the first major film to star future Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie, and helped to launch the career of Matthew Lillard.
In 1988, Seattle youth Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) is arrested and charged, at the age of 11, with crashing 1,507 systems in one day and causing a single-day 7-point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Upon conviction, he is banned from owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones until his 18th birthday.
Shortly before Dade turns 18, his divorced mother Lauren Murphy (Alberta Watson) takes a new job in New York City. Upon turning 18, Dade calls a local television station, dupes the security guard into giving him the modem's phone number (using a tactic known as social engineering) and successfully hacks into the station's computer network, changing the current television program to an episode of The Outer Limits. However, Dade — now identifying himself as "Crash Override" — is "attacked" by a hacker (who goes by the handle "Acid Burn") on the same network and is eventually kicked off.
Dade enrolls in the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, where he meets the beautiful Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie), who is responsible for taking him on a tour of the school. After being told of a "pool on the roof" (which results in Dade and several other students being locked on the roof during a rainstorm) a feud erupts between Dade and Kate. This feud, which spans most of the movie, is umpired by Kate and Dade's mutual friends in the hacking community, Emmanuel Goldstein a.k.a. Cereal Killer (Matthew Lillard), Ramon Sanchez a.k.a. Phantom Phreak (Renoly Santiago), and Paul Cook a.k.a. Lord Nikon (Laurence Mason).
The real trouble erupts when Joey Pardella (Jesse Bradford), the younger, novice hacker of the group, successfully breaks into the supercomputer of a petroleum company, Ellingson Mineral Corporation, to prove to the rest of the clique that he is more than a mere script kiddie. In order to validate this feat, he downloads part of a garbage file. Unfortunately, the company's IT staff detect this unauthorized entry into their systems and summon computer security expert Eugene "The Plague" Belford (Fisher Stevens), himself a former hacker turned amoral Whitehat, to deal with the problem.
After investigating the matter, however, The Plague realizes that the seemingly innocuous file that was downloaded is more than just a garbage file - he himself has been using it as an hidden location from which he has been running an illegal program for years, stealing money from the company via salami slicing. Knowing a hacker would instantly recognize the tricks of the trade and his otherwise cleverly disguised handiwork, The Plague resolves to cover his tracks. He creates an insidious virus ("The DaVinci Virus") and installs it across Ellingson's entire network, then enlists the Secret Service to arrest Joey, dismantle his equipment and confiscate the file for him.
In order to "motivate" Ellingson and the Secret Service in this matter, The Plague's virus leaves a message: unless Ellingson allocates five million US dollars into a numbered bank account within a week, the virus will capsize a large portion of Ellingson's automated tanker fleet, causing a global ecological catastrophe. The full source code for the virus, The Plague claims, is located in the file, and he will need it in order to track down and fully disable the virus that Joey allegedly distributed throughout the system.
When the file is not found, however, due to some quick thinking on Joey's behalf, he is released pending a trial regarding the many other illegal wares discovered in his possession. He brings the file to Kate, Dade and the others in order to see what they make of it in light of his computer having been stripped by The Plague. In doing so, he unwittingly invites the Secret Service and the sinister and driven Mr. Belford to target them one-by-one through arrest, intimidation, and blackmail in an attempt to dissolve all the evidence of the millions upon millions of dollars The Plague has secretly embezzled over the years.
What follows is a frantic battle against The Plague and the Secret Service to exonerate the six friends and reveal the truth before Mr. Belford's program can complete its run, allowing him to disappear with the money and engage his virus, causing untold devastation and permanently erasing all evidence of his crimes.
The protagonist, Zero Cool, is based on Robert Tappan Morris. The Phantom Phreak, a character in the film, may have his name based upon an early hacker who wrote for Phrack magazine.
The name for the Phantom Phreak, may have also come from the fact that gaining access to employee only features and the manipulation of phone systems in general is called "phreaking". In addition, the Phantom Phreak refers to himself as "The King of NYNEX" when he introduces himself to the protagonist, a reference to the telephone company which served the New York City area at the time the movie was produced. His name may also be a reference to "Nynex Phreak," a member of the Masters of Deception (a New York-based hacker group).
