Top 16 Hacker and Cybersecurity Movies That You Should Watch in 2021
Hacker and cybersecurity movies are not very common but enjoyable to watch. We have prepared the best hacker-themed movies for you.
Hacker-themed films started to be shot with the increase in computer use, especially after the 1980s. With the development of technology in the 2000s, the number of such films has greatly increased.
Offering genres such as action, adventure, thriller, and mystery together, hacker movies are works with a high level of excitement. Leaked secret documents, conspiracies, secret agencies, and units such as the CIA – FBI are the main themes of these films. At the same time, it is possible to watch successful examples of such films, which are also shot in the crime genre. We have compiled the best 16 hacker movies from the past to the present for you.
1- MATRIX (1999)
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
Synopsis:
The Matrix is about a hacker who learns that he and the rest of humanity live in a simulated reality built by super-intelligent and sophisticated computers that aim to keep humanity as prisoners of war to use their bodies properly.
2- THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling
Synopsis:
The film is about a young hacker who helps a journalist track down a woman missing for decades. The film is based on one of the books in the best-selling novel series “The Millennium Trilogy.”
3- WAR GAMES (1983)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Synopsis:
The film is about David, a young computer fanatic who finds a backdoor to a US military computer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) believing that he is only playing a nuclear war simulation game, David activates a very powerful nuclear weapon control system and almost starts World War III.
4- HACKERS (1995)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Stars: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard
Synopsis:
A child hacker-turned-18-year-old meets up with a group of teenage hackers who, together, uncover evidence of a massive embezzling scheme. But hackers are accused of cyberattacks and creating a virus that will capsize an oil fleet. They must work together to prove their innocence and save themselves.
5- TRON (1982)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner
Synopsis:
The film is about a hacker kidnapping into the digital world and forced into gladiator games.
6- 23 (1998)
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Stars: August Diehl, Fabian Busch, Dieter Landuris
Synopsis:
The movie is based on real hackers living in Germany in the 1980s. An orphan uses his legacy to buy a computer. He and his friend begin infiltrating military computers.
7- CITIZENFOUR (2014)
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney
Synopsis:
American journalist Edward Snowden, who could not return to his country after leaking top-secret documents he obtained while working at the NSA and CIA, contacted journalist Laura Poitras under the pseudonym Citizen Four and his interviews with him in Hong Kong are narrated with real camera recordings.
8- GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995)
Genre: Animation, Action, Crime
Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Otsuka
Synopsis:
The film tells a detective story in 2029. When a hacker called the Puppet Master reaches top-secret information, the government sends a secret organization to find it and eliminate it.
9- BLACKHAT (2015)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Tang Wei
Synopsis:
The film, which addresses the cybercriminal world on a global scale, centers on a prisoner on leave and his American and Chinese partners. It shows the viewer the dark side of a high-level cybercrime network stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Jakarta.
10- TAKEDOWN (2000)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Stars: Skeet Ulrich, Russell Wong, Angela Featherstone
Synopsis:
Kevin Mitnick is one of the best hackers in the world and spends all his time fighting increasingly tougher cyber wars. One day he tries to hack the computer of an IT security agent, considered being the best hacker of the past. But this is not as easy as he thinks.
11- WHO AM I (2014)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Stars: Tom Schilling, Elyas M’Barek, Wotan Wilke Möhring
Synopsis:
As a young computer genius, Benjamin wants to be recognized not only in Germany but around the world. When an underground group of hackers invites Benjamin to join them, Benjamin accepts the dangerous offer but is unaware of what will happen to him in these dangerous games.
12- SWORDFISH (2001)
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Stars: John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry
Synopsis:
When the DEA, which handles the fight against drugs across the USA, canceled its operation code-named ‘Swordfish’ in 1986, the outrageous amount of black money, like $ 400 million, was exposed in a way that no one could use. There is someone who has an eye on this money, which has increased to 9.5 billion in interest rates in the past 15 years: Gabriel Shear.
13- DIE HARD 4.0: LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (2007)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Stars: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant
Synopsis:
John McClane is away from the action and success of the past and works at a government-owned security company where he’s tracking hackers. But danger and adventure will come and find him again when he least expected it.
14- SNOWDEN (2016)
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo
Synopsis:
Edward Snowden learns that the government has access to e-mails, social media accounts, even computer cameras, and announces to the world in June 2013 that all these are legalized by secret laws. While Snowden was declared “the greatest traitor in American history” at that moment, he will also turn into a hero.
15- NERVE (2016)
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama
Stars: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Emily Meade
Synopsis:
A high school senior finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of “watchers.”
16- EAGLE EYE (2008)
Genre: Action, Thriller
Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson
Synopsis:
Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.
You can also check out The 10 Best Movies Based on Video Games.
