Review of WarGames (1983) by Michael P — 28 Aug 2008

Wargames is one of my favorite movies out of the 80's I know that Joshua (the computer) is outdated by today's standards and David (Matthew Brodrick) never would have broken into NORAD but it's still one of the best hacker movies ever made and a great cold war thriller. Now I was only 10 when this movie came out so I didn't understand the finer elements of the story.

The acting is solid across the board. Broderick and Sheedy do top notch acting work here. With Dabney Coleman leading a great supporting cast but even though there is a good cast here, the story is what I think makes Wargames the classic that it is. There really is a sense of menace that World War III might actually start and that it might just be all David's fault. This should serve as a reminder to never play Global Thermonuclear War when your computer has tapped into the national defense network.

The NORAD sets are pretty damn cool and they manage to look quite authentic. The soundtrack also must be given special attention just because it has that special 80's flavor and they even made it electronic sounding for the movie. In the beginning you can find a young Michael Madsen in one of his first roles. Maybe even the first I'm not sure.

To sum up here. Wargames is a quality film that will take older moviegoers back to their childhood or young adulthood and will make younger viewers think "they had computers back then?!" A true classic and one that makes a great addition to any DVD collection.