Does a hacker protagonist immediately make a movie cyberpunk? Can a movie be cyberpunk if it takes place in the modern day?
I had an online argument once with someone who thought Sneakers wasn't just a cyberpunk movie but essential viewing for the cyberpunk genre. I don't consider Sneakers to be cyberpunk, or even a very good movie, so that argument was crazy to me. But maybe I was being too much of a gatekeeper; maybe other people consider Sneakers to be cyberpunk.
At least WarGames had a curious high schooler hacker rather than a bunch of old guys in suits hacking, but I wouldn't really consider either movie to be cyberpunk. Are they cyberpunk-adjacent though? Are cyberpunk fans likely to enjoy WarGames or Sneakers?
Here's a trailer for WarGames. You can watch it on Max. Fun fact: when Ronald Reagan watched WarGames, he asked his staff whether something like that could actually happen. They looked into it and came back to say "The problem is much worse than you think." This led to the creation of the first National Security Directive regarding computer security.
Here's a trailer for Sneakers. I'm not aware of any presidents having watched this movie. I don't think it's streaming anywhere either.
I'd never thought about it before and my immediate reaction was somewhere between wtf and lol, but thinking about it more, I guess I can sort of see the basis for an argument that they are, since at least some of the expected basic themes are there.
But I don't think that's enough. Cyberpunk isn't just centered around computers and technology - it's an aesthetic, and WarGames and Sneakers don't have even the tiniest hint of that aesthetic.
To reach back to the roots of the word "cyberpunk," I think it's more accurate to say that WarGames and Sneakers are "cyberpop" or maybe even "cyber-easy-listening."
I'm going to steal "Cyberpop". It's such a perfect word to give that vibe.