The 20 Best Hacker Movies

[Infiltrator]

Hi Everyone,

I was just surfing the net and stumbled across this web site, that contains the top 20 best Hacker movies. Just wanted to share it with you guys.

# 20) The Net (1995)

Sandra Bullock plays a software engineer who loses her identity to digital thieves. Filmed during the fanatic years of the then-novel World Wide Web, this film is now cliched. Nevertheless, fans of Sandra Bullock will still enjoy watching this B movie.

# 19) Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)

This is the flawed storytelling of how Apple and Microsoft came to be. While this movie got mixed reviews, many people have commented they loved it. Three dollars at your video store, and you can decide for yourself if this was a good film.

# 18) The Conversation (1974)

While you won't see computers in this classic film, the theme of surveillance and the violation of people's privacy is so masterfully explored here.

**Related movie: The Conversation was re-imagined as Will Smith's Enemy of the State in 2001. The 2001 treatment of the story was designed as a modern techno thriller, and has some tremendous special effects and satellite surveillance sequences. Having Gene Hackman star with Will Smith makes it worth the price of a DVD rental.

# 17) The Matrix (1999)

This was such a groundbreaking adventure in reality and existentialism. No, you will not learn how to break into a Linux server by watching Trinity port-scanning with "nmap". But this movie is definitely cool, nonetheless.

# 16) Takedown (2000)

This is the sensationalized story of famous phone phreaker, Kevin Mitnick. This is a cult classic that is very hard to find in rental stores.

# 15) Antitrust (2001)

This movie has some strong points about it. Two idealistic computer whiz kids graduate from Stanford, and one of them enters the world of private sector programming. Sure enough, these two programmers find themselves in the middle of cybercrime scandals. Definitely worth renting for three bucks.

# 14) Real Genius (1985)

There is only about 5 minutes of actual "hacking" in this comedy, where Laslo "brute-forces" his way into the defense network, and Kent and Mitch do phone bugging. But there are laughs aplenty in this fun B movie. Definite smile factor if you like playful and quirky humor movies.

# 13) The Thirteenth Floor(1999)

A very extreme version of "The Sims", this movie is about scientists who create a virtual world where participants plug in and take over a computer character's life. The characters are unaware of their puppet existence, but then a real life murder shakes the foundation of the game.

# 12) Hackers (1995)

Well, this story was really weak, and the hacking scenes were nowhere near reality. But you have to watch this just to say you did. Plus: Angelina Jolie is reason enough for some males to rent this.

# 11) Mission Impossible (1996)

While many people no longer like Tom Cruise, his first MI movie did have I.T. and computer hacking sequences. Some good action, too.

# 10) The Italian Job (2003)

Modern heist movies always involve some sort of hacking. This particular heist movie is extremely entertaining, especially when the supposed true inventor of "Napster" is the main hacker. At least 20 minutes of hacking footage in this actioner. Definitely worth renting if you haven't seen it.

# 9) Foolproof (2003)

A lower-budget movie about hobby bank robbers, this was a delightful surprise to many viewers. Ryan Reynolds and his friends "virtually" rob banks for fun, but are blackmailed into doing a heist for real. This is a good action rental.

# 8) Revolution OS (2001)

This documentary tells the story about the Linux operating system, and how it forwarded the philosophy of "open source" and free intellectual property. Not an action movie, but definitely interesting for people who want to learn more about why computer culture is the way it is. If you can find a copy of this, definitely rent it.

# 7) eXistenZ (1999)

A David Cronenberg film, this is the creepiest entry in the list. A game designer creates an artificial reality game that plugs directly into people's minds. The line between reality and game then blurs in a violent and gruesome way. This is very much a powerful art film, and not for everyone.

# 6) The Score (2001)

Edward Norton and Robert De Niro are fabulous in this heist flick. In a clever plot to rob a Montreal customs house of some royal artifacts, Norton and De Niro must break into the security systems with the help of a socially-awkward hacker who lives in his mother's basement. Ten minutes of hacking, and 100 minutes of phenomenal robbery storytelling!

