People in the Movie: Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club)
Director: John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, Short Circuit)
Pigeonhole: Drama / Suspense
In Summary: Set during the early 80's era of the Cold War, a high school computer hacker named David Lightman (Broderick) accidentally connects to NORAD's supercomputer called WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) while trying to find a game company's new video games. Seeing other games listed in the computer's directories David begins to play a game called Global Thermonuclear War, unknowingly triggering a simulation at NORAD they believe is genuine attack. David soon realizing something is "not right" attempts to end the game, however, the computer's AI (artificial intelligence), which is referred to as 'Joshua' throughout, insists that the game be played to completion which will involve launching nuclear missiles to destroy the opponent. David is arrested, because the government believes he could be a terrorist, and he is taken to NORAD for questioning. Because Joshua is connected to NORAD's computers, the belief is that the computer simulation will inadvertently launch the U.S.'s nuclear missiles and start World War III.
But it's all just a game, right?
My Take: This is an excellent film with some still relevant messages about technology, the military, and the idea of mutually assured destruction.
Broderick was coming off of his film debut just months earlier (Max Dugan Returns) and is perfect as the lead. He comes off as the misunderstood geeky type and curiously innocent in his actions, compared the more cynical "I do what I want" attitude of today's high schooler portrayals. Ally Sheedy plays Jennifer, David's friend, in a minor supporting role before her foray into her bigger 80's characters.
The idea from the opening of the film is that humans would hesitate to intentionally launch nuclear missiles even at their enemies, so the decision making should be turned over to a computer to make those life and death choices. However, the big fallacy of letting a computer make those choices, especially choices that could lead to worldwide destruction, is exactly what was illustrated here - what if the computer was "wrong", and could not distinguish between a simulation and reality. In the end of WarGames, Joshua "learns" that there would be no winner in a nuclear war, in a seemingly hopeful conclusion.
Also portrayed well was the civilian versus military personnel in decision making that happened at NORAD, as well as the old school (humans do everything) versus the new school (computers do everything) involvement.
A point I would like to make about WarGames, is that in 1983 there was not a computer in every household, like now. David's system would have been upper level for home use, but I suspect if my son looked at it, he would laugh at what a "dinosaur" it is. There were not instant news updates every second, and mobile phones were still over a decade out of the mainstream. Seeing this movie at the time was tense, because theoretically, it could have or may have actually happened and we (the general public) would never have known. Seeing WarGames today might not have that same tension, but it really is an excellent movie, and one of the best of the 80's.
A little more brain food to think on: even today, what could a highly skilled hacker do to unleash a cyber attack that could result in military response?
The movie is rated 'PG', but would likely be a 'PG-13' now and purely for language. (There was no PG-13 when this film was released.)
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