History Film / Hackers

* AluminumChristmasTrees: 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.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: [[spoiler:In the course of stopping the tankers from capsizing and obtaining the evidence of the [[BigBad real villain's]] embezzlement scheme, the heroes commit several instances of network intrusion and related crimes, involving a global conspiracy to grind Ellingson's server to a halt while looking for the MacGuffin. Yet the Secret Service apparently doesn't prosecute them for it, since we see Dade and Kate living (more or less) happily ever after at the end. This is most likely because the truth (which was [[DoNotAdjustYourSet broadcast worldwide]] by other hackers) embarrassed the SS to no end - Essentially, The Plague manipulated the SS into assisting him in terrorism-for-blackmail.]]

* HollywoodNerd: All of the hackers are slim, attractive, and dress in trendy geek-chic clothing.

Fast forward seven years: Dade's mother, now divorced and with full custody of Dade (Creator/JonnyLeeMiller), moves them both to New York for a fresh start. Dade struggles to make friends, but ends up falling in with a new hacking crowd, including Phantom Phreak (Renoly Santiago), Cereal Killer (Creator/MatthewLillard), Lord Nikon (Laurence Mason)... and Joey (Jesse Bradford). Not long after, Joey, the kid of the group, breaks into a supercomputer at Ellingson, a large oil and mineral conglomerate. In a ContrivedCoincidence, he downloads part of a worm program -- one created by the crooked head of IT Security for Ellingson, Eugene "the Plague" Belford (Creator/FisherStevens), himself a hacker gone pro. Belford is using the worm to quietly embezzle many millions of dollars from Ellingson.

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Agents Bob and Ray. Not really bad, since they're Secret Service agents, and there's no hint they're corrupt or not taking the job seriously -- but they're definitely antagonists and Bob is definitely a {{Jerkass}}.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Or at least it is when whoever chose the password didn't think things through.

* PortmanteauCoupleName: [[invoked]] Played with, as parts of Dade's ("Crash Override") and Kate's ("Acid Burn") handles come together to make an amusing title. ("Crash and Burn")

* ProperlyParanoid: Right after Phreak gets the garbage file disk from Joey and sees the Secret Service tail marking Joey, he books it. He makes a clean getaway, but then is shown scrubbing his bedroom of every scrap of paper that might be incriminating evidence. It doesn't help, as he gets arrested while the Service isn't much interested in playing by due process rules anyway.

* TakingTheHeat: [[spoiler: After their arrest following the climactic run on the Gibson,]] Dade and Kate are being interrogated together - Kate is playing silent, but Dade is copping out and claiming full responsibility, and that Kate is 'just his girlfriend.' After they get left alone for a few moments, Kate asks Dade what he's doing, because they know full well they're both equally involved. It's clear Dade knows he's screwed thanks to his record, but Kate could get out with just a warning or probation like he did as a kid if he does this. [[spoiler: Fortunately, this gets interrupted with Cereal's DoNotAdjustYourSet moment, revealing Plague's evil plan.]]

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Agents Bob and Ray. Not really bad, since they're Secret Service agents, and there's no hint they're corrupt or not taking the job seriously - but they're definitely antagonists and Bob is definitely a {{Jerkass}}.

** It is perhaps helpful to know that while the Secret Service is known for protecting The President, the vast majority of their time (and their original mission) is investigating financial crimes such as counterfeiting, or attacks on interstate trade systems - which is where they would cross paths with hackers, both benign and malignant. When the movie was made, the Secret Service was part of the Treasury Department.

** He mentions that they're charging him with "some serious shit". He probably got denied bail and had to sit in jail for a few days until The Plague's plot got revealed.

* LivingADoubleLife: Although it remains largely unexplored, there are a few dots of fairly substantial evidence that imply Agent Ray (Marc Antony) is himself a hacker, or if not, is at least a part of the local subculture surrounding it. He's at least reasonably knowledgeable about computers, especially compared to his co-workers, if his brief conversation with Agent Gill during Joey's arrest is any indication, and when Agent Bob is reading him an excerpt of the Hacker's Manifesto, he simply states that he thinks it's cool. He can also be seen briefly at Kate's party, very successfully blending in.

