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Movie Title

Hackers

Writer
Rafael Moreu

Producer
Michael Peyser, Ralph Winter

Characters
 Jonny Lee Miller ... Dade Murphy / 'Crash Override' / 'Zero Cool'
 a computer genius who hacked a government agency on his childhood,
now a senior high school student in New York, 18 years of age
 Angelina Jolie ... Kate Libby / 'Acid Burn'
 schoolmate of Dade, beautiful and smart, sexy and naughty, also a
computer geek
 Jesse Bradford ... Joey Pardella,
 the youngest in the group of hackers, who wanted to belong to the elite
group
 Matthew Lillard ... Emmanuel Goldstein / 'Cereal Killer'
 a member of the elite group, a close friend of Phreak, has a collection of
computer hacking books
 Laurence Mason ... Paul Cook / 'Lord Nikon'
 the oldest member of the elite group, a black computer hacker
 Renoly Santiago ... Ramon Sanchez / 'Phantom Phreak'
 the latino leader of the elite group, consider himself as the king of the net
 Fisher Stevens ... Eugene Belford / 'The Plague' / Mr. Babbage
 the villain of the story, a computer security agent, having an affair with
one of the executive of the oil company
 Alberta Watson ... Lauren Murphy
 the dear mother of Dade, disciplinarian and yet understanding
Supporting Characters:
 Darren Lee ... Razor
 Peter Y. Kim ... Blade
 Ethan Browne ... Curtis
 Lorraine Bracco ... Margo
 Wendell Pierce ... S.S. Agent Richard Gill
 Michael Gaston ... S.S. Agent Bob
 Marc Anthony ... S.S. Agent Ray

Setting
When
Contemporary, by the 1995
Where
New York, USA
Plot/Synopsis of the Movie
The film started with the introduction of the young Dade Murphy then 11, at a court trial
after he committed the crime of crashing 1,507 systems in one day that caused a single-day 7
point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. He goes with the name, “Zero Cool”. The sentence
of his conviction resulted to a ban of owning or operating computers or touch-tone telephones
until he reached his 18th birthday.
The said incident cause her parent’s divorce, of which lead her mother to land a new job
in New York City and he has to come over, with her mother who won for his custody.
Upon turning 18, he calls a local television station, tricked the security guard into giving
him the modem’s phone number using a tactic known as social engineering and successfully
hacked into the station’s computer network, changing the current TV program into an old
episode. He was however, attacked by a certain handle, “Acid Burn” that kicked him out on that
game, after he gave his new identity, “Crash Override”
He was then enrolled at Stuyvesant High School, where he was acquainted with the
gorgeous Kate Libby, toured him around the school, but eventually making fun of him making
him believe of a “pool on the roof” which resulted in locking him with other freshmen. After the
incident of garnering the highest score in a game where Kate reigns, the feud erupted between
these two computer geeks, in conspiracy of their mutual friends, Cereal Killer and Lord Nikon.
The conflict started when Joey Pardella, the youngest among the group, who was forced
to hack into an oil company supercomputer to prove to the group especially to the leader, Phreak,
that he belongs to the elite group, the highest class in the hacking community.
In order to show the group what he can do, he downloaded a part of a garbage pile which
was not completed after his mother told him to sleep and unplugged the said computer. To his
disgrace, the company’s IT Staff detected this unauthorized entry, headed by Eugene “The
Plague” Belford who summoned the US Secret Service to recover the said file making them
believe that it contained a code to a computer virus that might harm the oil company’s operation.
What was hidden, was that the said garbage file has the proof that the handler of “The Plague” is
stealing money from the company. Joey successfully hidden his diskette at the ceiling of his
room, disabling the police to charge a major case against him.
This then linked to rediscovering Dade’s past identity by The Plague as he insisted that he
might had conspired with the group. He ordered the US Secret Service to hunt other members in
order to find the missing diskette. Several races of hunting followed. Kate, who is a close friend
of Joey, urged Dade to help, which he denied, after he was offered by The Plague to surrender
the disk and the name of other conspirators, or else her mother will be charged with several cases
she didn’t even thought of.
Realizing that he made a wrong decision, Dade helped Kate seeking the help of the other
two commercialized computer genius.

Analysis
Title
1. What can you say about the title?
The movie talks about the growing number of hackers in the turf of information
technology.

2. Is it appropriate? Why? Why not?


Yes, it is appropriate. When one would ask, what is the movie about, he need not to read
or hear the synopsis, by mere knowing the title Hackers, this implicates that the movie revolves
upon the collaboration of the characters to turn down the hidden motive of the security officer,
preventing a massive loss of capital.
The movie also showed the different characteristics of a hacker, one that would use the
skill on hacking to breach a government security system, other would use it for stealing money,
while turning the blame to others, and some noble hackers that would save a loved one out of a
misfortunate situation.

