WarGames (1983)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Blistering performances.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The left starts out showing their utter ignorance concerning nuclear weapons. First of all, the men who monitor the "button" do NOT use revolvers, very unlikely. Next, the mutually assured destruction that the left fears so much, is actually what kept us safe for all of these years after WWII. If the USA had done away with all nuclear weapons, Russia and China would now be in control of the entire world. That is a fact. The reason we don't need to fear is that Russian's and Chinese are too intelligent to believe that the would get away with using their arsenal, they would not. Therefore, this movie makes it clear, keeping and even increasing a nuclear arsenal is the best way to keep the lunatic Russians and Chinese from taking over the world. But lefties won't understand this, they are too filled with stupidity and lack the basic common sense necessary to resolve problems.

I'm old enough to have actually used 8" floppy discs and acoustic coupler modems, so in some aspects this film is always a bit of a nostalgia trip for me, but the film hasn't dated. The boy-girl thing is still with us, as is the reluctant hero, and then there is the evil AI. Yep they're all still here today. I for one am a lot more worried about WW3 being started by a computer (or hacker) than I was when I first saw this film.

I really liked this movie when it was released and I remember watching it in the theater, however now that I can stream it and binge watch it over and over again I have found the plot is full of holes and there are plenty of technical goofs in the movie. Enough so that it is no longer a movie that I like to watch.It will be good enough for people who have not seen it as often as I have watched. It has drama, suspense, young love interests, humor and insight to the idea that war is a worthless endeavor. No one really wins even if you think you are the winner.The actors and the direction are acceptable and I'd wish it didn't have the spotty bad language through out the movie. It doesn't have any violence nor does it have any sex scenes, so you might find it acceptable for the younger members of your family.However that is where I end my favorable review. (spoilers)The entire movie hinges on the idea that this computer system takes over a game being played and then decides that it needs to launch real missiles in order to complete the game. While this idea is interesting the entire logic behind the system is stupid.I noted that the main characters talk about 'Joshua' who hasn't learned a lesson yet but it is implied that tic-tac-toe was one of the games it needed to play in order to learn that global thermonuclear war was a waste of time.Am I supposed to believe that no one on the team or Prof Falken let the computer run the tic tac toe game against itself previously? I find that a flaw because as a computer person I know I let the computer play against itself many, many times when I had the opportunity to let it do so. Games like chess, TTT or Colonial Conquest.I also find it ridiculous that the entire 'hacking' aspect of the movie is flawed and I'm assuming at this time in our society things were so new that the director didn't have many experts to rely on for facts. The movie is riddled with mistakes on networking and computer logic.The list goes on and on. It is really a terrible script.I can only give 1/10 stars now, but if you would have asked me twenty years ago I would have given 10/10 stars.

Even on a cold war context, this movie is just an endless repetition of clichés. Bad and overdone acting, lots of blinking lights, poor script. That is what you will find in this movie. A geek teenager finds somehow to hack a computer which will launch world war 3. All of this from a telephone located at his own home. The rest we all know. The movie is a countdown of terrible scenes, loose sequences, horrible music and sound effects and bad-taste photography. Typical 80s bullshit. Couldn't wait for the last cut, because the movie is unbearable. Try some other war movies that really could depict the drama, real life suffering or psychological tension. This one will only waste you two hours.