I think this is a movie that can only be described as mediocre. It's not embarrassingly bad, but it's far from great. First, it's good points: energy, hackers make intriguing subjects, and fairly interesting, likable protagonists. It's bad points: a "Superman"-like plot master-minded by a supremely cheesy villain. The effects got annoying after a while, and there was plenty of "information" about computers that was not accurate. I"m not sorry I saw it, but I wish someone would make a movie that would be a correct portrayal of hackers. Then again, computer technology goes so fast that such a movie would likely be very dated before its release.

Teenage hackers against corporate thieves! Can they crack the secret behind the Da Vinci Virus in time to keep themselves out of jail and spoil the bad guys.

Although I don't know any Stuyvesant High School students of the 1990s -- except for a niece who dropped out -- I do know several of an earlier vintage and computer hackers. None of them were buff, well groomed, acne-free, and always with enough money to buy the latest computer equipment. They were physical wrecks, socially inept, and perpetually broke. One of them remarked to me of Sandra Bullock in The Net (released the same year), "No one eats take-out pizza every night and has thighs like that."

Of course, that's reality, not Hollywood, and no one would pay to see a bunch of people like that on the big screen. So we get Johnny Lee Miller and Angela Jolie, instead of John Candy and Shelley Duvall.

Lots of cool CGI and mean, greedy, and clueless older people. It's very watchable, if not particularly believable. With Fisher Stevens, Lorraine Bracco, Felicity Huffman, and Penn Gillette.