3. Given the chance to change the title, what it will be?


However, If ever I have the chance to change the title, I would pick “The Worm” as it
describes the kind of virus The Plague planted unto the supercomputer’s system to steal the
money, and what made the hackers united to turn down a massive corruption scheme, converting
them from nuisances to government aids.

Characterization
1. Among the characters, whom you like the best?
Why?
Of all the characters acting in the movie, I would pick Dade. Other found him
mischievous and childish prank, but what they do not know is that he has a kind heart that loves
a friend and can devote his own security to save his mom out of disgrace.
2. Among the characters, whom do you dislike least?
Why?
The Phreak, is the character, I would find disturbing. At the first part of the movie, he was
introduced as the leader, as he was acquainted with Dade, however, it was the character of
Cereal killer who shined the most in the end.

Climax of the Movie:


1. Identify the climax of the movie?
The climax of the movie was shown with the intellectual battle between Dade and The
Plague as they were racing of who will find out ahead the said garbage file to use against each
other.

Conflict of the Movie:


1. Point out the conflict of the movie.
The conflict of the movies arises upon the hacking of Joey Pardella into an oil company
supercomputer to prove to the rest of the group that he is an elite hacker, a prestigious
distinction for the super geeks in the computer hacking field.
2. Was the problem in the movie given solution?
Yes, the conflict was given solution appropriately.
3. State the solutions made.
Through the help of Joey’s friends, led by Kate, he was rescued from jail. At first, Dade
denied, afraid that his own mother be persecuted from a crime she didn’t commit. First, he
handed over the said diskette to The Plague, disappointing his friends especially Kate, then
thinking over it, he agreed to connive with the elite group, saying that he has still a spare copy of
the diskette’s garbage file. What remains was that they need to complete the disrupted data to
finally reveal that they were not the culprit behind the said cyber crime.
4. If you were the character, would you do the same?
Why/Why not?
Yes. My friend needs me, yet I have to save my mother first. I’ll be cautious enough to
have a copy of the diskette’s file then hand it over making him believe it is the master’s copy,
then I would let someone know what I did, so that whatever might happen, there would be
something to charge against the culprit.

Plot:
1. What part/situations/scenes in the movie do you liked best?
Why ?
The part where Dade moved the blanket to cover his mom who was sleeping at the sofa
then. He was about to surrender the diskette containing a vital information that might cause
trouble between their friendships, because it was the remaining information needed to save his
friend Joey, and the rest of the elite group too. As his character was introduced as a misbehaved
genius child hacking a government entity, the rest of the movie converted this perception.

2. What part/situations/scenes in the movie you disliked least?


Why?
The scene where Angelina Jolie’s half breast were partly shown. The movie is obviously
intended for young viewers. It may elicit sexual notion to the underage viewers. The scene of
initial making out may be included, but the breast exposure could have been omitted.
3. Comment/Give your reactions on the ff:
a. Beginning of the movie
The beginning is of a prologue style, showing the lead character’s past life. There was a
chaotic scenery, his father was washing his car when a group of armed officer barged into their
house, then a trial in the court followed, convicting the young Dade. This also shows why his
parents were divorced.
b. Middle part of the movie
The middle part of the movie shows the emerging closeness of affection between Kate
and Dade. The recent mishaps of Joey led this couple into the getting to know deeper stage,
revealing that what was shown at their initial acquaintance does not really confirms their real
attitudes.
c. Ending of the movie
It ended into a romantic scene in the pool, as Dade and Kate paddle around the cool
water, as Kate finally agreed to go into a date, after accepting that Dade won the contest between
them. A flashing holographic image reflected by lights listed their handle, Crash and Burn, over
the two towering buildings infront of the pool.
Theme/Message
1. What insights/learnings/moral did you get from the movie?
The end doesn’t justify the means.
Be it for the common good, an act of misdemeanor, such as the cyber crime, doesn’t
justify a good purpose. Given the fact that if Dade and his friends didn’t counter attack the
misdeeds of The Plague, the whole American nation will not warned that even their own security
might not be concealed. Yet, if first handedly, Dade didn’t hack the security turf of the
government, he could have not ruined his parent’s marriage.

Conclusion:
As a whole, what can you say about the movie?
The movie is fun, for teenagers of present Y-Generation, who treats computer and
cellphone technology a significant part of their everyday life. Indeed, technology has brought us
enormous advances to lighten our everyday chores, business, and educational works, yet this
must be taken with precautions. Anything that is too much is bad. Computer usage is not bad,
hacking is definitely not good, as this harms not only the breached security be it government
owned or a private entity, but the hackers personality as well.
A petty crime might lead to a heinous one if neglected. Thus, the movie should have not
only referred to the young ones but also to their respective parents, who remains unaware of the
massive destruction their child’s untoward behaviors over the net might lead to.

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