Ask HN: Recommendations for “Hacker Fiction” Films? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Recommendations for “Hacker Fiction” Films?

58 pointsgraderjs53 comments

It will probably seem really silly, but I loved the vibe of the original Hackers film (90s, anti-corporate, young kids vs world), as well as Johnny Mnemonic.

I also enjoyed reading (the 1997 version of) Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier, as a snapshot of the vibe at that time.

The vibe at the time which maybe too glibly and imprecisely: was a strange solution of corporate dystopianism, mixed with a young person's rebellion and optimism.

I also like the idea of, but never watched War Games (maybe it's too old?)

I don't intend this question to be my personal recommendation solicitations: it should be a chance for anyone to share--but I'm just trying to give some concrete examples to frame it, which I suppose boils down to (maybe): 80s-90s vibe cyberpunk fictional hacking films, not docos.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for some fiction films to watch in this space? Hacker fiction films?

I think "Sneakers" from 1992 is also a popular hacker movie. However, the aesthetics are very much unlike Hackers; it's much more realistic, though (not 100%, but a lot).

If you're interested in the "hacker genre" of movies (or its history or various interpretations), imho both Wargames and Sneakers are worth a watch. I personally like Sneakers more.

+1. Sneakers is the best hacker movie we've made yet.

Set aside the hacker bits and it’s also a good movies with an very talented cast.

Not fiction, but based on true events.

Netflix series - Billion Dollar Code. The Google Earth court case fought by the a couple of German hackers https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81074012

AMC TV series - Halt and Catch Fire. Follows some players in the 80s technological revolution that lead to information society. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543312/

Apollo 13. When Apollo 13 sustains hazardous damage mid-orbit, NASA works to devise a plan to lead the spacecraft back to Earth and spare the lives of the astronauts on board. https://www.amazon.com/Apollo-13-Tom-Hanks/dp/B001JI5DRC

Having lived through it, Halt and Catch Fire does a spectacular job at capturing and conveying what the 80s and 90s tech startup world felt like. More recently, Superpumped and WeCrashed capture the 2000s and 2010s.

These all fit the thread in the HY/HN definition of hackers.

I have seen Superpumped and liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt's performance as TK. Of all the series about computers/IT I would also rate Halt and Catch Fire at the top. Of course, Silicon Valley would take the top spot for a sitcom that touched on topical events/culture.

If you watch HCF, you'll notice something interesting about the power LEDs on the Commodore 64s. I didn't notice it until my 2nd time watching the series.

Not a film but Mr Robot is probably the most accurate portrayal of hacker fiction so far

Agreed, the only show where I wasn’t facepalming every time a terminal was opened.

Yes! The hacks were actually plausible, and the story telling was excellent.

Absolutely, whoever they used as a technical consultant was on point, and for a change the writers/producers/directors actually took their advice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bBrj6QBPW0 The Mr Robot panel from defcon. Yup a pretty knowledgeable bunch

Some of your preferences are ticked by the film "23"( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_(film) ).

Based on a real story with some addition of KGB and cocaine.

Seconded. I have found this movie to stand the test of time, even 20 years after release.

To add, the movie captures some of the societal anxiety of cold-war West Germany accurately. August Diehl's portrayal of Karl Koch is, imho, a stand-out success.

Great this gem of German film culture has more fans.

The scene with the PDP-11 mainframe and its power supply has meme status even today.

Another great trope of the film are the dynamics how the hackers around Karl get exploited by the business savy.

If you like the combination of math, hacking, and madness, check out Pi (1998). It's a bit disturbing, but sounds like it might be up your alley. It's a filmmaking masterpiece.

Thanks for tip. It looks promising.

War Games is old, but it's definitely a worthwhile film to watch. I watched it with my 10yo during lockdown times, and it held up pretty well. It's also a good film to watch to put some of the movies that followed it in perspective. Everyone who made a hacker film after War Games was aware of that movie.

Snowden is a pretty good movie (though it takes some artistic liberties).

Enemy of the State - though an all pervasive surveillance state fortunately remains fiction (tongue firmly in cheek).

+1 for Enemy of the State.

Gene Hackman, Will Smith, and the incorrigible Jack Black.

The scene where Hackman's character wraps a cell phone in the foil from a potato chip bag is hilarious; almost true as well.

Max Headroom

Both the original film '20 Minutes into the Future' and the US drama series. All very 80s cyberpunk. Mega corps and dystopia

Serial Experiment Lain

Lain explores 'The Wired' communication network and reality and the digital bleed together.

