“WarGames” stars Matthew Broderick as David, a seventeen-year-old high school student who’s obsessed with computers and computer games. He’s got a pretty sweet setup in his bedroom with computer, modem, printer, the works – and he enjoys hacking into the high school computer system to change his grades as needed. (And it’s needed plenty often.) One day he sees an ad for a new game being produced by a nearby toy company, and he decides to hack into that computer and see the schematics for the new game. Harmless, right?
What he doesn’t realize is that he has hacked into a top secret military computer. The military ran a test, sending out a launch code to the men in charge of detonating the atomic warheads on the base, to see how many of the men would actually set off the bomb when commanded. Each bomb had the capability of killing four million people, so this was not an easy assignment they were given. Some of the men couldn’t detonate the bombs when asked, proving the point of the test: if a bomb needs to be detonated, who would have the guts to do it? Upon urging, the military decided to turn the control over to a computer that would merely accept the order and not have guilt over it. Well, it’s that computer David has accessed, and while he thinks he’s playing a game, he’s actually convinced the computer that the Russians are getting ready to launch a huge attack against the United States.
The military readies their weapons to go on the defense, not realizing that everything they were seeing on their screens was fantasy. David has to prove to them that it’s all a mistake before they go and attack Russia, thinking they’re defending themselves when in reality, they would be the aggressors. With his friend Jennifer (Ally Sheedy) at his side, David goes in search of the computer’s creator, who apparently is the only one who can stop the game. In the end, however, David comes out the hero.
This is a pretty cool movie. It’s fun to look at how far computers have come in the last twenty-four years – the things they’re using in this film look so antiquated now. The suspense is great, the conclusion is awesome – the only thing I can find to fault this film for is that there is quite a bit of language. If language is a concern in your family, you might find a place that sells edited versions, but the words are pretty liberally sprinkled throughout and it’s not something I can tell you to be on the lookout for and then fast-forward, like I do with other films.
This movie is rated PG.
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