Right, post revisitation time again to end the month as I am going to have to finish editing this one next month but I will post it tonight to ensure it goes out with five posts for the month.
So, the post in question is my review of the Cold War Sci-Fi film, WarGames, which was originally o one of my earliest posts on this blog, so it certainly is long overdue something of an overhaul. So, this post will change and evolve a bit over the next few days as I won't have a chance to completely finish it tonight (but I will do what I can!).
Anyway so after 35 years (has it been that long??!) how does WarGames fare??? Well, let's take another look and find out...
And yep the usual warning is coming up....
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
OK so the film begins with two missile wing controllers Captain Lawson and Lt Phelps (John Spencer and Michael Madsen) recieving orders to launch a nuclear strike. However, as they come to the moment, Lawson refuses to turn his key as he can't face the idea of the devastating consequences of such a launch. The result of this sees the systems engineers at NORAD, lead by Dr John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) proposing that the men in the silos are taken out of the loop and replaced without automation. McKittrick suggests that they use a supercomputer within the base, called the WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) which constantly runs military simulations, which the president's advisors agree to.
Meanwhile, David Lightman (Broderick), who is a school student in a Seattle high school, is an underachiever in class, but is also intelligent and a talented hacker. On receiving poor grades, David finds the school's office password to hack into their school records computer systems and changes his grades to avoid going to summer school, which he also does for his classmate, Jennifer (Ally Sheedy).
Later on, David finds out about a computer company called Protovision, who are bringing out some exciting new computer games. The company is based in Sunnyvale California, so David uses his computer to call every number in Sunnyvale, during this he comes into contact with a computer that doesn't identify itself, and he probes it to find out further info, by asking for a list of games, it comes up with ones such as Chess, Backgammon, Poker and slightly heavier ones such as Theatrewide Biotoxic Chemical Warfare, and Global thermonuclear war.
David goes to visit some of his hacker friends with Jennifer, and they suggest he find out more about who designed the system. David does so and tracks information on Stephen Falken (John Wood), which he got from the game on his list "Falken's maze", who was a researcher in AI, but since passed away, but he also had a son named Joshua.
David after much guessing soon twigs that the password to enter the system is Falken's son, Joshua, and enters into the computer, which then makes contact with the WOPR at NORAD, where David unwittingly asks to play Global thermonuclear war with the computer, which it obliges. However as David plays the game, the WOPR plays the game as a simulation at NORAD, which alerts the personnel there, who at first think its a possible nuclear attack from the Russians (as David opted to play as the Russian side), but it is soon averted, and they manage to track the source of the hack, i.e. in Seattle where David is.
David himself is soon arrested by FBI agents who take him to NORAD where he is interrogated, but he insists that he just entered their system to play a game and nothing more. However David logs into the computer and talks to "Joshua" again who is set on completing the game, by continuing the simulation, and feeding misinformation such as Soviet bombers and submarines to the people at NORAD. David also asks it information about Falken's address, and his alias "Dr Robert Hume", but before he can go any further, he is taken by the FBI and placed in a holding room. David however manages to use his hacking skills to escape the room, and sneak out of the NORAD facility, posing as one of the tourists of the facility, he gets on a bus.
David then asks Jennifer for help, who meets up with him as they travel to the address where Falken lives, and they soon find him, as he lives alone (now a widow) and David asks him to help diffuse the situation with "Joshua" but he refuses. As David and Jennifer are about to leave (and make out!) Falken changes his mind and flies them in a chopper to the NORAD base where he implores with General Berringer (Barry Corbin) to ignore the WOPR's projections and to call off any US counterattacks, which he does and they soon find out the WOPR's projected attacks are indeed simulations.
However after this the WOPR decides to try and find the codes to launch the missiles and complete the game, and from hereon in its up to David and Falken to try and stop literal global thermonuclear war...
THOUGHTS
WarGames is a very entertaining thriller, which I have fond memories of since I first saw around about the time of its release (yep I am old!). The whole cold war situation has been told in several films prior to this one, most notably in Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb" and "Fail safe" directed by Sidney Lumet.
