Wargames

What an astounding film based on the almost non existent world of early 1980's computer video games and government hacking. These words were not widely used back when Wargames was released. I should know. I was 1 at the time. Matthew Broderick plays super smart computer nerd David. David's number 1 priority is to hack to computer software servers to be able to play the newest yet to be released video games. He finally gets in with a password of JOSHUA. Joshua was the name of the programmers son. His son and wife were killed in a car wreck and he died shortly after. Once inside the program he has a list of games to play. He and his new friend, Jennifer (Ally Sheedy), decide to play...... Global Thermonuclear War. He and Joshua play against each other as Russian and USA. What David is unaware of is he is not playing a video game. He has actually broken into the back door of the NORAD super computer system. This system Has begun it's countdown for WWIII. Still unaware David is arrested and interrogated by the government for espionage. Dabney Coleman plays McKittrick who is in charge of the programming system for the government. Without the original programmer, there doesn't seem to be much hope. Barry Corbin is the hot shot General Beringer who must make the hard decisions. You see David played at Russia and with his first move he launched missiles at major US cities. He turned off his computer and went about his business. NORAD systems are going haywire showing that the Russians have launched, but there is no confirmations and David is no help, because "It's just a game."  Watching this film as a newborn, toddler, preteen, teen, and now adult, I must say when you understand the ramifications of World War involving nukes it does become way more intense. Just the very thought of the world coming to an end, let alone because of a video game fiasco, would make you lose your appetite. David with the help of Jennifer and eventually McKittrick need to fix this issue without having the US actually start a nuclear war. David's need to help and not go to prison for the rest of his life keeps him going and striving for a solution. A brilliant tale of something once unfathomable. Computers in charge. Yeah, that'll never happen....or will it?

NBM rates Wargames - I'm gonna go with A Work of Art, because of the brilliant insight into how the government would be ran in the future by more machines and less human brains.

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