# 5) Swordfish (2001)

Over-the-top violence, preposterous situations, sexy women, and outstanding special effects make this a great popcorn rental. No, don't bring your brain to watch this, but if you like techno-thrillers, definitely rent this. John Travolta is the slimy villain, Hugh Jackman is the studly hero hacker, and Halle Berry is the mysterious damsel.

# 4) Sneakers (1992)

While dated, this movie was groundbreaking at the time, and is still charming to this day. The story revolves around two college buddies who take different paths in life. One becomes an ethical hacker, and the other...well, he is not quite so noble. Some great plot twists and comic scenes make this a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon at home.

# 3) Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Leave it to Bruce Willis to save the world from uber hackers. Macintosh advertising personality, Justin Long, plays the reluctant programmer caught up in an digital terrorism scheme. Like Swordfish, this movie has over-the-top violence and outrageous action sequences, but if you liked the Die Hard series, definitely see this .

# 2) Wargames (1983)

Yes, this movie is very old, but it is still a pivotal film in many viewers' minds. A young man finds a back door into a military computer that is linked to the nuclear defense grid of the United States. A preposterous plot, but a compelling commentary on nuclear war and the destruction of the human race. You have to see this movie just to say you have seen it.

# 1) Tron (1982)

A classic! A hacker is transported into the digital universe inside a computer, and must survive combat as a cyber gladiator in order to stop the villanous Master Control. The imagination behind this movie made big ripples in the science fiction world, and today, Tron is a cult classic that every computer user should see at least once.

Web reference:

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/hackin...kermovies_2.htm

Thanks

Infiltrator

Edited May 9, 2010 by Infiltrator

[iisjman07]

Easily one of the best quotes ever is from the 1995 movie 'Hackers': "Oh my god, you got a 28BPS modem!" :o

Edited May 9, 2010 by iisjman07

[tazaleth]

The the list; it is agreed the following are good:

- The Net

- The Matrix

- Takedown

- Antitrust

- Mission Impossible

- The Italian Job

- Sneakers

- Tron

- Hackers

- Enemy of the State

- eXistenZ

I would have to disagree with Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard being worthwhile.

It was as bad as Independence Day.

To add to the list:

- Swordfish

- Johnny Memonic

- Office Space

- Ferris Bueller's Day Off

- Lawnmower Man

- Ghost in the Shell

[h3%5kr3w]

Just wanted to add two notable mentions:

BrainStorm-(1983) Researchers Lillian Reynolds (Natalie Wood) and Michael Brace (Christopher Walken) have developed a system of recording and playing back neural memory, and gets caught up with the government wanting to use it for stuff, and finds out that once a colleague of theirs has a heart attack and it was recorded, that if others view the playback they have heart attack as well, and they get a view of what it's like to die too. This movie is just straight up bad ass, and well ahead of it's time. At the same time, it's interesting to think that this technology is going to be possible in the near future.

Brainscan - (1994) - Starring Edward Furlong - A lonely teenage horror-movie fan discovers a mysterious computer game that uses hypnosis to custom-tailor the game into the most terrifying experience imaginable. When he emerges from the hypnotic trance he is horrified to find evidence that the brutal murder depicted in the game actually happened -- and he's the killer. Had some pretty bad ass looking kit for it's day, and really.. I'd still love to have that room. (imdb.com)

Edited May 9, 2010 by h3%5kr3w

[Inked]

Thanks for re-posting that Infiltrator! I will be watching a few of those in the near future. Thank god for Netflix and Roku.

[jmac]

I'd have to say that Live Free or Die Hard is one of my favorite hacker movies of all time

[Infiltrator]

Thanks for re-posting that Infiltrator! I will be watching a few of those in the near future. Thank god for Netflix and Roku.

And thanks to the torrent files too. They have saved me a lot of money.

