Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma Collapses

Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma aims to offer an absurdist revenge tale full of comedic catharsis. What it delivers is something else entirely. Loosely inspired by real-life events, this tale of vengeance manages to near miss almost every target it shoots at. That alone makes it worth autopsying in the hope that no one makes similar mistakes, but also because there’s a sense of something fun just below the surface.

The main premise involves the Rumble family. The Covid Quarantine Era hasn’t been easy on them yet a ray of sunshine smiles down as they attempt to buy a house. Unfortunately, their two boys (Owen Atlas and Collin Thompson) provoke the wraith of a cybercriminal known as the Chameleon (Chandler Riggs). Robbed of twenty thousand dollars, the family is destitute and on the verge of being unsheltered. Left with no other recourse, they decide to hunt down the perpetrator.

What ensues is meant to be an absurdist adventure full of outlandish comedy. Hacked is never shy about being bloody or vulgar within limits. That restraint often keeps it from being outrageous in the ways it seems to desire, typically producing cringeworthy moments of trying too hard. This is especially true in dialogue.

Most of the wordplay, if it can be called that, is simply the teenage characters saying something crude in front of their parents. The fact the adults never seem shocked by things like their kids commenting on their parent’s sex life not only undermines this but feels more gross than comical. Hacked is like an obscene wedding toast that goes on regardless of no one laughing.

Hacked also lacks narrative logic. One could argue it veers into surreal absurdism, aspiring towards lunatic plot twists, which would be fine if any of them made the remotest sense. Apologies for spoilers — one plot thread is that a CIA agent has been posing as a babysitter for the two teenage sons as part of a prolonged plan to catch the cybercriminal. Why is never adequately explained. It’s just an excuse for a twist.

Hacked often cuts off its own feet, changing the story as it goes along. Parts of the picture are mockumentary. Other aspects are metafiction, where the narrative is literally paused then altered before continuing. As much as the flick acknowledges it is a revenge fantasy from the beginning, it barely allows any fictional ideas to really cement, let alone exploring more effecting themes. The consequence is a story that alters as needed in midstride, often for no reason. There’s an instance where a twist occurs which creates an interesting complication that the filmmakers erase immediately, saying it never really happened, that they just inserted it here for comical drama they then fail to utilize.

The closest Hacked comes to a coherent vision throughout is the cinematography. However, I’ll be dead of old age before I can figure out how it serves the story. Stylistically, the movie seems to mimic YouTube auteurs like Brandon Rogers or Doug Walker the Nostalgia Critic more than any major motion picture. Consider their feature length projects like Suburban Knights (2011) and Blame the Hero (2019) which were released in web episodes. While Hacked echoes the colorfully chaotic absurdity of Rogers’ outlandish dark comedy, it has a brakes on vulgarity that often feels like people trying to be shocking without being offensive. There’s a certain restraint that wants to be over the top without alienating anyone which never helps the humor.

Simultaneously, there’s something childish about a majority of Hacked that undermines its heavier moments. Granted, the movie is a fantasy tale about what the victims wished had happened, but there is a point where suspension of disbelief strains even the most open-minded audience. Hacked frequently suffers from having elements that likely looked golden on paper which don’t pan out on screen, such as Santa helping the main characters seek revenge.

The same is true for the majority of the flick’s comedy. Several jokes which will leave viewers groaning instead of chuckling have an aura suggesting they may have amused the filmmakers more. Some of that is due to poor performers who don’t have much comedic talent, while the other duds are simply dead on the script. The majority of failed gags, though, rest on the two main characters Freddy and Ralph Rumble, played by Collin Thompson (Breathing Happy) and Owen Atlas (Little Evil).

Perhaps it’s an accomplishment to script such insufferable protagonists. Any revenge film requires people whom the audience feels for, making whatever motivated their vengeance something viewers want to see through. Hacked showcases two obnoxious teens who condemn their family to financial ruin then make up for it by torturing the person they provoked into attacking them. I would rather pass a large, jagged kidney stone than spend time with these two individuals; a sentiment exacerbated by how little charisma or charm the two performers have. It’s like watching a pair of arrogant idiot children who think swear words make them sound adult trying to speak cleverly, but the best they can conjure is the concern that they’re brain damaged and drunk.

The rest of the cast doesn’t add much to the equation either. Recognizable performers like Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead) and Richard Riehle (Office Space) make one more curious about who writer-director Shane Brady knows than what their characters are doing. Katelyn Nacon (Light as Feather) comes the closest to being genuinely comedic.

I have no doubt the filmmakers enjoyed making this movie. It must have been cathartic for them, and an experience they should enjoy revisiting whenever the cast and crew get together. Them rewatching Hacked and loving the hell out of it makes perfect sense to me. This is a movie for that specific group, who overcame the terrible wire fraud that turned their lives upside down. However, I can’t imagine anyone else enjoying this film as much as they must have.