David Lightman (Matthew Broderick), a high school underachiever, accidentally hacks into NORAD and challenges the computer to a game of Global Thermonuclear War. The problem is, the computer doesn’t differentiate between a game and the real thing, and it now controls the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
I recalled liking WarGames on the big screen back in ’83, but it’s a film that I’ve rarely thought about reviewing. So, after more than twenty years, I sat down with this simple moral tale, and found it’s still a lot of fun. A rapid-fire film, it doesn’t give you time to notice if something doesn’t work. Comedy (via Matthew Broderick doing what he does best) flows into sentiment flows into suspense. The end, which sounds silly if described (I’m not going to, you’ll have to see it) is surprisingly tense. The supporting cast of Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Barry Corbin, give their roles exactly what is needed, though the parts aren’t deep. The theme, that no one can win a nuclear war and that we need to change how we deal with our “enemies,” is hammered home a bit hard. I cut the film some slack because that was a message that people needed to hear in 1983, but I prefer a bit more subtlety.
WarGames changed film and society, and only Blade Runner was substantially more important for Cyberpunk. Before it, hackers were not part of the national consciousness. Computers weren’t thought of as relevant for the home, and no one except computer fanatics knew about using a modem.
However, WarGames has lost something over the years. This isn’t a character picture; it works on plot. It is those characters within the story, in that world, that makes it work. But the setting is gone. The lesson on nuclear war has been learned, for the most part, and at least for now, it doesn’t matter anyway. Maybe when another superpower rises, WarGames will regain its pertinence.