Hackers

Youtube has this free with ads right now (as of july '19) just so you know. It's not a great movie but it does have some fun stuff in it. I saw this when it came out in the theater and was mesmerized by Jolie and the slew of technical jargon but a special effects show for the hacking. It glorifies hacking, of course, which sells it for teens (that and Jolie). It's mostly a goofy story of a wanna be elite hacker accidently downloading the wrong file and an elite hacker working for a corp wanting it back. Jonny Lee Miller (aka Sherlock Holmes) and his mother (Alberta Watson RIP) having to move to the big city and a new start for her son and his past hacking troubles. The high school setting is more a very dated techno-nightclub scene and a budding romance with Dade and Jolie (think geek meets superhot). Their merry band plays around with causing problems for a FBI agent with their skills as the two battle each other for supremacy. The big ending is one of surreal effects to mask the actual lack of hacking really going on. But it's fun if you don't enter into watching it with a too critical eye. It sells for 14.99 right now and that's vastly overpriced. Try youtube.

Don't listen to the whiners. This is a fun cult movie that many techies love. Every real tech knows that it's nearly impossible to make programming/hacking look interesting on the big screen and this movie does a good job of at least making it somewhat visually stimulating. I loved the geek culture with the characters and though I've seen it many times, I still re-watch at least once per year while working on some code or 3D project.

I really could not watch this film. Thirty minutes in and I had to cut it off. Most of it is HIGHLY dramatized, in the end it's all entertainment. And Angelina Jolie? You've got to be kidding me.