But where WarGames succeeds really well is by taking the teenager factor into the film and let it not just be about a bunch of military and computer personnel all talking and debating in the war room, and in doing so it helps inject a bit more fun into the proceedings. And David Lightman is a likeable character, he's clearly very intelligent and resourceful, and he uses that to his advantage throughout the film, when hacking into NORAD and even escaping from it!
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
Performance wise, the cast are all excellent here.
Starting with Matthew Broderick who is great as David, the young hacker, who unwittingly hacks into NORAD and nearly ends up causing nuclear war, and he has several highlights in the film.
Starting with the scene where David in biology class, mocks the teacher who asks the question "Who suggested the first production without sex?". And as David mutters to his classmates "His wife" and they all laugh, the teacher looks at David wearily and asks him "Alright, Lightman. Maybe you could tell us who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex?" and David smiles and replies "Emm, your wife??" and as the class erupts into laughter, the teacher furiously points to the door and says "Get out, Lightman! Get out!".
Then we have the scene where David looks at a new games brochure from the company Protovision and he goes up to his room and makes a call to find what pre-fix codes are within the Sunnyvale area, California and he get's his computer to dial all the numbers within those code areas. So, in the scene after get's off the phone with the information services, he says to himself "Protovison, I have you now!" which is basically a quote from Star Wars (as Darth Vader said the line without Protovision of course!).
Then there is the scene where David having tried everything he can think of to try and find the password to play the war games, Jennifer comes round to his place and he shows her a video tape of Falken. And Jennifer reads Falken's obituary and David suddenly asks her as she talks about her father, "What was his name?" and Jennifer asks "My father?" and David says "No, no, Falken's kid!" and she looks at the obituary and tells him "Joshua". So, David says to himself "It can't be that simple!" and he enters Joshua onto his computer, which then causes some weird activity to occur and David, exicted says "Wow! We got something!".
Another good scene is when David at NORAD, hacks into one of the computers to talk to Joshua and on Joshua showing David some project kill ratios from the games, David types in "Is this a game or is it real?" and Joshua says "What's the difference" and David sighs and says "Oh, wow!". However as Joshua tells David (believing him to be Falken) that he is hard man to reach at his registered address, which it tells David, however one of the secretaries outside spots him and she sends up the FBI to apprehend him and he is dragged out the room. And David shouts at them "Its not me! Its Joshua! He's trying to start a war!" and as they ignore him, David shouts "Please call Falken! Call him! Call him!".
Then there is the scene where David and Jennifer meet with Falken on his remote island home and he tries to convince him to come back to NORAD to stop Joshua. And as Falken plays the film of the dinosaurs and says "Extinction is part of the natural order" David angrily says "Bullshit!" and he turns off the projector and says "If we're extinguished there's nothing natural about that, its just stupid!". And as David asks Falken "You won't make a simple phone call?" and Jennifer asks Falken if his real son was still alive would he make the call, Falken tells her "Look maybe you might gaina few years, have a son, see him grow and watch him die. But humanity, planning its own destruction...that a phone call won't stop". So, David frustrated says to Falken "I knew you weren't always like this! What's the last thing you cared about?!".
And then there is the next scene where David and Jennifer try to find a way off the island where Falken is staying and Jennifer suggests that they swim but David reveals he can't swim. And in the scene David angrily asks "What kind of an asshole lives on island and doesn't have a boat?!" and Jennifer sarcastically asks David "Well what kind of asshole grew up in Seattle and didn't learn how to swim?!". David defensively replies "I just didn't get around to it, OK. I always thought there would be more time" and he laments "I wish didn't know about any of this! And tomorrow it would be just over!".
Dabney Coleman is also excellent as the head systems analyst at NORAD, McKittrick, who is at odds with General Beringer throughout the film.
And Dabney has some great moments in the film aswell such as the one where in a meeting with Berringer and some of the President's staff discuss what to do with the missile wing controllers, who are unwilling to turn the missile keys. So, Berringer says that he will have his men psychiatrically re-screened but McKittrick objects and says to Berringer "Excuse me, sir. We can't send these men back to the President of the United States with a lot of head-shrinker horseshit!".
