"Hackers"-- brief review and anecdote...

[pcw@access.digex.net (Peter Wayner)]

I saw "Hackers" yesterday. It's not bad and its political sensibility is
very cyberpunk. The ad campaign even uses the tag line, "Their only crime
is curiosity." Given that a major studio is spending beaucoup bucks to
spread this tag line, I think it is safe to say that cyber issues are very
mainstream by now. Still edgy enough to be exciting to many, but definitely
comprehendable.

The characters are just a bit too cool for school and some of the notes
ring false. The evil one, a corporate computer security officer, would have
been better served by someone who is not as laughable as Fischer Stevens. I
could probably hit the escape key on my computer here and he would cringe.
Jeremy Irons or Klaus-Maria Brandaur would have been more inspired. But
they can't skateboard.

I also stopped by the Department of Motor Vehicles yesterday. The lines
were long and I soon found myself grousing along with the guy behind me. He
was about 60 years old and not part of the cyberpunk generation in any way.
After I said some libertarian thing by wondering aloud about why we even
needed to have such a huge bureaucracy centered around cars, he said,
"Yeah. Have you seen all the land they have down in Fort Meade. Beautiful
land and they just spend their time down their spying on the people." He
lumped the NSA in with the DMV. To him, it was just one big bureaucracy.

-Peter