* LivingADoubleLife: Although it remains largely unexplored, there are a few dots of fairly substantial evidence that imply Agent Ray (Marc Antony) is himself a hacker, or if not, is at least a part of the local subculture surrounding it. He's at least reasonably knowledgeable about computers, especially compared to his co-workers, if his brief conversation with Agent Gill during Joey's arrest is any indication, and when Agent Bob is reading him an excerpt of the Hacker's Manifesto, he simply states that he thinks it's cool.

* {{Adorkable}}: Dade's shy and nervous around Kate from when he first meets her. But then he covers up his crush by acting cocky and competitive around her.

Fast forward seven years: Dade's mother, now divorced and with full custody of Dade (Creator/JohnnyLeeMiller), moves them both to New York for a fresh start. Dade struggles to make friends, but ends up falling in with a new hacking crowd, including Phantom Phreak (Renoly Santiago), Cereal Killer (Creator/MatthewLillard), Lord Nikon (Laurence Mason)... and Joey (Jesse Bradford). Not long after, Joey, the kid of the group, breaks into a supercomputer at Ellingson, a large oil and mineral conglomerate. In a ContrivedCoincidence, he downloads part of a worm program -- one created by the crooked head of IT Security for Ellingson, Eugene "the Plague" Belford (Creator/FisherStevens), himself a hacker gone pro. Belford is using the worm to quietly embezzle many millions of dollars from Ellingson.

Fast forward seven years: Dade's mother, now divorced and with full custody of Dade (Johnny Lee Miller), moves them both to New York for a fresh start. Dade struggles to make friends, but ends up falling in with a new hacking crowd, including Phantom Phreak, Cereal Killer, Lord Nikon... and Joey. Not long after, Joey, the kid of the group, breaks into a supercomputer at Ellingson, a large oil and mineral conglomerate. In a ContrivedCoincidence, he downloads part of a worm program -- one created by the crooked head of IT Security for Ellingson, Eugene "the Plague" Belford, himself a hacker gone pro. Belford is using the worm to quietly embezzle many millions of dollars from Ellingson.

Seeing an opportunity, the security chief creates a virus called daVinci - which threatens to infect and sink several Ellingson oil tankers, thus causing a major global ecological disaster. Having 'found' the virus, Belford presents the virus's threat as a reason to contact the Secret Service to help find the intruder. When the Secret Service investigates with Ellingson's cooperation, Belford discovers Dade (and his past as [=Zer0=] Cool) and pressures him to get the file Joey downloaded - ultimately threatening to alter law enforcement databases so his mother gets "disappeared into the system." Dade gets Belford the file - but realizes his mistake soon after. Now, it's up to Dade, Phreak, Cereal, Nikon, and Kate, Dade's crush, herself the hacker Acid Burn, to figure out the truth, and get the evidence they need to clear their names.

* MyBelovedSmother: Joey's and Ramon's mothers. Joey's babies him, orders him to go to bed and shuts down the computer when he's hacking the Gibson (the Plague and Pen Jillette's character both assume that it was him logging out to try to avoid a trace) and when the FBI barges into Ramon's room, Ramon's mother starts [[DopeSlap dope-slapping him]] and haranguing him in GratuitousSpanish so Ramon actually ''[[PreferJailToTheHero begs]]'' the FBI agents to take him away.

* LivingADoubleLife: Although it remains largely unexplored, there are a few dots of fairly substantial evidence that imply Agent Ray (Marc Antony) is himself a hacker, or if not, is at least a part of the local subculture surrounding it. He's at least reasonably knowledgeable about computers, especially compared to his co-workers, if his brief conversation with Agent Gill during Joey's arrest is any indication, and when Agent Bob is reading him an excerpt of the Hacker's Manifesto, he simply states that he thinks it's cool. More to the point though, he's very conspicuously present at Kate's party a little later on in the film, but certainly doesn't seem to be undercover, simply smoking, dancing, and checking out a hot girl.
** He does seem to be undercover; he was just part of a raid on Dade in the scene beforehand, and appears to be staying close to him to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. But considering he ignores Dade and co. when they go to mess with Kate's computer, he seemed to give up on the job and instead party.

** Probably at least a little justified, as Creator/RogerEbert pointed out in his (positive!) review. What real hacking looks like, and what real hackers can actually accomplish are both pretty boring, at least for an audience to watch.