WarGames (1983)
Genre: Scifi / Thriller
Duration: 114 minuten
Alternative title: War Games
Country:
United States
Directed by: John Badham
Stars: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman and Ally Sheedy
IMDb score:
7,1 (122.340)
Releasedate: 3 June 1983
WarGames plot
"Is it a game, or is it real?"
A student, unknowingly, breaks into the US military's central computer. There he thinks he is playing games against the computer. But these games could well be the start of World War III.
Actors and actresses
David
McKittrick
Falken
Jennifer
General Beringer
Pat Healy
Cabot
Watson
Conley
Richter
Reviews & comments
Roger Thornhill
-
- 6205 messages
- 2551 votes
The fact that this film is dated thanks to dial-up modems and 5¼" floppies leaves me completely cold: what I see is a fun and exciting story with a very nice premise, suitable for the teen and the thriller market, and so quickly told and smoothly directed that he's still entertaining thirty years later. Nice to see Matthew Broderick so young, way before he got such bad taste in wives. And a lot of people here seem to remember the beautiful Ally Sheedy mostly from The breakfast club (1985), but I also want to make a case for St Elmo's fire from that same year.
Translated from Dutch · View original
W.V.
-
- 845 messages
- 476 votes
Found this on Netflix recently, so watched it again after so many years. I was working in Amsterdam when the film came out and the film was then promoted as a kind of techno-thriller. Now that I've watched the film again, it is of course all very outdated, at least as far as the PC and internet are concerned, I have no idea how things go in such a defense command post. But it was a lovely walk down memory lane. When I first saw the film, I was quite skeptical about the whole hacking story, but with the current knowledge I don't doubt those possibilities anymore. The film also gave a bit of an oppressive feeling because in that same year the film was released the day after and it gave a terrible picture of a nuclear war. The latter greatly reinforced distrust of the then arms race. Remember it was the Reagan era in America, there was heavy bets on SDI, which again sparked protests worldwide, but also reactions from the former Eastern bloc and even though the cold war was coming to an end, the threat was still very much present. Day after and Wargames, each indicated the consequences in their own way.
The solution, to play tic-tac-toe with the computer may be a bit far fetched, but the outcome, the best move is not to play, is admittedly a simplistic, but certainly accurate message.
In addition, it was fun to see a very young Broderick who gave his career a great boost with this, later he repeated that little bit nerd-like in other roles, but in this role he was very good. Sheedy, was a beautiful woman to see, but added nothing and the side roles are a bit on the stereotypical side, iron-eating general, political slippery and world-improving scientists, but well acted.
After rewatching I can say that after I first saw the film 34 years ago, I quite enjoyed this viewing.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Ed Kroket
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- 62 messages
- 20 votes
What a fun movie mainly due to youth sentiment! I was 15 when I saw this movie in the cinema and of course immediately fell in love with Ally Sheedy.
Many of us are still familiar with calling the computer over the telephone. Dial in with the “Kermit” protocol on a hip “bulletin board”. Or call a PC at work. But only to instruct you to call back to work from home at the boss's expense. Bizarre that I'm doing that working from home again because of Covid but then WiFi via VPN...
Has anyone noticed that something isn't right? Probably more stuff but this one bothers me!
Matthew Broderick starts the game with the Wopr computer Joshua. He chooses to play the Russians, so Joshua plays America. But all the simulation attacks done by Joshua are from the Russians against America. It has been explained that the wopr is constantly playing games against itself and learning from it. But a game is started between Joshua and Matthew. And Matthew doesn't make a single move!
Oh what am I worried about
Translated from Dutch · View originalPre- and sequels
Wargames: The Dead Code
2008
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