Strange Days

Noir styled look at abuse of power. A black market seller of recording of people emotions and memories tries to uncover who committed a murder.

Cyberpunk documentary

I know you said no documentaries but this covers many of the films and TV shows mentioned

Part 1 - https://youtu.be/sttm8Q9rOdQ

Part 2 - https://youtu.be/0VoX3vr6CCM

Part 3 - https://youtu.be/KczJNtexinY

Takedown (2000)

Based on the book by Tsutomu Shimomura. It's the story of how Kevin Mitnick was captured. All the tech/hacks in the movie are real as far as I remember.

Not a good answer I guess, but I was reading your question and couldn't think of anything else but the game EXAPUNKS from Zachtronics (https://www.zachtronics.com/exapunks/)

It happens to be part of a Humble Bundle currently.

A decent list of films

https://github.com/k4m4/movies-for-hackers

Swordfish - extremely stylized with lots of early 2000s techno but definitely worth a watch.

Pirates of Silicon Valley. Good portrayal of Jobs and Gates as nerds with big ideas but shady ways to accomplish them.

Sort of near the edge of what you are asking for but Live Free and Die Hard has a lot of hacking (though a big absurd, like anything with a battery can be hacked) but still exciting.

+1 for Wargames

The original "La Femme Nikita" TV series had quite a few episodes with realistic hacking in them, although they didn't show all the difficult work behind the hacks that made them available on-demand. Sometimes they stepped over the realism line, but most of it was quite plausible.

Nothing beats "Hackers" (1995) imo. Since you've already seen that, I think you've already experienced the best we have to offer, unfortunately.

In terms of books, I liked Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". It was written in 1999 and really captures the 90s startup culture, and has some cool hacker scenes. The detail is good too, where the author even explains the specific unix commands that are being executed in some scenes (such as grep).

And it includes the perl script to take pictures of people who used his laptop during the demo.

Ex Machina is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Alex Garland. A computer programmer is employed by a billionaire to assess whether a human-looking robot is sentient. Maybe not quite a 'hacker' theme.

Although the film is highly rated, I found the premise more intriguing than what the film delivers. For me, the film was OK, not great. But I encourage you to watch and make up you own opinion.

Garland has also written and directed a 2020 TV series was Devs, which I haven't seen. For anyone's seen it - is it any good?

Devs is awesome and filled the void that Mr. Robot left... though it's quite different. It's more like hard sci-fi.

There was an awesome talk at HOPE this year about the portrayal of hackers in the media. There's a full list of the movies they discussed here: https://twitter.com/JohnDunlap2/status/1551364796951547905

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I can’t believe no one else mentioned this one.

By chance, are you referring to the 2009 or 2011 movie, both based on the 2005 novel (of the same name).

You may like Takedown (2000) and Antitrust (2001) a lot more than Hackers. Takedown, sometimes referred to as Hackers 2, has nothing to do with the Hackers movie (which in my opinion is pure crap that became popular only thanks to a young Angelina Jolie in it) and tells the dramatized but true story of Kevin Mitnick and how he was captured.

I like Die Hard 4, which is a decent action flick with Timothy Oliphant playing a rogue hacker ripping off the US government.

Also Kevin Smith was a nice addition

Avalon (2001) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0267287/

Btw this film has incredible soundtrack - https://youtu.be/6FLrh7wMoTA

Seems like you know about, yet haven't watched War Games yet. Definitely an older one, but arguably one of the best — would highly recommend giving it a go.

60s mainframes, but Hot Millions has brilliant performances by Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, Bob Newhart, and Karl Malden. The denouement is utterly ecstatic.

Takedown, the kevin Mitnick story was a cool watch. Also Blackhat was another good one. Another favorite of cheesy old 80's films is Prime Risk.

Some Hacker Movies that are not mentioned yet that (kind of) match your description:

The Net, Matrix, Code Rush (a documentary)

There is a German movie called "Who AM I" that is been recommended for hacker-esque films.

Not a movie, but a series: I think you could enjoy "Halt and Catch fire".

IT Crowd.

Silicon Valley.

Person of Interest.

Billion Dollar Code is pretty good, and completely fictional

"The Undeclared War" — series on Peacock

The thirteenth floor (1999)

Tron!

And you really should watch War Games and 23.

Real Genius.

Matrix ? Cube ?

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