And then McKittrick asks the men to indulge him as shows them the WOPR and suggests that they use that to maintain the situation with the missile silos and take the controllers out of the loop. And as Berringer mocks McKittricks suggestion and how he wouldn't trust the WOPR as "far as he could throw it!" McKittrick wearily says to him "General, no one is talking about trusting the world to a machine, for God's sake! We will keep control but we'll keep it at the top where it belongs!". And as one of the president's men, Arthur Cabot, says he will put forward McKittrick's suggestion, McKittrick smiles and says "Thank you. You won't regret this!".
Another good scene is when David is arrested and taken to NORAD, McKittrick speaks to him and leads him to his office. And David asks McKittrick "You worked with Stephen Falken didn't you?" and McKittrick says "I started as his assistant. How did you know that?" and David tells him "I read an article you wrote with him on poke and nuclear war". McKittrick laughs a little and says "Bluffing! Yeah that shook a few people up" and David says "He must have been pretty amazing" and McKittrick tells David "He was a brilliant man but a little flaky. He never understood the practical uses of his work". McKittrick then indicates the WOPR to David "This machine over here runs his game program" and David quietly says to himself "Joshua".
McKittrick then shows David the DEFCON sign "See that sign up here - up here. "Defcon." That indicates our current defense condition. It should read "Defcon 5," which means peace. It's still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn't caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?". So, David nervously asks "No, what does that mean?" and McKittrick tells him "World War Three".
Then there is of course the scene where General Beringer tells McKittrick his opinion of the WOPR, and his new defence system "sucks" and an angry McKittrick fires back the best line in the film "I don't have to take that from you, you pig eyed sack of shit!".
Ally Sheedy is also good as Jennifer, David's classmate, and romantic interest (and I think its safe to say that Ally looked her cutest ever here!).
Ally also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Jennifer gives David a ride on her bike back to his house and he tells her that he won't need to go to summer school to make up his failed grades.
So, as Jennifer says to David "So, you going to summer school to aswell?" and David smiles and says "No, I don't think so" and she asks him "Why not?! You have to make up Biology" and David says "I don't think so" and he tells her to come up to his house and he'll show her how they can change it. So, as David hacks into the school's computer, he changes his grades and then he goes to change Jennifer's grade, who suddenly becomes nervous and says "Change it back!" and David says "But nobody can find out!" but Jennifer insists "I said change it back!" and David does so and Jennifer, rather annoyed, leaves. But in a later scene as Jennifer asks David to change her grade after giving it some thought, he tells her he already changed it and he tells her he gave her an "A". So, Jennifer smiles and asks "Did you really give me an A?" and David smiles and says "Yeah" and she grins and says "Thanks!".
Then there is the scene where Jennifer visits David when he hasn't been at school for a week as he has been too busy researching Falken and trying to crack the password to play the games. So, in the scene David explains that he has been researching on Falken and that what he did was great as he taught machines how to learn from their mistakes. David however tells Jennifer that Falken is now dead and he hands her his obituary.
So, Jennifer reads it and says "This is really sad. Did you know the child and his mother were killed in a car crash?" and David says "Yeah, I know". Jennifer reads from the obituary "In the years that followed the tragic loss of his family, Dr Falken's health deteriorated" and she remembers her own dad "My dad was 45...I remember this one he was sick...". David however has a thought and asks her "What was his name?" and Jennifer asks "My father?" and David says "No, no, Falken's kid!" and Jennifer looks at the obituary again and tells him "Joshua".
Of course later there is the scene where Jennifer meets a nervous David at an airport and she surprises him and says "Surprise!". And David asks her "What are you doing here?" and Jennifer says "Well, you didn't sound too good on the phone" and David nervously tells her "You shouldn't have come here, I'm in big trouble!". So, Jennifer asks him "Why? David, is this because of what you did with my grade?!".
John Wood is excellent as Falken, the creator of the supercomputer, the WOPR, who initially turns his back on the world, after the death of his wife and son, Joshua, he was officially declared dead, and lived his life in seclusion, only to come back into the scene when David finds him.
Wood has some good scenes aswell such as the one where David tries to convince Falken to come back to NORAD to help them and as he shows David and Jennifer a film of dinosaurs he tells them " a story". And as Falken tells them "Extiniction is part of the natural order" but David angrily says "Bullshit!" and he turns the projector off and tries to convince Falken that he is being stupid. Falken however then tells David "But humanity planning its own destruction, that a phone call won't stop".