The film quotes the Hacker Manifesto (written by Loyd Blankenship, also known as The Mentor) from Phrack magazine, issue 07, file 03 in 1986. In the film, the character reading the manifesto was holding a copy of 2600 magazine, not Phrack. Also, the name of one character, Emmanuel Goldstein ("Cereal Killer"), is borrowed from the pseudonym of Eric Corley, one of the editors of 2600 (Corley got the name from George Orwell's 1984). Corley helped advise the filmmakers on the hacker subculture, but remains a critic of the film's accuracy.
The film also makes a brief allusion to the Macintosh's launch phrase as Phreak exclaims "Yo...this is 'insanely great,' its got a 28.8 kbps modem!" upon seeing Kate's (Acid Burn)new laptop during the party. The racing game briefly featured in the movie was a video prototype created during development of Wipeout. The movie also includes a fictional pirate television show called Hack the Planet. Soundtrack:
Label: Edel America
Original Release Date: June 25th, 1996 (U.S.A.)
Tracks:
"Original Bedroom Rockers" by Kruder & Dorfmeister
"Cowgirl" by Underworld
"Voodoo People" by The Prodigy
"Open Up" by Leftfield
"Phoebus Apollo" by Carl Cox
"The Joker" by Josh Abrahams
"Halcyon & On & On" by Orbital
"Communicate" (Headquake Hazy Cloud Mix) by Plastico
"One Love" by The Prodigy
"Connected" by Stereo MC's
"Eyes, Lips, Body" (Mekon Vocal Mix) by Ramshackle
"Good Grief" by Urban Dance Squad
"Richest Junkie Still Alive" (Sank Remix) by Machines of Loving Grace
"Heaven Knows" by Squeeze
Non released tracks:
Some musical pieces were not released on the official soundtrack, but do make a significant impact on the movie, such as the 'worm hacking' scene and the music around and in Grand Central Station
"Protection" by Massive Attack
"Inspection Check One" by Leftfield (Released on Hackers 2: Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture "Hackers")
"Original" by Leftfield (Released on Hackers 2: Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture "Hackers")
"Combination" (suggested title) by Guy Pratt
"Grand Central Station" (suggested title) by Guy Pratt
"Real Wild Child" (Wild One) by Iggy Pop, this song is sung by Joey under the shower
Soundtrack: Hackers 2:
Full Title Hackers 2: Music From and Inspired by the Original Motion Picture
Label: Edeltone
Original Release Date: October 21st, 1997 (U.S.A.)
Tracks (from Hackers 2)
"Firestarter" by The Prodigy
"Toxygene" by The Orb
"Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)" by David Bowie
"Fire" by Scooter
"Narcotic Influence 2" by Empirion
"Remember" by BT
"Go" by Moby
"Inspection (Check One)" by Leftfield
"Cherry Pie" by Underworld
"To Be Loved (Disco Citizens R&D Edit)" by Luce Drayton
"Speed Freak [Moby Remix]" by Orbital
"Get Ready to Bounce [Radio Attack]" by Brooklyn Bounce
"Off Shore [Disco Citizens Edit]" by Chicane
"Original" by Leftfield
Soundtrack: Hackers 3:
Full Title Hackers 3: Music From and Inspired by the Original Motion Picture
Label: Edeltone
Original Release Date: September 21, 1999 (U.S.A.)
Tracks (from Hackers 3):
"Why Can't It Stop" by Moby
"Godspeed (BT Edit Mix)" by BT
"Absurd (Whitewash Mix)" by Fluke
"Quiet Then" by Cloak
"I Am Fresh" by Monkey Mafia
"Phuture 2000 (Radio Edit)" by Carl Cox
"An Fhomhair" by Orbital
"Fashion (Ian Pooley Mix)" by Phunky Data
"Psychopath (Leftfield Mix)" by John Lydon
"Stop & Panic" by Cirrus
"Strong In Love" by Chicane
"Hack The Planet" by Brooklyn Bounce
"Diskette" by Simon Boswell
"Launch Di Vinci" by Simon Boswell |
