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WarGames (1983)

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113 comments in total

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33 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Shall We Play A Game?, 4 May 2004

Author: Bill Slocum (slokes@optonline.net) from Norwalk, CT USA

Cyberthrillers may not have started with "WarGames," but it was here the form achieved an early peak. As more filmmakers follow its example of portraying a high-tech faceoff between man and machine, "WarGames" remains a standard to be measured against. While it's not a film classic, it's a very, very good popcorn thriller of uncommon craft, charm, and humanity.

Seattle high schooler David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) has only a few hours to undo what he thought was a sneak preview of an upcoming computer game but what instead got him tinkering with the U.S. Air Force's WOPR (War Operation Planned Response) computer system in such a way as to trigger a countdown to World War III. The FBI thinks he's a Soviet spy, while classmate Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy) is wondering if this isn't all really about a rejiggered biology grade.

Broderick is solid, and Sheedy even better, but what really sells this film is everything else. Start with the excellent supporting performances. John Wood as a reclusive professor and Barry Corbin as a tobacco-chewing general get much of the kudos, and rightly, but there's a whole deep bench of quality work beyond that, like Kent Williams as a curt White House advisor, William Bogert and Susan Davis as David's out-of-it parents, Alan Blumenfeld as the swaggering bully of a biology teacher, and Juanin Clay as a beautiful but underappreciated assistant (even by herself as she uses her own mouth as an ashcan for her boss's discarded gum.) You know the casting people behind this movie were on the ball when the opening sequence features two very recognizable faces, those of Michael Madsen and John Spencer, in what were film debuts for both.

That sequence with Madsen and Spencer as missile men point up another quality of "WarGames," the way the movie works in terms of setting up expectations and developing pace. The harrowing business between the two of them is mercilessly presented ("Turn your key, sir!") and then effectively abandoned so as to work in the central storyline, the replacement of these men with computers. We get a macro-view where Dabney Coleman as a tunnel-visioned warroom executive effectively makes the case for "taking the men out of the loop" and then zoom back into what seems a totally unrelated story, that of slacker teen David Lightman and his high school travails.

The film could have just started with Lightman, and worked its way out to the business with the WOPR. But the early peek behind the curtain is a clever way of raising the stakes with the audience before the protagonist realizes what's up.

The set design, cinematography, lighting, and editing all work wonders as well. The NORAD warroom is really a character onto itself, the ultimate source of reality in this film (and better for my money than the warroom in `Dr. Strangelove,' an obvious inspiration.) The way the cameras dart around from terminal to terminal as uniformed USAF technicians follow the progress of an apparent Soviet attack, lighting onto one of them just before he or she relays an important piece of information, is highly addictive and entertaining.

There's some sloppiness in the movie. Madsen and Spencer's talk about this great pot Spencer's character has scored strains credulity in the high-security setting they are in, and its blindingly obvious that the two men we see exiting a helicopter and entering a jeep during the credits are not the same two men getting out of the jeep moments later. The musical score is terrible, except for the elegiac tune at the end by which time it's too late. And there's no real examination of the morality of Lightman's serial lawbreaking.

But this is a funny, exciting, consciousness-raising movie that is as entertaining now with the Cold War more than a decade behind us as it was all those years ago. For all the technical innovation on display, it's ironically appropriate we remember it for showing us how to butter an ear of corn, because it's the human side of the equation `WarGames' keeps in its sights at all times.

[The DVD features a terrific, candid commentary from director John Badham and writers Lawrence Lasker and Walter Parkes that gives one a real appreciation for the value of creative license as well as factual diligence in making a film of this kind work.]

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26 out of 30 people found the following comment useful :-
Ahead of it's time, 18 June 2005

Author: metalrox_2000 from United States

Wargames was a movie that was way ahead of its time. No one was making films about hacking into computer systems. The only computers used in movies were on space ships. No home computer has ever really been brought to the big screen. Wargames broke from the normal studio sci fi norm of either Earth being visited by aliens (E.T) or battles of Good and Evil in space (Star Wars, Star Trek). With the raise in hacker crime rate now, and seeing how Dependant we've become on computers, Wargames was a movie with it the eye on the future. Imaginative story, great cast (who, despite other reviews, do not phone it in) Wargames is a true gem, as it was recently listed by AFI as one of the top 100 sci fi movies of all time. Broderick was perfect as a slacker teen, and Ally Sheedy turns in one of her best performance, making the most of an under developed character. Dabney Coleman showed why he was one of the busiest actors in the 1980's (though he always better cast as a villain), and Barry Corbin could play almost anything convincingly. while the special effects may be dated by todays standard, Wargames helped shape the way people think and speak. Backdoors, hacking, were not common terms like they are today. Without a doubt, much in agreement with AFI, Wargames remains one of the most important films ever made.

