In 1990, the invention of the World Wide Web ushered in a new era. Everyone got a computer at home, and the new possibilities created a lot of hype. And what happens with hype? Exactly: Hollywood gets to work on it. This resulted in the film Hackers in 1995.

Hackers is about a group... um... well... hackers, who try to prevent a global environmental disaster. By hacking, that is - in an ethical way, of course. The story isn't really fun to explain further; there are a lot of factors at play, despite the runtime of 105 minutes, and it's best to go in as blank as possible. Therefore, we will mainly talk about everything around the film.

Cult film Hackers from before the internet

Okay, Hackers came out in 1995, when the internet was still on the rise. And as I said: Hollywood wanted to make good use of that. With a cast full of young stars like Angelina Jolie, Matthew Lillard (Scream), and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting), the film showed how cool the internet really was. The possibilities of the young technology are heavily emphasized, especially by the tagline, which comes directly from the Hacker Manifesto: 'Their only crime is curiosity'.

The film looks to the future and means well, but also shows how new the internet was at that time. The hack scenes are anything but accurate, but because of that, over the years, they have gained an incredible cult status. Hackers is referred to by many IT professionals and hackers as the hacker film you must see. The film doesn't take itself too seriously, and should not be received that way either.

Whether you really learn anything about hacking from the film, we doubt. However, the cult film Hackers provides a nice glimpse into the hype of the '90s, when the internet was perhaps the most vibrant. While many current 'computer' films take themselves incredibly seriously and we might zoom past the internet, this throwback remains enjoyable.

Year 1995 | Director Iain Softley | Available on Prime Video, AppleTV