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Customer Reviews of WarGames

One of the best thrillers (of any era)- a modern classic
The early 1980s was a time of high paranoia as East and West faced off against each other in an increasingly complex game of nuclear brinksmanship and Hollywood definitely took notice with a series of movies that seemed to fortell just how dangerous such machinations could be. Another genre popular in the early 1980s was films centered around the booming possibilities of computers, from Tron to The Last Stafighter, so it perhaps should not surprise anyone that these two genre's would be combined. <
>But what was surprising was that the final product, the 1983 movie WARGAMES starring a pre-Ferris Bueller Matthew Broderick, would be so entertaining and skillful in its execution. In fact the movie is perhaps the most consistently watchable and best thriller from the era, transcending its natural audience of teenage boys to encompass a more general appeal with its fast pace, technological wonders, interesting characterizations and tight plotting that remains to this day one of my favorite movies. <
>Although the computers and technology looks somewhat primitive by today's standards it was cutting edge for its day (a fact which leaves Broderick having to explain the process of computer networking to Ally Sheedy's character and the "computer geeks" explaining program back-doors). In fact in these days when home computers were in their infancy the plot seems incredibly tech savvy. <
>The movie starts with the arrival of two men at one of the sites tasked with launching nuclear missiles. Suddenly a message comes through ordering them to launch and believing the order to be genuine (its actually a training exercise) they prepare to follow out the command. The near-apocalyptic judgment and the hesitancy of the men in the silos lead the military to remove men from the sites and replace them with computers - a decision they will soon regret. <
>Switch to Broderick's character, a very smart high school student who is attempting to access a series of new computer games by connecting his computer to his telephone line and having it dial every number in the computer companies area code. Waiting for it to find another computer signal (anyone who ever had to sit through a dial-up connection will recognize the screeching sound of one computer talking to another) Broderick's character comes across what he believes to be the right number. And proceeds to play a game with the rather chilling title "Global Thermonuclear War." <
>Unbeknownst to him his "game" is a tactical scenario for the computer in charge of the United States' nuclear weapons silo's and his choice to play the part of the Soviet Union has set alarms ringing at NORAD. <
>What follows is a quite exhilirating against time to stop global Armageddon. There are no car chases, no shoot-em-ups - just good solid suspense and tension. <
>The DVD features a rather interesting scene specific commentary that is also quite enlightening. Who knew for example that in this pre-CGI age that all the giant computer screens at NORAD had to have the imagery projected onto them. <
>All in all, a solid movie that really delivers - you need to check this out. Sure it looks a little dated now, but I would definitely put this in the category of a "modern classic."

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DATED TIME CAPSULE OF A UNIVERSAL "Still Relevant" THEME
If this film is dated and obsolete, then so is the desire for peace. Most teenagers connected with this film 22 years ago when it did nearly $40 million at the box office and today's kids will consider this a novel antiquity with a universal theme still just as relevant today. Sure, the Soviet Union is no longer in existence and dial-up modems are mostly passe, but the idea of universal armageddon has returned again in the wake of 9/11 and seems likely to be a bane to humanity for the forseeable future. "Wargames" goes beyond the obvious and looks hopefully at the future, for if we can get past what happens in this very suspenseful thriller, then perhaps there is hope for us after all. <
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>The film opens and closes in exactly the same way but with different players. There is an order to launch missles and we see a crew [one man in particular] who won't launch. It is a simulation, but it reveals that 22% of the crews would behave the same way. The Strategic Command reluctantly gives control of the nuclear response to their master computer, "W.O.P.R." [War Operations Planned Response], in an effort to take humans out of the loop. The rest of the movie is a desperate struggle to put human control back into the loop with Matthew Broderick forcing the issue as a teenage hacker. And so the film ends exactly where it begins, except this time it is the General who reluctantly takes control of the response and chooses not to launch just as in the simulation where the film began. This is an anti-war theme which is always popular with the young, and peace is a topic that certainly never goes out of vogue with people of any age or background.

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fast and in great condition
got both movies and they both were in great shape