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23 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
wonderful film, 16 January 2006
Author: redmanreturns from United States

Cyberthrillers may not have started with "WarGames," but it was here the form achieved an early peak. As more filmmakers follow its example of portraying a high-tech face-off between man and machine, "WarGames" remains a standard to be measured against. While it's not a film classic, it's a very, very good popcorn thriller of uncommon craft, charm, and humanity.

Seattle high schooler David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) has only a few hours to undo what he thought was a sneak preview of an upcoming computer game but what instead got him tinkering with the U.S. Air Force's WOPR (War Operation Planned Response) computer system in such a way as to trigger a countdown to World War III. The FBI thinks he's a Soviet spy, while classmate Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy) is wondering if this isn't all really about a re-jiggered biology grade.

Broderick is solid, and Sheedy even better, but what really sells this film is everything else. Start with the excellent supporting performances. John Wood as a reclusive professor and Barry Corbin as a tobacco-chewing general get much of the kudos, and rightly, but there's a whole deep bench of quality work beyond that, like Kent Williams as a curt White House adviser, William Bogert and Susan Davis as David's out-of-it parents, Alan Blumenfeld as the swaggering bully of a biology teacher, and Juanin Clay as a beautiful but under-appreciated assistant (even by herself as she uses her own mouth as an ashcan for her boss's discarded gum.) You know the casting people behind this movie were on the ball when the opening sequence features two very recognizable faces, those of Michael Madsen and John Spencer, in what were film debuts for both.

That sequence with Madsen and Spencer as missile men point up another quality of "WarGames," the way the movie works in terms of setting up expectations and developing pace. The harrowing business between the two of them is mercilessly presented ("Turn your key, sir!") and then effectively abandoned so as to work in the central storyline, the replacement of these men with computers. We get a macro-view where Dabney Coleman as a tunnel-visioned war room executive effectively makes the case for "taking the men out of the loop" and then zoom back into what seems a totally unrelated story, that of slacker teen David Lightman and his high school travails.

The film could have just started with Lightman, and worked its way out to the business with the WOPR. But the early peek behind the curtain is a clever way of raising the stakes with the audience before the protagonist realizes what's up.

The set design, cinematography, lighting, music, and editing all work wonders as well. The NORAD war room is really a character onto itself, the ultimate source of reality in this film (and better for my money than the war room in 'Dr. Strangelove,' an obvious inspiration.) The way the cameras dart around from terminal to terminal as uniformed USAF technicians follow the progress of an apparent Soviet attack, lighting onto one of them just before he or she relays an important piece of information, is highly addictive and entertaining.

There's some sloppiness in the movie. Madsen and Spencer's talk about this great pot Spencer's character has scored strains credulity in the high-security setting they are in, and its blindingly obvious that the two men we see exiting a helicopter and entering a jeep during the credits are not the same two men getting out of the jeep moments later. And there's no real examination of the morality of Lightman's serial lawbreaking.

But this is a funny, exciting, consciousness-raising movie that is as entertaining now with the Cold War more than a decade behind us as it was all those years ago. For all the technical innovation on display, it's ironically appropriate we remember it for showing us how to butter an ear of corn, because it's the human side of the equation 'WarGames' keeps in its sights at all times.

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21 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting, original idea that delivers for the most part..., 29 February 2004
Author: MovieAddict2008 from UK

I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Matthew Broderick is the teenager computer nerd who hacks into a military database through a "back door" and starts to unintentionally play games--which are, quite surprisingly, not games after all. He's really controlling the military! With WWIII nearing, the movie takes some twists and turns and it's all good fun.

Broderick is well-cast and this is probably one of the roles, along with Ferris Bueller, that stereotyped him as a continual teenager--which makes it hard for him to get adult roles nowadays. (He's in the upcoming remake of "The Producers"--yay!)

Ally Sheedy and Dabney Coleman both have supporting roles.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film and rate it a solid "4" of five stars.

Trivia note: Sheedy and Broderick both appeared in separate movies by John Hughes: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "The Breakfast Club."

