The Best Hacker Films

Be careful, this film listicle can lead to procrastination!

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Security professionals and decision-makers with a penchant for film art don’t have to miss out on their heart and soul after work – thanks to a wealth of cinematic outpourings.

The mandatory film program for security professionals

We have put together what we think are the best (note: nerd glasses required) hacker films for you below – in chronological order and including a trailer for the original version. Maybe you’ll discover one or two pearls in our compilation that you don’t know yet – or that you simply haven’t seen for too long.

War Games (1983)

Plot: A teenage hacker (Matthew Broderick) accidentally discovers a backdoor in a military computer. When he starts a supposed game there, a nuclear catastrophe threatens.

Genre: Action/Drama/Sci-Fi

Reviews:

IMDb 7,1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 94 %
Metacritic 77/100

Sneakers (1992)

Plot: A (physical) penetration tester (Robert Redford) and his team (including Sidney Poitier, Ben Kingsley and Dan Aykroyd) receive a special assignment from the NSA and find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Genre: Comedy/Krimi/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 7,1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 80 %
Metacritic 65/100

Hackers (1995)

Plot: Two notorious hackers (Angelina Jolie and Johnny Lee Miller) take on the government, but then discover the real threat: more malicious hackers.

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

Reviews:

IMDb 6,2/10
Rotten Tomatoes 33 %
Metacritic 46/100

The Net (1995)

Plot: After a software developer (Sandra Bullock) is given an ominous floppy disk, nothing is the same as before: her identity is stolen, and people around her die under mysterious circumstances.

Genre: Action/Thriller/Crime

Reviews:

IMDb 6,0/10
Rotten Tomatoes 43 %
Metacritic 51/100

23 (1998)

Plot: 19-year-old hacker Karl Koch (August Diehl) is convinced that he is on the trail of a global conspiracy in Cold War-torn Germany in the 1980s. When he is recruited by the Russian secret service, his life is thrown into disarray.

Genre: Biography/Thriller/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 7,2/10
Rotten Tomatoes —
Metacritic —

The Matrix (1999)

Plot: The young hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) receives mysterious messages via his computer. A little later he fights for the survival of humanity with the hacker allies Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Larence Fishburne).

Genre: Action/Sci-Fi

Reviews:

IMDb 8,7/10
Rotten Tomatoes 83 %
Metacritic 73/100

Takedown (2000)

Plot: The hacker Kevin Mitnick (Skeet Ulrich) misjudges an attempted attack and is targeted by the FBI.

Genre: Biography/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 6,2/10
Rotten Tomatoes —
Metacritic —

Pulse (2001)

Plot: A group of young people discover evidence that spirits are trying to reach the real world via the Internet. In 2006, an American remake of the Japanese original of the same name was created.

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi

Reviews:

IMDb 6,5/10
Rotten Tomatoes 76%
Metacritic 68/100

Swordfish (2001)

Plot: A hacker (Hugh Jackman) is hired by a gangster (John Travolta) to create a computer worm for a bank robbery. However, he soon realizes that things are different than they seem.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 6,5/10
Rotten Tomatoes 26%
Metacritic 32/100

Firewall (2006)

Plot: An IT boss (Harrison Ford) is targeted by blackmailers who threaten his family. A battle to the death breaks out – which is waged with a lot of technological know-how.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 5,8/10
Rotten Tomatoes 19%
Metacritic 45/100

Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

Plot: Cybercrime terrorists are taking control of the east coast of the USA. Time for cop icon John McClane (Bruce Willis) to save the day once again. To do this, he needs the support of a technically talented but otherwise rather clumsy hacker (Justin Long).

Genre: Action/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 7,1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 82%
Metacritic 69/100

Untraceable (2008)

Plot: An FBI agent (Diane Lane) accidentally comes across a disturbing website. The hunt for the webmaster becomes a murderous hunt.

Genre: Crime/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 6,2/10
Rotten Tomatoes 16%
Metacritic 32/100

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Plot: Better known in Germany under the title “Verblendung”, the first part of Stig Larsson’s Millennium trilogy tells the story of the young hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), who supports a detective (Mikael Nyqvist) in solving a series of murders. In 2011, a remake of the Swedish original was made with the participation of James Bond actor Daniel Craig.

Genre: Crime/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 7,8/10
Rotten Tomatoes 85%
Metacritic 76/100

Skyfall (2012)

Plot: Secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) takes on a cyber terrorist (Javier Bardem). His loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is put to the test.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 7,8/10
Rotten Tomatoes 92%
Metacritic 81/100

The Fifth Estate (2013)

Plot: Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) and Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) team up to launch the whistleblower online platform WikiLeaks. This is not without consequences.

Genre: Biography/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 6,2/10
Rotten Tomatoes 35%
Metacritic 49/100

Blackhat (2015)

Plot: When a hacker (Chris Hemsworth) is asked by a friend to help him investigate malware, they uncover a global cybercrime network.

Genre: Action/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 5,5/10
Rotten Tomatoes 33%
Metacritic 52/100

Snowden (2016)

Plot: Former CIA and NSA employee Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) decides to unpack the secret services’ cyber methods and practices. This makes him public enemy number one in the USA.

Genre: Biography/Drama

Reviews:

IMDb 7,3/10
Rotten Tomatoes 61%
Metacritic 58/100

Ocean’s Eight (2018)

Plot: An experienced criminal (Sandra Bullock) is planning her next big coup. She receives support from, among other things, a hacker (Rihanna).

Genre: Action/Comedy

Reviews:

IMDb 6,3/10
Rotten Tomatoes 69%
Metacritic 61/100

Silk Road (2021)

Plot: University graduate Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson) sets up an illegal marketplace on the Darknet, which achieves unprecedented popularity. However, this also calls the authorities into action.

Genre: Biography/Drama/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 6,0/10
Rotten Tomatoes 51%
Metacritic 41/100

Who (2022)

Plot: Tech specialist Angela Childs (Zoë Kravitz) discovers recordings that indicate a crime. When she tries to get the authorities involved, she has to fear for her life.

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 6,3/10
Rotten Tomatoes 92%
Metacritic 79/100

The Creator (2023)

Plot: In a post-apocalyptic world, a devastating war rages between humanity and artificial intelligence. Joshua (John David Washington) wants to hunt down the “Creator” who created the enemy AI.

Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller

Reviews:

IMDb 6,7/10
Rotten Tomatoes 68%
Metacritic 63/100

Unlocked (2023)

Plot: A stalker with strong cybercrime skills (Yim Si-wan) finds office worker Na-mi’s (Chun Woo-hee) smartphone, which turns her entire life upside down.

Genre: Thriller

Reviews: