Hacker Movies

Quite a few cyberpunk movies deal with the hacker counterculture. Rebellion against the mega-corporations by the punk-hacker anti-heroes have been celebrated Since Neuromancer. This category lists all the movies where hacking is a central theme. Included are movies like Ghost in the Shell, where hacking (ghost hacks, for instance) is pretty much standard operating procedure for the main characters, even though the punk counter-culture is almost non-existent. Like all of my themes categories, I don’t distinguish here between movies and animes (which are very influential in cyberpunk) - you will see both listed.

And yes, I realize I don’t have all cyberpunk hacker movies listed - in fact I have relatively few so far. This will change, as I’m still in the process of uploading my reviews. If you have one in mind that you don’t see here, let me know, and I’ll bump it up in priority.

 

Hacker Movies in Cyberpunk

Comments

July 19, 2006

Kenho said:

you have missed the German film 23 ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126765/ )

and Takedown ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159784/ )

/K

July 20, 2006

SFAM said:

Hi Kenho, cool! I’ll check these out. :)

October 12, 2006

XXXXXX said:

if you have ‘Hackers’ and ‘Takedown’ you must include ‘Antitrust’

October 13, 2006

NekOtaku said:

23 is a must, though it’s quite far from cyber punk it’s probably the most interesting hacker film I ever saw.

October 17, 2006

Sniper said:

Im downloading 23 right now

October 31, 2006

Uplink64 said:

I can’t find this movie for on the torrent as 23, what name are you using to find this movie?

December 23, 2006

Wino said:

I’m looking for 23 as well. I found it a long time ago and have since lost the file. It really is an awesome movie.

Mr. Roboto said:

I know I mentioned Sneakers before, because I believe it to be a good hacker movie.

It’s about a radical 60’s hacker who escaped and works with a group of “white hats” who test security systems to make sure nobody can defeat them.

I’ve often felt Sneakers qualifies as cyberpunk, possibly post-cyberpunk… just watch it and see what I mean. Really. It’s a great film.

January 16, 2007

SFAM said:

Hi Mr. Roboto, I know Sneakers rather well. I am still torn on whether its cyberpunk or not. The visuals certainly aren’t. But I suppose a case can be made based on the ending.

January 21, 2007

Hackerlou said:

23 - Die Geschichte Des Hackers Karl Koch

February 28, 2008

Translator said:

I am looking for someone that knows very basic hacking. Nothing real illegal. Not trying to break into the defense dept. I am just someone that is dying of cancer and I need some basic info on the guy that ripped me off on ebay. Although it would be kind of fun to buy him some stuff with his own ebay account for him. Really I am not the revenge type but I bent over backwards trying to not screw him because my paypal account got messed up. I ended up wiring him the money by way of moneygram so I asked for it. But I just wanted to get a DirecTV system because I just wanted to have something to watch if it gets down to being a prisoner of my bed with no distractions from the pain. I am living on next to nothing and so it was like stealing my life savings. And like I said I asked for it because I told him as much and so he knew that he could rip me off and maybe I wouldn’t be around that long to try and get my money back.

aj said:

its really a amaz’ng movie,u’ll really enjoy dis…….

aj said:

hay u ve to see dis movie u’ll really enjoy dis,,,,,,,,

March 25, 2008

dictatochips said:

how about Broken Flowers?

March 29, 2008

Mustafa said:

have u movies to learn hack

April 13, 2008

zey said:

Antitrust should mos def be one on the list. As for 23, I’d love to see it but I’m sure that it won’t have english sub or dubbed. I hate it when I can’t watch a movie because I can’t understand what they’re saying.

