Angelina Jolie has been one of Hollywood’s biggest stars for nearly 30 years, and it was her performance in a 1995 cult classic that makes it so memorable today. After appearing in several critically acclaimed films in the latter half of the 1990s, including her Oscar-winning turn in Girl, Interrupted, Jolie became a bona fide movie star in the 2000s. Action films like Gone in 60 Seconds and Lara Craft: Tomb Raider established her as a box office draw, and she would continue to headline many notable financial hits well into the 2010s.
Though her output has slowed somewhat in the last decade, Jolie is still capable of turning in a stunning performance with an emphasis on character. In fact, her ability to fully embody her role was always Jolie’s greatest strength, and even her more action-oriented films allowed her to show off her charisma first and foremost. Angelina Jolie’s early career is often overshadowed by her blockbuster hits from the 2000s, but it was the movies she made in the 1990s that truly illustrated her strengths. Her first starring role was largely forgotten, but it is now considered a cult classic.
Angelina Jolie’s Hackers Is Getting A Well-Deserved Reappraisal
The 1995 Cult Classic Is Finally Being Recognized
It attempts to capture the rising internet culture, and it also crosses paths with the dissatisfied and angsty youth of the ’90s.
Angelina Jolie’s first ever starring role came in 1995’s Hackers, and though the techno-thriller bombed at the box office, it is now becoming a cult classic. The 1990s were filled with plenty of movies that tried to cash in on the rise of personal computing, but almost all of them come off as cheesy or dated. While Hackers isn’t immune to that same ᴀssessment, the film outshines its contemporaries because it is so ultra-modern (for the time). It attempts to capture the rising internet culture, and it also crosses paths with the dissatisfied and angsty youth of the ’90s.
Hackers grossed $7.5 million against a reported budget of $20 million (via Box Office Mojo).
The movie is undoubtedly over-the-top, but that is part of its appeal. Hackers never tries to hide what it is, and it embraces the most ridiculous aspects of its story. 1990s sci-fi films often tried too hard to be very serious and reserved, but Hackers goes for gusto in both its visuals and its storytelling. There’s also an element of research that went into the script, with many of the movie’s ideas being lifted from the real-life Hacker Manifesto by Lloyd Blankenship. Though it still doesn’t get everything right, the effort to understand computer culture is worth applause.
Critics didn’t like Hackers when it came out, but it has since become a cornerstone of what’s been referred to as “Hacksploitation”. The movie perfectly sums up the ’90s atтιтude, and with nostalgia at an all-time high, Hackers has come back into vogue. The fashions are hyperstylized, and the lingo is sometimes cringe-inducing, but it’s what the film represents that makes it such an important cult classic. It overdoes its hacking concept, but some aspects of the film have come to fruition in the 30 years since its release. It isn’t perfect, but Hackers gets better with age.
Angelina Jolie’s Kate Is The Standout Part Of Hackers (& A Big Reason It’s Now A Cult Classic)
Her First Lead Role Proved She Would Be A Star Soon
Though she wasn’t the lead character in Hackers, it only takes a few minutes for it to become abundantly clear that Angelina Jolie’s Kate “Acid Burn” Libby is the real star. Not only is she given the most interesting outfits and the wittiest dialogue, but Jolie acts circles around extremely talented co-stars like Matthew Lillard and Jonny Lee Miller. Her ability to elevate the material not only shows off her potential star-power, but is also the only reason that anyone even remembers Hackers. Kate isn’t a conventional ’90s female lead, and she isn’t even a conventional ’90s rebel girl either.
On paper, Kate comes off like a bundle of cliches and manic pixie dream girl energy, but Jolie takes the caricature and turns her into a character. The script tries to poke fun at Kate’s obsession with seeing Dade in a dress, but Jolie’s performance takes Kate’s gender obfuscation entirely seriously. Her performance actually hearkens back to part of the Hacker Manifesto where the hacker exists without race, class, or other demographically distinguishable features. Jolie put a lot of effort into what was an otherwise disposable movie, and there’s a reason she snagged an Oscar only a few years later.
It’s not unusual for a future star to appear in oddball movies early in their career, and that always lends them cult classic status as novelties. However, Jolie’s appearance in Hackers isn’t some strange piece of her early filmography, but instead shows that she can transform anything into a standout performance. Angelina Jolie may have gone on to bigger and better things, but Hackers deserves to be fondly remembered.