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
A classic computer film, 9 January 1999
Author: Polar-3 from Salt Lake City, UT

_WarGames_ is a classic and remains one of the best of the hacker subgenre. Some technical inaccuracies (An IMSAI with a voice synthesizer? A 300 baud acoustic coupler that is as fast as a 28.8k modem? The main computer at NORAD covered with 1960's style blinking lights?) are there but they are few and far between enough to be excusable - this is a fun film that doesn't require complete technical accuracy to work. The nuclear war theme was certainly timely for the early 80's, and the film brought the previously obscure activities of crackers/hackers into the limelight. More than that, watching it nowadays brings a feeling of nostalgia for the early days of personal computers, when the Commodore PET, TRS-80, Sinclair ZX-81, Apple II, and of course Pac-Man, and the Atari and Odyssey2 home video games reigned supreme for a short time.

Matthew Broderick's nerdy yet clever, intelligent, and persistent anti-hero character is certainly the sort of role model we could use more of in the 1990's (and less, by comparison, of the one-dimensional grunge/slacker type). Broderick's wily use of technology know-how time and time again to get him out of various situations (using a metal pull tab to make an electrical connection on a pay phone and get a dial tone; using a miniature tape recorder to escape from a room at NORAD he has been locked into) is great, and turns up again a couple of years later in another film starring Broderick, _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_.

The adult characters, on the other hand, tend to be one-dimensional, with the exception of Professor Falken, the man who designed NORAD's computer system and then became disillusioned and turned his back on the arms race to live as a hermit on the Oregon coast. Some of the lines from the adults are hilarious in their stupidity ("he's a classic case for recruitment by the Soviets"; "I worry about that kid, sometimes I think we're all going to get electrocuted"; "Ah'll be damned if Ah'll turn over our national security to some...silly-cone di-ode"). This has the effect of making almost all the adults, including Broderick's parents but excluding Professor Falken, look set in their ways, clueless, and ultimately completely outwitted by the more intelligent Broderick and his girlfriend.

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19 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Nuggets of Truth, 9 July 2003

Author: Angry_Arguer from Shermer, Illinois

WarGames remains the definitive "hacker" movie, surpassing the raunch of Swordfish and the idio-parody of AntiTrust. Historically-speaking, there are two movies that have shaped public opinion about computers: 2001 and WarGames. With 2001, there is the question of "What happens when an automated computer system makes decisions on its own?" In today's world of automatic Windows updates and random error messages for no reason, it seems very prophetic. WarGames poses the question of "Who uses the computer and what do they do?" The consequences, as one can easily guess, are enormous. Even when hardware ages, the ethics remain.

WarGames isn't perfect. There are plenty of logic problems in the script, but it still presents its topic with a naive fascination. What the writers don't know, they pretend they do. Matthew Broederick is, once again, the nerdy teen with social problems (Ferris Bueller had a different problem, though). Aside from Glory, he won't be able to shake that image even now in his 40s.

I saw this movie when I was eight and had to admit that if someone didn't understand the 80s "Red paranoia", then the whole movie was a misfire. I will admit, it fascinated me with computers and military hardware, changing my life forever in a subtle fashion.

Overall, an interesting movie that becomes more real every year. In today's world of identity theft, cyber-terrorism, MicroSoft, and broadband, some elements are undoubtedly lost on someone who can't remember or understand the Cold War. 3.5 out of 5 stars

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11 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Chillingly effective., 13 November 1999

Author: gridoon

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"WarGames" is a surprisingly effective thriller, thanks to its highly original premise and Badham's literally flawless direction. Broderick's and Sheedy's winning performances also help. Fortunately, the movie doesn't contain too much technical "jargon": it is more interested in its clearly stated anti-war message, while at the same time it works as suspenseful entertainment. It may be a little far-fetched sometimes, but when that final moment arrives when the computer realizes that "the only winning move is not to play", be prepared to feel a genuine chill.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Thoroughly exciting and enjoyable thriller., 15 January 2006

Author: Jonathon Dabell (barnabyrudge@hotmail.com) from Wakefield, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

An exhilarating and rather disturbing story dealing with the potential of computer technology to over-rule humans in a nuclear crisis, "Wargames" is a memorable thriller which made stars of Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. Directed with real chutzpah by John Badham, working from an eventful and Oscar-nominated script by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes, the film is an exercise in suspense which cleverly caters for a target audience of both kids and adults. Part of the film's appeal is that the script manoeuvres a smart-ass teenager into becoming the one character capable of saving the world from a holocaust; another part of its appeal is that the plot doesn't retreat into the realms of ludicrous fantasy like so many films of this kind. Consequently, the suspense in this 1980s film is very real and urgent, as opposed to the more artificial kind of suspense that has weakened the soulless thrillers of recent years.