June 2, 2008

fisk0 said:

23 is an fantastic movie. It has nothing to do with cyberpunk though, it’s based on the true story about the hacker Karl Koch (alias Hagbard Celine, a name he took from the Illuminatus trilogy). It’s a german movie, so in case you don’t know german you’ll need to get it subtitled. The complete title is “23 – Nichts ist so wie es scheint” (”Nothing is the way it seems”). The DVD is pretty hard to come by, I’ve been looking for it a lot, hopefully I’ll find it when I go to germany this summer, but you can find it on some bittorrent sites. I know there used to be a copy at the Pirate Bay, and you should be able to find it on IsoHunt.

June 4, 2008

Anonymous said:

where can i get sneakers to buy or download ????if you can help me on how to download it get back to me da_last2@yahoo.com

July 28, 2008

Anonymous said:

Come on, Live Free or Die Hard

Anom said:

eXistenZ is a non-hacker cyberpunk type movie…

October 13, 2008

chicano said:

and wut about johnny menemonic? sreenplay by master willian gibson and shit, won´t get much more cyberpunk…

October 18, 2008

ap said:

Also missed “Pirates of Silicon Valley”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Silicon_Valley

October 26, 2008

mik said:

de.hack

December 12, 2008

the chosen one said:

i liked the movie untasble

December 22, 2008

Boko said:

Kevin Mitnick ftw. hackers2: takedown rox

February 21, 2009

larsrohdin said:

Boko:
If you know anything about Kevin Mitnick, you know that Takedown is bullshit.

Watch Freedom downtime. A documentary on the subject, made by Emmanuel Goldstein, founder of 2600 Magazine, and friend of Kevin Mitnick.

November 1, 2009

SM177Y said:

wow there is so many missing movies from this list. but yes, Live Free or Die Hard is thee best hacker movie, hands down.

SM177Y said:

war games (the original and Dead code), code hunters, swordfish, the net, sneakers, breach, lawnmower man, twelve monkeys, weird science, back to the future, firewall. come on guys theres so many great cyberpunk/hacker movies out there.

December 7, 2009

treboR said:

watch 23 – Nichts ist so wie es scheint with subs here ;

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4392076678080895410#

December 8, 2009

Wikidtrip said:

Anyone tried watching swordfish the movie thats a pretty neat hackin mov. L8t

December 22, 2009

late said:

@treboR, thx for the link with subs. =)

January 19, 2010

Danepalihacker said:

Hey guys ya also missed the 3 some movies that showed the gr8 hacking culture. 1. The Italian Job, 2.Swordfish and the gr8st 1 Die Hard4. if u add all these then it will b of a gr8 kind to the whole hacking community.

November 22, 2010

zerocool said:

Hi there, I hope this thread is still active…
I m searching for a movie so many years and I still cant find it,
its related with hacking but I dont remember the title of the film. The only thing I remember is a part of the script and a guy named Edison. Some of the actors are Japanese or Chinesse (hentai style but not anime) one of the actors has blonde hairs, always connected (he has a earpiece even when he sleeps) and I remeber him saying that he is a good gamer and when he is playing he is so good that bullets are everywhere but none can hit him. Anyone saw a movie with similar script? Let me know please.

zerocool said:

And you could add this too http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251448/

January 17, 2011

phinuss said:

where the link for download all this hacker movie??
please………

March 5, 2011

Maniak12 said:

Good thing I looked at these first because I was going to suggest Takedown as well

Maniak12 said:

Takedown: Though named Hackers 2 around the net isn’t really a sequel to the kick-ass 1995 movie, is a movie based off of the novel with the same name. The book more than the movie tries to depict Mitnick out to be this horrible thief when really no one was hurt. All he did was crack a few cell phone codes and Shimomura caught him by a thread. Sadly Shimomura got really famous from it and had a few books written about how he was the hero of the day. That’s ok, we all know Mitnick is our hero. p.s. Mitnick wrote some books himself Shimomura

March 6, 2011

Maniak12 said:

Let me correct that: Book: Takedown Movie: Track Down

June 9, 2011

zerocool said:

Yay, I found it, I guess the topic is not that active as it was, anyway, the movie I was looking for was Gen-Y Cops and I think you should also add this on the list. Over and out

June 20, 2011

Mentor said:

So, five years and counting. When do you expect to add more movies to this list?

