Matthew Lillard has always been the perfect actor to amplify the fun in any film. Whether he’s a horror-movie killer or an energetic stoner, Lillard has a special ability to make even the strangest characters unforgettable. His breakout came with Serial Mom and Scream, before he became permanently associated with Shaggy in both Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. More recently, he’s found another generation of fans through projects like Five Nights at Freddy’s and Daredevil. There is something wonderful about how his commitment never wavers, even when the material gets completely ridiculous.
Which brings us to the 1995 cyber-thriller Hackers, a film that feels specifically designed to produce maximum Matthew Lillard energy. Directed by Iain Softley, the film follows a group of teenage punks with a knack for hacking, who get caught in a corporate embezzlement scheme after one of their own accidentally uncovers the Da Vinci Virus, a dangerous computer program that could trigger an environmental disaster. Before long, they’re being framed for a crime they didn’t commit and have to use their combined hacking skills to expose the real culprit.
Meet Cereal Killer
Lillard plays Emmanuel Goldstein, aka Cereal Killer, a member of the primary hacker crew that also includes Dade Murphy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Kate Libby (Angelina Jolie). Goldstein is the group’s resident burnout, conspiracy theorist, and walking collection of ’90s slang. Early on, he takes a seat in an English class he isn’t enrolled in, offhandedly asking if he’s in the wrong room only when caught. It’s a throwaway moment that reveals he’s not only irreverent but convinced he’s the coolest guy in the room.
Later, Goldstein gets to show there’s more to him than his court jester persona. After the crew gets arrested, he appears on a hijacked television broadcast, turning Cereal Killer’s usual stream of conspiracy theories into a nationwide exposé. While broadcasting concrete proof of a $25 million corporate theft to the entire country, Lillard never loses an ounce of his signature chaotic energy, even as he transitions from the crew’s most unhinged character into the hero of the film.
The rest of the cast makes Hackers all the more memorable. Jonny Lee Miller brings a smirking arrogance to Dade, while a young Angelina Jolie commands the screen with the cool rockstar charisma that would make her an icon. Even Fisher Stevens leans into the absurdity, gliding through scenes on a skateboard as the corporate menace “The Plague.” However, Lillard remains the film’s chaotic heart. He brings an uninhibited absurdity that steals every scene. It makes Hackers feel like the blueprint for the eccentric energy he’d eventually refine for decades.
Softley also gives the movie a distinct visual identity. Bathed in monitor glow and restless camera movement, the film transforms New York into a hyper-styled playground of technology and counterculture. Rather than predicting what the internet would actually look like, the movie captures the myth of the web as a boundless new realm where only the plugged-in youth truly understood its rules.
More than anything, Hackers has personality. It isn’t trying to be realistic, and it isn’t particularly concerned with whether its vision of hacking makes sense. (It doesn’t.) The film treats cyberspace as an exclusive underground club where teenagers hold all the keys, executing every scene with an unmatched level of infectious ’90s bravado. (If you’re looking for another dose, check out the 1999 anime series Serial Experiments Lain.)
Sure, its vision of the web is hilariously dated. The literal VR effects, neon rollerblades, techno-slang, and fantastical story all scream 1995, but that only elevates the film all these years later. Hackers expertly captures the internet’s wild and lawless adolescence before corporate polish flattened it into mundanity. What starts as an exercise in nostalgia quickly reveals why Hackers retains such a fierce cult following. It’s silly, chaotic, and absurdly stylized. There’s a rare magic in watching a film commit so wholeheartedly to its own wild fantasy of the future.
Best of all, indulging that nostalgia won’t cost you a dime. Hackers is streaming for free on Pluto TV right now. It’s a frictionless invitation (aside from a few pesky ads) to revisit a time when the internet was equal parts lawless frontier and fever dream.
Hackers is streaming on Pluto TV