Then there is the scene where Falken along with David and Jennifer arrive at NORAD and Falken tries to convince Beringer not launch a missile attack as the WOPR is playing out a game and Soviet missiles aren't real. So, Falken first off says hello to McKittrick and he pats him on the arms and says "John, its good to see you!" and he looks to his wife and says "I see your wife still picks your ties!". Falken then speaks to Beringer and says "General, what you see on these screens up here is a fantasy; a computer-enhanced hallucination. Those blips are not real missiles. They're phantoms!".
Falken then approaches Beringer and asks him "General, are you prepared destroy the enemy?" and Beringer says firmly "You betcha!" and Falken then asks him "Do you think they know that?" and Beringer says "I think we've made that perfectly clear!" and Falken then advises Beringer "Then don't!". Falken then asks Beringer "General, do you really believe that the enemy would attack without provocation, using so many missiles, bombers, and subs so that we would have no choice but to totally annihilate them?!". Falken then pleads with Beringer "General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one".
Barry Corbin is also great in the film as General Beringer, who remains opposed to the whole idea of the WOPR and automation taking over from the men in the silos. And Barry get's some of the best lines in the film such as in the scene when Berringer meets with McKittrick at the start and some of the president's advisors and he tells them "Gentlemen, we've had men down in those silos since before you were watchin Howdy Doody!".
Another great moment from Corbin is when David is caught in McKittrick's office talking to Joshua via the computer and he is apprended by the FBI, who cart him away. And as David is dragged out of McKittrick's office, Beringer shouts at the FBI agents "Get that little bastard out of the war room!" and then "What the hell's he doing here anyhow?!".
Then there is the scene where at NORAD, they have a Soviet Launch Detection and Beringer gravely asks McKittrick "Tell me this is one of your simulations" and McKittick, serious says "Its not, Jack". So, Beringer looks grimly and says to his men "All right. Flush the bombers. Get the subs in launch mode. We are at DEFCON 1!".
Also later on there is the line where Beringer says to McKittrick after the WOPR takes action to launch the missiles itself, "Mr McKittrick, after some careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that your new defence system sucks!". And as McKittrick insults Beringer by calling him a "pig-eyed sack of shit!" Berringer smiles and says "Oh, I expected more than that from a man of your education!".
And lastly there is the priceless line where the NORAD staff are all desparately trying to figure out how to disable the WOPR, so David comes over and asks to play the WOPR at the game. So, as the others protest, Beringer says "Goddamnit! I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good!" and to the officer, Major Lem, on the computer, he says "Let the boy in there, Major!".
Maury Chaykin is also very good in the film as Jim, an IT worker, who is friendly with David and in his one scene he has some good moments also.
Starting with the moment where David hands a printout of the games he got that include "Global thermonuclear war" to Jim but one of Jim's fellow workers, Malvin, comes right in and snatches it from Jim. Jim then wrestles the print back and says to Jim "You remember when you asked me to tell you when you were acting rudely and insensitively?" and Malvin nods and Jim tells him "You're doing it right now". Jim reads from the print-out "Theatre wide bio-toxic chemical warfare" and he says to David "This didn't come from Protovision" and Malvin pitches in and suggests its classified and most likely from the military.
So, as David asks how can he break into the system to play the games, Jim tells him "Well you get in through the frontline but you might look for a backdoor". Malvin then protests "I can't believe it, Jim. That girl's standing over there listening and you're telling him about our back doors?!" and Jim angrily turns to Malvin and shouts "Mr Potato Head! Mr Potato Head! Back doors are NOT secrets!". So, Jim suggests to David "OK, if you want to get in, why don't you try to find out as much as you can about the guy who designed the system".
And last of all is Eddie Deezen who is good fun in his role as the geeky IT worker, Malvin, who keeps butting in on his co-worker, Jim when he tries to talk.
