Hackers (1995) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the movie, Hackers.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   #cultmoviereview #moviereview #movie   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e   Daily Motion:  https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation

Transcript

00:12Hey guys, welcome back to another cult movie review with me Bo here on the film scene investigation

00:21channel it's review time and today i'm going to be taking a look at the 1995 movie hackers yeah i've

00:32had this movie on my watch list for some time so uh yeah it was good to finally get around

00:38to uh

00:39watching it and ticking it off the list just before we get into it guys if uh you haven't already

00:45please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated

00:51so hackers from 1995 was directed by the filmmaker ian softly and starred an ensemble cast that

01:01included the likes of johnny lee miller and a young angelina jolie the late screenwriter raphael

01:10monroe handled the screenplay which was heavily based on the cyberpunk movement of the time now i

01:19can't say that i've ever been that interested in computers computer programming coding you know

01:29all that kind of stuff i've yeah i've never really taken an interest in it but uh with that said

01:36i was

01:36interested in seeing how a mid-90s movie would handle the newly emerging technology of the time

01:46you know we shouldn't forget that back in 1995 you know the internet was in its infancy so

01:55you have to imagine that a lot of people that went to the theaters and watched hackers for the first

02:03time probably you know had never owned a computer before so for many it was a um really eye-opening

02:14experience so when it comes to the narrative the movie began with a sequence involving a young child

02:23called dade murphy being taken to court over his involvement in hacking the kid looked so innocent

02:32you know it's kind of hard to believe that he would be able to cause so much trouble but uh

02:38he did he was taken to court his family were fined and dade was summoned to not use a computer

02:48until

02:49he turned 18 years old fast forward seven years later and the movie picked up with dade now played by

02:57actor johnny lee miller living with his mother in new york the court case caused a lot of issues within

03:06the family and eventually the parents split now dade was 18 he was able to freely roam the internet

03:16and infiltrate any computer systems he so wished we saw dade enroll in his new high school where he

03:25became friends with some other hackers like freak who was played by actor rinoli santiago at first

03:33the group were a little apprehensive when it came to date since he was the new kid after all but

03:42um

03:43once they realized who exactly dade was and his history of hacking suddenly they became very welcoming

03:52while dade played it all down his notoriety ended up helping him fit in with the rest of the group

04:02so one of the hackers called joey who was played by actor jesse bradford wanted to show off his skills

04:10so he decided to hack a supercomputer that was owned by this mineral corporation joey was the youngest of

04:19the hackers and because of that he felt the need to prove himself to the rest of the group but

04:27you know

04:27to infiltrate a large computer network you know that was never going to go down well joey's computer

04:35skills ended up alerting the corporation's security officer a guy called belford who was played by actor

04:43fisher stevens he was funneling money out of the corporation nobody knew but with the sudden security

04:53breach suddenly all eyes would be on belford to see how he would rectify the situation belford was

05:02supposed to be this you know great security officer you know this hacker that knew what he was doing

05:08but the fact that joey ended up breaching the security ultimately made him look incompetent

05:15belford was angry he was upset and he was the type of guy that you know wasn't going to just

05:22let things go

05:23so he decided to create this virus and basically blame it on the group this computer virus would cause

05:33major issues all around the world but the group found out just in time and decided to fight back

05:39they ended up hacking the corporation's computer system again but this time bringing it down for good

05:47towards the end of the movie i did find the storyline getting a little bit convoluted

05:54and you know i'm not too sure if that was just me being slow or if the storyline was getting

06:03overly complicated for no real reason it started out good but um the longer it went on i was getting

06:13pretty restless but uh with that said on a positive note i did really love the film's gen x 90s

06:24aesthetic

06:25you know from the music to the fashion even to the set designs hackers brought the

06:33cyberpunk y2k movement into the mainstream you know i want to focus in on the fashion here for a moment

06:40because there really were some unique pieces of clothing that were featured like the uh white and

06:48red leather jacket that kate wore angelina jolie already looked like a badass you know she could handle

06:54herself but uh yeah once she dawned that biker jacket she certainly uh seemed like a person

07:02not to be messed with i also really loved the lou reed shirt that cyril wore during one of the

07:09party

07:10scenes now you know a normal band t-shirt would have been fine but the fact that it was you

07:17know

07:17glittery and gold and you know really kind of popped visually it was just a great choice i'll

07:23definitely be looking for that shirt online and hopefully somewhere somehow on some ebay listing

07:32that shirt will be available the costume designer roger burton did a brilliant job in styling the

07:41ensemble cast and i guess for me the reason i love it so much is because i don't really see

07:48the

07:48cyberpunk y2k fashion you know in around me in current day so just kind of unique and yeah i just

07:57love the look

07:58you know looking deeper into the movie's fashion aesthetic it's important to remember that hackers

08:06really did embody that traditional punk mentality of you know do it yourself i mean just look at the story

08:17you know the group stuck together they rejected the corporate authority and you know they went their

08:24own way and challenged the status quo you know i also have to give credit to the set designers

08:31alicia winter and joanne woolard for their amazing work creating some really unconventional backdrops for

08:40the film you know those set designs gave the movie its own unique identity and in particular i loved the

08:49cafe hangout spot that had to be my favorite location in the film you know from the weird colorful artwork

08:59that was on the walls to the big screens that were playing the computer games you know it just seemed

09:05like a really awesome place to hang out with your friends while the practical side of things

09:12impressed me i can't say the same about some of the cgi effects that we saw on screen

09:19the filmmakers incorporated various 3d graphics and effects to basically represent system interfaces

