"Hackers" is not worth it

Looking for a way to save some money this week? Well, keep that hard-earned seven dollars away from the box office, because "Hackers" is not worth it.

The new film, directed by Iain Softley, centers on Dade Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller), who is wanted by the FBI at the age of 11 for crashing 1,507 computers on Wall Street. Murphy is banned from the computer until his 18th birthday.

In "Hackers," cyber-teens (Miller, co-star Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason and Renoly Santiago) hack into an oil company's database and, after copying an important file, become the FBI's prime suspects in an embezzlement scam. Fisher Stevens (Short Circuit) plays a master hacker who tries to frame the hack-pack and Lorraine Bracco (GoodFellas) is his air-headed evil sidekick.

Although performances by newcomers Jonny Lee Miller (Dade) and Angelina Jolie (Kate) try to keep this movie afloat, it's not enough to keep "Hackers" from sinking.

Fisher Stevens is not at all threatening as the villain, and Lorraine Bracco's insignificant part is an insult to her Academy Award-winning caliber.

The idea to make a film about hackers is an original one, but Rafael Moreu's screenplay turns out to have a predictable plot. Boy wants girl -- girl hates boy -- boy becomes cool -- and boy gets girl. Even the computer-generated graphics are not very colorful, after seeing the same sequence five times.

Costume designer Roger Burton makes the characters in this film look ridiculous, dressing them up in space-age Star Wars rags. However, sometimes Burton makes up for it by throwing in a tight-fitting, retro leopard-skin T-shirt.

Near the end of the film one of the characters calls out, "This is a wake-up call to the Nintendo generation." If this is true, many young movie-goers might want to hit their snooze button before getting up to see this film.

[ back to Golden Gater Online September 19, 1995 ]

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