In short: Hackers (1995)

Before YA-oriented cinema was all about the post-apocalypse, it was something like Hackers. That is to say, a well-meaning director approaches youth culture (and we could even argue if it should be about youth culture at all) with genuine interest but little clue of what anything of it actually means, particularly once it gets filtered through the needs of a big movie production meant to really cash in on some buzz words and a love of William Gibson novels, adds in some conspiracy thriller tropes and pretty funny techno babble, and a grab-bag of hot young thing actors (Jonny Lee Miller! Angelina Jolie! Matthew Lillard! Etc!) in improbable yet hot young fashion.

As an actual portray of a place and time this is pretty dubious is what I’m saying. However, if you approach it with a bit of openness (unless you have nostalgia for the film anyway, than that’s not needed), Hackers is actually a genuinely likeable film that does its damndest to create its somewhat improbable and slightly silly world with genuine care, putting actual effort into making its style and the world view of its characters coherent; while it is certainly highly interested in being marketable to its teen audience, it doesn’t want to do that by talking down to it.

Director Iain Softley is your typical mid-90s slick stylist, but unlike quite a few of his peers, he’s in full control of his style and not the other way round and mostly avoids your typical 90s mainstream filmmaking excess by virtue of focus. Commendably, he also trusts his audience to enjoy a bit of world building, so the actual plot of the film sets in slowly; which is all the better because the world of the film is quite a bit more interesting than its plot. The plot’s perfectly serviceable for what it is, mind you, it’s just that Softley has definitely put the emphasis on the script’s – and perhaps his own – strengths.


Seen in the right mood, this is a really fun movie even nearly twenty-five years later (I’m so very, very old), feeling genuine even in its goofiest moments. Additional bonus points for an organically diverse cast when that wasn’t as much of a thing as it is today, and a teen romance between hot young things that contains actual moments of awkwardness like a romance between actual teens would