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eye WEEKLY                                           September 21 1995
Toronto's arts newspaper                      .....free every Thursday
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ON SCREEN                                                    ON SCREEN

                               HACKERS

            Starring Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie.
                     Screenplay by Rafael Moreu.
                      Directed by Iain Softley.

                             (eee of 5 eyes)

                                  by
                           CAROLYN BENNETT

Judging by the amount of inline-skate-bound kids and their bored-
looking parents at a matinee of Hackers, computer technology and its 
culture are dominated by youth and defines "generation gap" the way 
rock `n' roll or drugs once did. This isn't just a matter of not 
understanding junior's Nirvana tunes -- adults failing to expose 
themselves to computers and cyberspace will be victims of the 
information age with their kids lording over them. Hackers doesn't 
raise any of this intentionally; it's too entertaining and fun for 
that.

A cast of virtual unknowns (pun intended) comprise the Hacker squad. 
Jonny Lee Miller is Dade (a.k.a. Crash Override, a.k.a. Zero Cool), an 
antisocial computer genius who can break into any system and wreak 
havoc. He hooks up with a group of gnarly teens led by Kay, a.k.a. 
Acid Burn (Angelina Jolie), a gorgeous, cool chick who hacks with the 
best of them. When the Hackers break into a bank system and 
accidentally uncover something suspicious, they're tracked down by the 
FBI for all the wrong reasons.

Movies about computers are generally pretty deathly and it takes a 
talent to bring electronic sabotage to life. Director Iain Softley 
(Backbeat) succeeds by taking the viewer on a wild psycho-electronic 
ride, through image, space, codes and digits, into the brains of 
systems and networks. The kids are appealingly androgynous and their 
cyberworld hangouts (techno cafes and clubs where everybody smokes and 
drinks caffeine) are hip. The story ends up sliding into convention 
(guy gets grrrl) but hey, we're not cyborgs yet.

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