War Games 1983

Kate says I'd forgotten how often I saw this movie as a young teen. I remembered when certain moments sent me into a sudden "back to the future" mental spin. (For example, when Ally Sheedy's character first comes over, Matthew Broderick's character picks up his dirty laundry and throws it into a corner. I guess I thought this was unbelievably hilarious when I was younger--it is still pretty funny--because I had this "oh, yeah, I remember waiting for that moment to happen!" reaction.)

The movie is based on a few unrealistic premises. One is that any country would put a computer in charge of its military decisions. (But then, even Asimov made the mistake of thinking human beings would give up the privilege of being the ones to pull the trigger.) An Air Force commander of Beringer's rationality would never take the word of a computer, concerning 2400 missile strikes, over the word of his fighter pilots in the air.

(Personally, I think the real fear of nuclear war to Hollywood in the 1980s was that nuclear weapons would take out Washington, NYC, and LA: the United States would go on functioning, but it would be run from Cincinnati.)

I may not have realized how unrealistic the movie was when I was younger, but I certainly had zero interest in global thermonuclear war (yup, I was one of those odd 80's-products who actually didn't worry about being vaporized by the U.S.S.R.).

Based on the kinds of movies and shows I currently watch, I'm guessing what hooked me is the investigation part of the movie. The investigation by David (Matthew Broderick) in which he attempts to track down first Joshua's password and then Falken is surprisingly plausible in its steps and still the strongest part of the movie.

I even found the teenagers' insouciance and lack of any real sense of responsibility less annoying than I found it as a youth. Then, I was upset by their lack of "what the hey, we started a nuclear war!" reactions. Now, I find their attitudes just a tad too real.

The writing--dialog, editing--is quite tight. Also, Stargate fans: that's the Cheyenne Mountain Complex!

And geez, what a cast! John Wood, Dabney Coleman, Barry Corbin, James Tolkan, playing an FBI guy! (he plays an FBI guy on Nero Wolfe). Forget the teens, how on earth did they get that cast?!

Mike says ah, the Cold War of the eighties.... How I missed you! I think somewhere in the back of my head, even in today's post 9/11 world, the villain of the week will never be scarier than the Russians. In fact, I think if you dug deep enough into my psyche, you'd find that I still believed it was Rocky that brought the Cold War to an end by knocking out Dolph Lundgren in the ring!

Like Kate, I don't think I spent my childhood in fear of nuclear holocaust, but we kids in the playground did know that Russian spies were everywhere, even if the Cold War was over! Despite this, watching War Games as a kid, I think I was unaware of the political aspects of the film. The bad guys were plausible for me, and that was about it. The fact that there is zero Russian representation in the film supports this. They were that shadowy bad guy that filled the role, and that was it.

Once I got past the very obvious age of the film (oddly, it's the film quality that aged the most), it is still a very engaging, and at times, rather frightening movie. In fact, one could almost watch it as a period piece, as the fears shown in the film are still very valid. The sets are just very authentic!

The film starts in a very engaging way, gaining the viewers' attention gradually, revealing layer after layer of subtle intrigue until you are watching two men carrying out nuclear war. Once the mood is set, it carries through the rest of the film very effectively. The mystery of the program and finding the history is all very cool, and when the game really begins, I found myself hooked. So hooked, in fact, that when the computer starting calling Mathew Broderick over and over, I felt a chill of terror. Oh no! It knows where he is! And it thinks the game is real! The super creepy computer voice only helps in confirming the direness of the situation.

As a kid, I think the general draw of the movie was all of the very cool tricks that Broderick uses throughout the film. This was a guy who played video games, had an awesome computer, and knew how to hack a telephone booth. WOW! I still remember my little mind bursting with awe.

As a race against the clock, the film works (thought they may have cheated travel times a bit), and the suspense still works today. The ideas and the plot of this film hold up so well, I think if the movie were made today, it would still sell and be popular (though it would either be a period piece or they'd update everything).

I think the most surprising thing about War Games is that the attitude about technology--a little bit of fear, and excitement to push it forward--is still very valid today. The subtle moral that human ingenuity can beat technology is still used in the media constantly. Though we have grown far more accustomed to our new toys, we still fear where the path of technology will end. That I watched the film with the news of Steve Jobs' death still fresh in my mind made the experience all the more enlightening.