September 20, 2011

Bastian said:

Some films that may be of interest…

WarGames: (1983)
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Electric Dreams: (1984)
An artificially intelligent PC and his human owner find themselves in a romantic rivalry over a woman.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash: (1986)
Terry works for a bank, and uses computers to communicate with clients all over the world. One day she gets a coded message from an unknown source. After decoding the message, Terry becomes embroiled in an espionage ring. People are killed, and Terry is chased. Throughout she remains in contact with this unknown person, who needs Terry to help save his life.

Sneakers: (1992)
Complex but lighthearted thriller about computers and cryptography, government and espionage, secrets and deception and betrayal.

Brainscan: (1994)
A teenager is part of an interactive video game where he kills innocent victims. Later, the murders become real.

The Net: (1995)
Angela Bennett’s a software engineer type who works from home and has few friends outside of cyberspace. Taking her first vacation in years she becomes embroiled in a web (sic) of computer espionage.

Hackers: (1995)
A young boy is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.

You’ve Got Mail: (1998)
Two business rivals hate each other at the office but fall in love over the internet.

23: (1998)
The movie’s plot is based on the true story of a group of young computer hackers from Hannover, Germany. In the late 1980s the orphaned Karl Koch invests his heritage in a flat and a home computer. At first he dials up to bulletin boards to discuss conspiracy theories inspired by his favorite novel, R.A. Wilson’s “Illuminatus”, but soon he and his friend David start breaking into government and military computers. Pepe, one of Karl’s rather criminal acquaintances senses that there is money in computer cracking - he travels to east Berlin and tries to contact the KGB.

Office Space: (1999)
Comedic tale of company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.

Pirates of Silicon Valley: (1999)
History of Apple and Microsoft.

Matrix: (1999)
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

Takedown: (2000)
This film is based on the story of the capture of computer hacker “Kevin Mitnick”.

Swordfish: (2001)
A secretive renegade counter-terrorist co-opts the world’s greatest hacker (who is trying to stay clean) to steal billions in US Government dirty money.

Antitrust: (2001)
A computer programmer’s dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.

Terminal Error: (2002)
Powerful automation software begins to make decisions for itself.

I-See-You.Com: (2006)
A 17-year-old boy buys mini-cameras and displays the footage online at I-see-you.com. The cash rolls in as the site becomes a major hit. Everyone seems to have fun until it all comes crashing down..

Pulse: (2006)
When their computer hacker friend accidentally channels a mysterious wireless signal, a group of co-eds rally to stop a terrifying evil from taking over the world.

Firewall: (2006)
A security specialist is forced into robbing the bank that he’s protecting, as a bid to pay off his family’s ransom.

Online: (2006)
Online dating is like magic…just an illusion.

Die Hard 4.0: (2007)
John McClane takes on an Internet-based terrorist organization who is systematically shutting down the United States.

Control Alt Delete: (2008)
A moody romantic comedy exploring fetishism, addiction and love in the information age.

Untraceable: (2008)
FBI agent Jennifer Marsh is tasked with hunting down a seemingly untraceable serial killer who posts live videos of his victims on the Internet. As time runs out, the cat and mouse chase becomes more personal.

Eagle Eye: (2008)
Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.

Trust: (2010)
A teenage girl is targeted by an online sexual predator.

Bastian said:

The Social Network (2010)
The story of how the social-networking website Facebook was founded.

November 1, 2011

Paradox said:

You haven’t mentioned Swordfish

February 4, 2012

improve expert said:

Hackers is by far the best and funniest hacker movie. The bad guy is just awesome - the dude has a limo, but he doesn’t get in, instead he roller blades and holds on the back of it! And the clothes and the sound track rock. Plus ms jollie is fit.

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