[digip]

1 - Jason Scott's BBS Documentary

2- Freedom Downtime (2600 Documentary about Mitnick)

3 - War Games

4 - Tron

5 - Antitrust

6 - Mission Impossible (Movies)

7 - Hackers

8 - Sneakers

9 - Takedown (Kind of lame in how they portray Mitnick, but if you dont base it on real events, cause its not accurate, an ok movie)

10 - Matrix

11 - Swordfish

12 - Oceans 11

[Somken]

HACK THE PLANET!

[psydT0ne]

existenz is just brillliant

id throw "Strange Days" in there too.

[Doc Forrest]

I found Paprika to be a pretty good movie with a semi-similar storyline to Brainstorm.

[Mad Pierre]

Mirco Men Should also be added to the list.

Micro Men

[Aaetwo12]

wow.. Thanks to all.....;)

[cooler]

I'd add the cube to that list and one of the golden oldes was show called The Auto Man, if anyone remembers that? And what about knight rider?

[Infiltrator]

WoW I am impressed with some of the replies.

[beakmyn]

Gattaca

The Heist

Three days of the Condor

Code Hunter - No really hacking is scrolling a word document in DOS and everyone knows Coolio is an uber.

[barry99705]

Code Hunter - No really hacking is scrolling a word document in DOS and everyone knows Coolio is an uber.

Dude, you're still not allowed to pick movies at Shmoocon because of that.

Edited May 20, 2010 by barry99705

[drebin893]

Sneakers makes the list, therefore I'm pleased.

[Infiltrator]

Sneakers makes the list, therefore I'm pleased.

Haven't watch it yet, so I am the process of downloading at the moment.

[cooper]

The Japanese film Battle Royale deserves notable mention.

To keep the rebellious youth under control each year a class of roughly 15-year olds is selected to be sent to a deserted island. Each kid is given an exploding necklace and a pack containing a bit of food and water, a map and a very random weapon. They are told that they need to kill ALL other kids in their class within 3 days or the game defaults and all the necklaces will explode meaning nobody survives.

The movie is disconcerting because the 15-year olds are for the most part played by actual 15-year olds. Those random weapons vary between automatic weapons, a shotgun, handguns, a piece of rope, a magic hand held fan (with the added problem that, since there is no magic, all you have is a paper fan. Not great when the kid coming your way has an Uzi), a clothes hanger and regular boxing gloves.

As for hacking, of course there's a whiz kid in the game with half-decent skills who tries to hack both the control center as well as the necklace. The novel goes into a bit more depth (hey, I admitted I loved this movie) but in the movie you can see a block of nmap code scrolling across the screen (which he is of course typing on the fly).

Go see it. The premise is gruesome, but the message is great.

[darkjoker]

Hi Everyone,

I was just surfing the net and stumbled across this web site, that contains the top 20 best Hacker movies. Just wanted to share it with you guys.

amen i love those movies

[darkjoker]

Thanks for re-posting that Infiltrator! I will be watching a few of those in the near future. Thank god for Netflix and Roku.

is the Roku worth it? i have netflix and i normally hook up my computer to my TV.

[Infiltrator]

Man I downloaded Sneakers like night and I reckon it was a hell of a movie. Does any one know any other movie like Sneakers or a similar movie.

[h3%5kr3w]

I would like to add one more that I watched last night:

--Law Abiding Citizen

Epic in a technological POV in that NOWHERE in this movie is there anything that cannot be done in real life. The only thing that probably can't be done is the exact string of events in the movie, and IMHO, besides the pointless killing that happened (to the people that really didnt quite deserve it I would guess by my point of view) I have to say I REALLY like his style (like.. what would you do if that happened to your family?)

:X

Edited May 30, 2010 by h3%5kr3w

[beakmyn]

Man I downloaded Sneakers like night and I reckon it was a hell of a movie. Does any one know any other movie like Sneakers or a similar movie.

Nothing exactly like it but might I suggest.

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