Cyberpunk & Hacking Movies

Gene Michael Stover (gene@acm.org)

created Saturday, 2015 October 11
updated 2022 May 31

original at https://cybertiggyr.com/xsq13.html

Rules

• Not just for movies. TV shows are okay, too.
• If a movie belongs in this document, it goes on exactly one list.
• I'd like to say that if it appears to go on both hacking & cyberpunk, then it should go on just cyberpunk because I like that more than I like movies about hacking. However, as of 2016-09-20, looks like hacking movies are more rare, so maybe it's better to resolve a tie in favor of hacking.
• It's okay to list a movie even if it's a bad movie. If it's bad, it's also okay to make a note that it's bad.

Needs classification

Watch these, see if they fit into one of the following lists.

• Cyberstalker (1996)
• Terminal Error (2002)
• Natural City (2003)
• The Fifth Estate (2013)
• Jackrabbit (2015)
• Blackhat (2015)
• The 414s (2015)

Hacking

Hacking is computers with intrigue or mystery.

1. Colossus The Forbin Project (1970)
   • only barely qualifies as a hacking movie. (As of 2022 May, I'm even less certain it's a hacking movie.)
   • That's due to the date of release (1970, before the computer revolution) & because it spends much more time trying to reason with an AI. The hacking is limited to one attempt that a couple of characters make to ask Colossus to solve some unsolvable problems (actually to run some self-diagnostic tests that consume a lot of CPU time).
2. Wargames (1983)
   • It's almost a retelling of Colossus.
   • However, it is definitely a hacking movie in that much of the appeal is about the main character dialing into a remote computer, researching his target so he can guess a password.
3. Sneakers (1992)
4. The X-Files 1.07 Ghost in the Machine (1993)
   • Honestly, not much hacking, but there's some.
   • It shows a hacker, or a hacking-like character.
5. Hackers (1995)
6. The Net (1995)
7. Antitrust (2001)
   • Features lots of movie screen time of computer screen time.
   • Has a nice dose of paranoia that individuals (one of whom controls a corporation) are up to something. That's the real appeal of the movie. It's half of what I want in a hacking movie.
8. Swordfish (2001)
9. Wargames The Dead Code (2008)
10. Delete (2013)
11. Mr. Robot (2015)

Cyberpunk

The guidelines are...

• It’s about high-tech low-lifes.
• It's a high-tech version of hard-boiled, mostly from the 1940s & 1950s.
• Corporatism run amok! (But somehow, not the 21st century that we live in.) Also Reaganomics & Thatcherism.
• If you have virtual reality (& not just for a secret few), it's probably cyberpunk.
• If you have some high-tech tricks for a well-funded secret few, especially if they are funded by a government, then you have a spy thriller, not cyberpunk.
• Merger of man & machine, whether literally or figuratively, suggests cyberpunk.

1. Metropolis (1927)
   • Even though I've liked this movie for ages, it wasn't until 2016-09-18 that I recognized it as cyberpunk.
   • The DVD I have contains an excellent commentary. I recommend watching that.
2. Blade Runner (1982)
3. Runaway (1984)
4. Circuitry Man (198?)
   • Remember that it's okay to put bad movies on this list.
   • ...and it contains one of the most insightful jokes I've ever heard. (Hint: “That's what it's like to be an android.”)
5. The Running Man (1987)
   • It takes place in a world that's probably cyberpunk: Out-of-control corporations & consumerism, everything commodified.
6. Max Headroom TV series (1987)
7. Cyber City Oedo 808 (1990)
8. Hardware (1990)
9. Nemesis (1992)
10. the Bubblegum Crisis universe
    • original Bubblegum Crisis
    • Bubblegum Crash
    • Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040
    • The A.D. Police
    • The A.D. Police Files
    • Parasite Dolls (2003)
11. Freejack (1992)
12. Strange Days (1995)
13. Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
14. Ghost in the Shell (1995)
15. Armitage III (1995)
    • Roman numerals are stupid.
16. Nirvana (1997)
17. New Rose Hotel (1998)
18. The X-Files 5.11 Kill Switch (1998)
19. Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
20. eXistenZ (1999)
21. Armitage Dual Matrix (2002)
22. Texhnolyze (2003)
23. Cyber Wars (2004)
24. Renaissance (2006?)
    • I highly recommend this movie.
    • It has one of, like, 2 car chases in all of movie history that I enjoy.
25. The Gene Generation (2007)
26. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008)

Computer-related movies

Features computers, but not quite a hacking movie & not quite a cyberpunk movie.

1. Tron (1982)
2. Automan (198?)
   • So stupid. Sooooo stupid!
3. Tron Legacy (2010)
4. Tron Uprising (2012)
5. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
6. The Matrix (1999)
7. Untraceable (2008)
8. Web of Lies (2009)
9. Darknet
   • As much as I enjoy this TV series, & even though it involves the Internet, there isn't enough of that to be a hacking movie. And it certainly isn't cyberpunk.

Robot movies

Not a big thing for me, so I won't put much effort into making this complete. Mostly just gives me a place to record movies that I considered for the other lists but decided they don't fit on the other lists. I can list them here to help remember that I considered them.

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2. Westworld
3. Futureworld
4. Beyond Westworld
5. I, Robot
6. The Invisible Boy
7. Lost in Space TV series
8. Lost in Space movie
9. the 21st century Westworld TV series

Not on the lists

List of movies that I've excluded from the other lists. I'm listing them here because if I deleted them, I wouldn't have a record that I considered them.

1. Takedown (2000)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
   • It's about a hacker, & it shows some hacking, but very little. It's more of a thriller that happens to be about a hacker.
   • And I didn’t enjoy it much anyway.

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