VDHACKRS.RVW   20010308

"Hackers", Rafael Moreu/Ian Softley (director), 1995, 0-7928-4467-X
%A   Rafael Moreu
%C   2500 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA   90404-3061
%D   1995
%E   Iain Softley (director)
%G   0-7928-4467-X
%I   MGM/UA
%O   www.mgm.com MGM_customerservice@pds.com
%P   105 min.
%T   "Hackers"

One of the review quotes used to promote this film states that it
"[s]ucceeds at just about everything `The Net' failed to."  I'm not
sure what this success is supposed to entail.  "Hackers" does have
better graphics, a more frenetic pace, hackers versus hackers, and a
sense of communal versus singular effort.  Plus a neat semi-climactic
plot twist.  (Which, however, becomes rather foolish if you really
knew what was happening in one of the earlier scenes.  Why bother
recabling phones locally when you can bounce calls through half a
dozen relays?)

Semi-believable: law enforcement sending a SWAT team to break down the
doors and grab a pre-teen cracker.  (One does hope they've learned
something since Operation Sun Devil.)  (Not living there I wouldn't
know, but do Americans really allow that kind of media harrassment of
juvenile offenders?)

OK, let's list the stereotypes.  Crackers are young, evil geniuses
(genii?)  A virus, presumably written and run on a PC, can bring down
a mainframe based transaction system.  Graphical interface instant
messaging systems that work through tape library controllers.  Video
games skills equate to technical skills.  Graphical interfaces for
everything, including ransom notes in viruses.  (The "Leonardo Da
Vinci" virus?  Oh, please ...)  The salami scam.  A virus which, even
when found, is undetectable.

In order to convince us that the movie truly is 'leet, we have what? 
Nice fractals?  And mentions of the cookie prank and virus.  Flu-Shot
(although it doesn't work on mainframes).  Social engineering. 
Dumpster diving.  Arf, Arf and Gotcha (that was a trojan, not a
virus).  Emmanuel Goldstein.

While the movie is fun, the tone is uneven, celebrating anarchic
security breaking exploits without demonstrating the real dangers
involved in "just looking."  Sure, we're told that Wall Street drops
some percentage points, and we see a three car accident, but the
massive chaos and suffering that could result from the electronic
horseplay is nowhere to be seen.  There is an additional level of
unreality in the fact that the bad guy has way too much power, and yet
falls way too easily.

Still, if you completely clear your mind of any vestige of logic, the
graphics are pretty.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2001   VDHACKRS.RVW   20010308