09:29and data streams i appreciated their efforts but obviously technology has moved on so more now it's so far

09:39advanced that you know those graphics look extremely dated i guess i just have to remind myself that

09:47obviously at the time it was very groundbreaking and like i said a lot of the audience watching the movie

09:54you know didn't own a computer at all i probably had never used a computer so it is a product

10:00of its time

10:01while some of the effects didn't work nobody can deny that the filmmakers tried to push the boundaries

10:10when it came to visual storytelling it should be noted that hackers was pioneering for basically predicting

10:19future outcomes that we see today for example you know the security breach you know cyber security in general

10:26that is a very relevant topic in today's society the movie also predicted virtual reality

10:34with the eugene belford character using a vr headset we saw belford headset on having a great time

10:45and yeah you know obviously vr is just something that we just have in our everyday lives now

10:52but yeah back in 1995 i could imagine the audiences must have found it uh pretty goofy

10:59as for the performances i thought actor johnny lee miller did a pretty good job in the lead role

11:07playing the character dade he didn't start out as you know a leader but he certainly ended the

11:15film leading the group i haven't really seen many johnny lee miller movies um so yeah this one

11:25it was good i still preferred his performance in train spotting from 1996 the movie he did after

11:32hackers but um yeah no he was good he was competent and uh he certainly proved that he could carry

11:40a film

11:40in the lead role i thought actor matthew lillard was pretty good in the role as surreal this obnoxious

11:49hacker in the group lillard once again played a very you know zany character something that we've all seen

11:58many times before and once again it kind of made me understand how he ended up playing roles like shaggy

12:07in scooby-doo you know he kind of got typecast in those goofy roles as for actress angelina jolie

12:16she was a standout playing kate the charismatic hacker who had this love-hate relationship with

12:25dade you know like many watching this i'm very aware of angelina jolie as this you know big time

12:33celebrity you know on the red carpet but uh yeah to be honest i haven't really seen many of her

12:40films

12:40i know she's a pretty good actress but um it was really interesting to see her in an early film

12:47role

12:48you know prior to her big time fame it was clear that she was a star in the making and

12:56that wasn't

12:57necessarily down to her acting ability but she really did have a strong charismatic screen presence

13:06her character kate ended up romantically involved with dade at the end of the movie something that

13:13was pretty predictable from the start you know you got this guy saves the day the hero and ends up

13:22you

13:22know getting the girl at the end you know very traditional hollywood trope but even with the

13:29predictability i have to say that the on-screen chemistry between angina jolie and johnny lee miller

13:38really did elevate the film and it was kind of more interesting than the overall main hacking

13:46storyline i guess you could say that at times the movie wanted to be this romantic teen comedy but uh

13:57yeah obviously only lightly touched upon that it was mainly about hacking their interactions never felt

14:06forced and while the people around them were you know wild and crazy and very loud and obnoxious

14:14those two felt very grounded and so their relationship felt very relatable and so dislikes for hackers

14:26from 1995 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the characterization of the villain

14:36eugene belford now i thought the actor fisher stevens who played the character you know i thought he

14:44did a good job with the material he was given but overall i just didn't buy this guy you know

14:53as a serious threat

14:54he was just this smarmy dweeb type character who you know i couldn't take seriously and what didn't help

15:04matters was some of the goofy stuff that the character got up to like the character's introduction

15:11the first time we saw eugene belford and these double doors open and there he comes riding a skateboard

15:20and uh yeah immediately i was like uh what what is this you know was it supposed to be funny

15:29i don't know

15:30like i didn't get it and um the fact that this was the introduction to the character

15:36you know he's supposed to be the character you know he's supposed to be this you know big villain

15:40in the story you know it was ruined by this was it poor attempt at humor by the filmmakers

15:48you know if hackers was a straight up teen comedy then absolutely you know a scene like that you know

15:56a characterization of a goofy villain type character absolutely yeah it works but um hackers wasn't that

16:04you know it it was pretty much a straightforward drama with some light-hearted you know comedy here

16:11and there you know ultimately the fact that i never really felt that belford was a genuine threat

16:19i didn't take him seriously and that ended up you know making me not really care about the overall

16:27conclusion to the story and so ratings for hackers from 1995 i'm going to be rating this movie a solid

16:393.9 out of 10. i found hackers to be an entertaining and stylized movie about a group of rebellious

16:51teenagers in the mid-90s while it's definitely a product of its time like i mentioned before i will

17:01say that the movie had this overall optimistic energy about it and that was something that you know i feel

17:11is missing from today's cinema so for that that was um definitely a positive clearly all the actors and

17:20crew all those that were involved in the production yeah it was uh obvious that they had a great time

17:26making this movie but yeah i just can't deny that towards the end of the film i started to get

17:34a bit

17:34restless and started losing my interest you know i'm not going to say that it was style over substance

17:42but the visuals and effects were far greater and more interesting than the actual narrative you know

17:51and i should also once again just say that i've never really been into computer programming coding

17:57or anything like that so yeah maybe the storyline just wasn't for me that said if you are into you

18:05know

18:05coding and all that kind of stuff then perhaps you'll probably like the storyline a lot more than i did

18:13if you've seen hackers then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below

18:19for those who haven't it is a minor recommendation for me it definitely has a lot of good things going

18:28for it but ultimately hackers isn't you know important must-see tv and well that's all from me today guys

18:39i do hope you've

18:40enjoyed this review of hackers from 1995 i will be back next week with another cult movie review

18:49don't forget to like and subscribe please and of course take care

19:19um

19:19you

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