The U.S. Defence Department design a huge computer called the WOPR which plays out various war game scenarios. Following recent human errors, it is felt that in the event of a real nuclear strike it would be better if the computer could take control, eliminating the costly factor of human hesitation or crises of conscience. Meanwhile in Seattle, a brilliant young computer genius, David Lightman (Matthew Broderick), hacks into the Defence Department's computer. He mistakenly believes he is checking out some as-yet-unreleased computer games, but in reality he is about to set into motion a chain of events that could lead to worldwide destruction. David chooses to play a game entitled Global Thermonuclear War. He elects to play for the Russian side, and sets Seattle and Las Vegas as nuclear missile targets. Little does he David realise that the WOPR has logged his instructions and believes a real nuclear strike to be imminent. The computer over-rules everyone - including the top brass of the American military - and prepares to launch a counterstrike against Russia. In a race against time, David and his girlfriend Jennifer (Ally Sheedy) try to track down the brilliant but reclusive programmer, Professor Falken (John Wood), who designed Global Thermonuclear War, in the hope that he may know how to stop the computer as it prepares to wipe out mankind.

It's a simple but thoroughly exciting premise, played out with maximum intensity. Broderick and Sheedy make likable young heroes, and are well supported by their adult co-stars. One flaw with the film is that the grown-up characters are generally rather dim (you'd think all these computer specialists and decorated soldiers would be a bit more competent, for example, at holding David in custody after arresting him for breaching their technology). In spite of the implausibilities in their characters, though, the adult actors still turn in good performances. The score by Arthur B. Rubinstein is suitably exciting and adds to the urgency of the action on-screen, especially in the film's taut last-gasp climax. Wargames is a thoroughly enjoyable thriller which resists the urge to preach about the man .vs. machine climate in which we all exist, and instead concentrates on pure suspense.... and is all the better for it.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A movie of its time, mandatory viewing for hackers, 31 January 2008

Author: pvollan from United States

One important piece of reality in this movie is when David Lightman looks for the computer game company, and stumbles across WOPR, by using a program that automatically calls every number in an area looking for a carrier. Such a program was called, after this movie came out, a "Wargames dialer" or a "Wardialer". And today, as well as old fashioned wardialing, we have wardriving, warstrolling, warchalking... war everything else, because of this movie. And have you heard of the annual hacker convention, held in Las Vegas, called.... Defcon? There are, of course, factual problems with this movie, some of which one just accepts as necessary to the ploy. When David plugs the speech synthesizer into his computer, he explains that the computer isn't really speaking, just interpreting the text that's coming in. We can't have an entire movie just looking at a video screen, so we accept that. But then at the end, Joshua speaks the climactic lines of the movie in the same voice, which makes no sense at all. The way that Joshua could find one character at a time of the password never did wash. And the paper clip method could only make a local call.

The nuclear freeze movement was certainly quite strong in the '80s, more so than many today realize. I hope you understand what "freeze" means, because it's not the same as disarmament. It means: lets just stop throwing money down this black hole by stopping the nuclear arms race where it is. Who cares if they can reduce us fine powder and we can only reduce them to sand. Ronald Reagan outmaneuvered the freeze movement with all that SDI nonsense, which was just another excuse to waste money and extend the arms race into space. With Reagan, it's hard to tell, of course: maybe he really thought it was a "purely defensive" system, that could "make nuclear weapons obsolete". When the Soviet Union finally collapsed, there was talk of a "peace dividend", in which the obscene amount of money previously spent on the arms race could actually help people at home. There ain't too much talk about that now, with the "War on Terror", which is a war about as much as the War on Drugs or the War on Poverty, and just about as successful.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Truly Awesome, 30 July 2006

Author: thx4077 from United States

I grew up with this movie and was really intrigued with the whole "computer" thinking for itself idea.

The acting for the most part is good, a few characters seem a little naive, almost like something's not right.

The sets are amazing, especially the NORAD scenes. All of the computers and blinking lights are sure to please the eye.

The story line will keep you going and a few unexpected surprises arise at the end. It's really an awesome movie in terms of sets, storyline, and actors.

10 out of 10.

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