Review of Wargames (1962) by Tom S — 24 Apr 2008

WarGames:

At last, a thriller that doesn't bore the audience with action sequences, but instead offers plenty of suspense to an awaiting audience who'll be glued to their seat throughout the entire flick: the threat of accidental nuclear catastrophe ticking away menacingly like a time bomb.

In addition, it's the movie that gave up-and-coming actor Matthew Broderick a starting role as the computer whiz thrown into the fray of reversing the potential cataclysm and evading his captors at the same time. Upon playing a computer game developed as a testing ground for playing out possible nuclear war scenarios, the poor kid inadvertently hacks into the US Military Intelligence and sparks off a series of moves that could potentially end in real-life nuclear war! And on top of it all, still living all of the drama of a high school student!

Character development and the reclamation of an old hermit (Professor Stephen Falken) to his life again is very promising. All in all, quite plausible in an age of electronics and everything at the push of a button...especially when it comes to ending the age of humans.

The line the computer reads after the climax of the movie is great, on reference of playing out all possible scenarios of global thermonuclear war:

"Strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?".

Great lesson in a day of political instability and the threat of World War III.

4.0/5.0. Very good flick. Watch it. You'll be pleasantly surprised as to how entertaining it is.