WarGames
WarGames
7.193%76%
A young computer whiz kid accidentally connects into a top secret super-computer which has complete control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It challenges him to a game between America and Russia, and he innocently starts the countdown to World War III. Can he convince the computer that he just wanted to play a game and not the real thing?
Jacob O’Neal reviewedMarch 21, 2025
I was a fan of director John Badham back in the day. Thanks to this film, Project X and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off I was a big Matthew Broderick fan as well. This movie was very interesting to me back in the day. Before we even knew what a hacker was, they showed us in this film. Granted, it was a much more primitive version of hacking. There was a great supporting cast with Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin and Dabney Coleman. The story was both ridiculous and innovative. A kid gets on line and begins playing games with a government computer that was built to play war games. He starts the game with the computer and it begins a countdown to World War III.
The good stuff was the acting and directing. This was all top notch and everything you want from an 80’s cheese fest. It delivers in spades that way. However, the story is so incredibly unbelievable that you have to sometimes struggle with disbelief. I mean, why are Broderick and Sheedy suddenly attacked by a Pterodactyl? It’s not virtual reality. I know it turns out to be remote controlled, but it was a really strange moment that comes out of nowhere. The movie has moments like that all throughout. But the issues are far less than the fun. If you surrender yourself to the movie and just suspend disbelief as best you can, you’re gonna find yourself having a lot of fun with this film.
John Badham was great at making high concept, low budget movies entertaining in the 80’s. Take Short Circuit, Blue Thunder, Stakeout and Bird On A Wire (I know it’s 1990 for that one, but it was shot in 89) for example. War Games is another Badham classic. If you like 80’s movies, you’ll like War Games.