YMMV / Hackers

• Aluminum Christmas Trees: The Virtual Reality machine operated by The Plague is not made up for the movie, but is the unfortunately named Virtuality SU2000 virtual reality gaming machine by Virtuality Group.
• Awesome Music: The techno soundtrack by Simon Boswell. And of course, 90s electronic staples such as Underworld's "Cowgirl," Orbital's "Halcyon + On + On" and even a couple songs from The Prodigy! Special mention goes to the track titled "Grand Central Station", best known as the song that plays when the hackers of the world unite to help the leads against the Gibson. The best part of the song is it features Pink Floyd's Guy Pratt and David Gilmour playing guitars on the track.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The two dreams by Dade and Kate.
• Genius Bonus: The books Cereal shows are actual computer and programming books.
• Ham and Cheese: Matthew Lillard has way too much fun in this movie.
• Magnificent Bastard: The titular hackers and their villainous rival are genius lawbreakers:
  • Dade Murphy is the infamous "Zero Cool", who crashed over 1,500 computers as a child. At the age of 18, Dade joins a group of hackers at school and discovers the villainous Plague's plot to swindle the Ellingson corporation and frame his friends. With the group Dade uses viruses to keep their hunters at bay while his friend finds evidence of the Plague's crimes, ending the film exonerated to do as he pleases.
  • Kate Libby, aka "Acid Burn", is a popular hacker whom Dade becomes smitten with. Intrigued by Dade, Kate shows her talents pranking an anti-hacker government agent before working with Dade to expose the Plague's schemes. Directing the other hackers, Kate helps protect the one copying the Plague's files, allowing for the villain to be exposed and arrested.
  • Joey Pardella is a talented but initially naive hacker. Caught after incidentally getting evidence of the Plague's crimes, Joey later uses his skills to copy enough of his misdeeds to expose him, freeing his friends and jailing the Plague.
  • Emmanual Goldstein, aka "Cereal Killer" and Paul Cook, aka "Lord Nikon", are best friends and Kate's silly-seeming supporting hackers. Geniuses under their goofy facades, the two help Kate prank Agent Richard Gill and latter assist in stopping the Plague: Cereal remaining incognito to grab the disc exposing the villain's plans and Nikon writing viruses to help Joey uncover said disc.
  • Razor and Blade are a pair of audacious, influential hackers. Running a show, the duo show aspiring hackers how to successfully break the law. When Kate comes to them for help to stop the Plague, Razor and Blade use their magnetic charm to draw hackers from around the world, protecting the heroes and hacking a broadcast to allow Cereal to expose the Plague as the villain.
  • Eugene Belford, aka "The Plague", is a former master hacker turned security consultant. Secretly running a program to swindle millions of dollars from the Ellingson corporation, the Plague is awakened by Joey's incidental discovery of his crimes. Dissuading the hackers by threatening and bribing Dade, the Plague plans to blame the teens for his own virus program set to capsize Ellingson oil tankers as a distraction. Confronting the heroes in a cyber duel, the Plague is only beaten when they get assistance from hackers around the world and when finally caught while fleeing, uses the situation to make one final quip before being arrested.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Hack the planet!"
  • "Hack the Gibson," though it tends to be used more sarcastically, rather than in earnest like the movie.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Despite being clueless on how computer hacking works, it's popular among real-life hackers and IT technicians for portraying them in a positive light and making their job look cool, as well as the general So Bad, It's Good-ness.
• Narm Charm:
  • Ooooh yeah. Hackers is one of those movies you show someone if you're trying to get them to understand the entire concept of Narm Charm. The key to enjoying it is to remember that people don't watch Top Gun to see military and aerospace details be depicted accurately.
  • One might be surprised at how popular this film is among actual hackers and network security types, many stating that its what inspired them to get into their line of work to begin with (Examples:[1], [2]). It certainly helps that the movie makes hacking look like a cool adventure that you can't help but want to be a part of.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • This was one of Jonny Lee Miller's first starring roles.
  • Wendell Pierce is the FBI agent.
  • In the prologue, the prosecuting attorney who is inveighing against 12-year old Dade is played by Felicity Huffman.
• So Bad, It's Good: A completely clueless look at hacker subculture just as computers and the internet were starting to become "cool" that still manages to be amusing. Practically defines the Everything Is Online trope and the Hollywood version of the Playful Hacker. Little known fact: cracking systems always involves flying through a 3D environment filled with floating incomprehensible algebraic equations and psychedelic backdrops. Also has merit for being the first film to portray hackers in a positive light, when everyone was convinced that hacker = evil cybercriminal.
• Strawman Has a Point: The Secret Service are supposed to be the oppressive authorities going after the teenage rebel hackers. It'd be a much better message if said hackers weren't casually breaking into other people's computers for personal amusement, causing serious problems for an agent who publicly denounces hackers and if the movie didn't start with the main character causing serious economic damage through hacking. Though the movie mostly calls out the Secret Service on their ridiculous overreaction to this by showing armed SWAT teams smashing down doors and aiming military rifles at unarmed (and, in one case, naked) individuals rather than just serving warrants.
• Unintentional Period Piece: This film (albeit with some unrealism that itself is a product of movie writers not really understanding what it is they're trying to tell a story about) portrays hackers at a time when they were a subculture, not well-understood by the broader populace as computers were not yet as ubiquitous as they are today (the Internet as we know it today was in its infancy, as well). As such, things like the importance placed on the "Hacker Manifesto", as an example, are products of the era when hackers felt themselves to be set apart from broader society in echoes of the 'generation gap' of the 1960s:
  "We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals."

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