And Deezen's only scene features some good moments such as the one where Malvin suggests to David that the print-out he got is probably military and classified. And at the start of his scene, Malvin grabs the print-out from Jim's hands and he asks "Wow! Where did you get this?!" and David says "I wanted Jim to see that!" and Jim wrestles back off Malvin and tells him he is acting rudely and insensitively. So, Jim reads from it and says "This didn't come from Protovision" and Malvin pitches in "Looks military to me. Definitely military! Probably classified, too!" and he warns David "That system probably contains the new data encryption algorithm. You'll never get in there!".
So, Jim then tells David about the "back door" security he adds when designing a system and Malvin complains to Jim of his mentioning it and he points to Jennifer "Come on, Jim! That girl is standing over there and you talk about a back door?!". Jim then angrily yells at Malvin "Mr Potato Head! Back doors are NOT secrets!" and Malvin protests "But, Jim you're giving away our best tricks!".
And as Jim suggests that David find out about how designed the system, David asks how is he supposed to do that as he doesn't even know his name. So, Malvin grins and says "Man, are you dumb! You guys are so dumb! I got this figured out all by myself!" and David asks Malvin sarcastically "Oh yeah, Malvin? How would you do it?!" and Malvin tells him "The first game on the list! Go straight through Falken's maze!".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
John Badham who actually took over the directorial helm from Martin Brest (Beverly Hills cop director, who was fired from the picture, 12 days into filming after a dispute) does a fine job in building up the suspense, and pacing the film. Badham also keeps the tone of the film somewhat more light hearted by ensuring the characters of David and Jennifer were just two teenagers who were having a bit of fun but ended up unwittingly in danger.
The sets of the NORAD base are also very impressive and they were actually re-used for Beverly Hills Cop, directed by the aforementioned Martin Brest. I also can't resist but enjoy looking at David's now very antiquated looking computer equipment in his room, with the old 5.4" floppy disks, and the IMSAI 8080 microcomputer he has (now resembles something closer in size to a network router!).
As for the music score, which is by Arthur B. Rubinstein it is pretty good as well and it is very well suited to the tone of the film and features a mix of orchestral and electronic tracks. And the film's main theme remains quite a memorable one and even if the score has one or two cheesy sounding moments in its use of 80's synths, its still a pretty good one overall.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
And as enjoyable as the film is, it does of course have a few flaws, first off I think its a ridiculous that David could hack into such an advanced supercomputer by the use of just one simple password as "Joshua". Its not exactly an airtight security system if that is the case, as it is now common practice in workplaces that computers have to have complex passwords, so that computers account can't be easily be hacked into. But of course the main defence computer at NORAD has the simple password "Joshua" to hack into it, and bingo you can play it at Global Thermonuclear War! Its just a bit silly and not too well thought out in terms of computer security.
I also thought the idea of having the missile launch codes for the silo missile to be printed on the computer panels, is also really daft, (the code Joshua uses (which is clearly printed on the panel!) again leaving your security wide open for anyone to copy it down, who might have access! So overall in terms of a computer access and security its not the most well thought out of films.
Another flaw that was later revealed was that they got the DEFCON (Defence condition) system ratings the wrong way round, as they said DECON 5 was Peace and 1 meant War. However in reality the opposite is true, 1 is Peace and 5 is War. Plus they keep saying tic-tac-toe isn't a winnable game, but it actually is! Ah well.
I also thought that the whole scene at the start of the film seems a bit daft in that the missile controllers have been asked to launch their missiles, yet its really not clear what their target is and what impact it might have (well apart from a fatal one!). It basically of course sets up the premise of the film that McKittrick wants to NORAD to take control using automation rather than men in the silos.
Then there is the scene where David changes his and Jennifer's grades by hacking into the school's computer and he thinks that they couldn't possibly find out, but surely to God they would find out! I mean I'd imagine that the teachers are required to keep a paper record of the students marks, so on that basis they should find out that something's up when David and Jennifer will get fake report cards. But hey ho, its just another moment glossed over in the film.
Another daft moment in the film is when they close up NORAD and McKittrick's wife contacts Falken by radio and tells him "We're closing up the mountain, once it closes no one is getting in or out!". Now, OK I get that they have to secure the complex in the event of a nuclear war, however given that Falken would prove so urgent in this crisis, why didn't they wait to seal the complex AFTER Falken, David and Jennifer got into NORAD???!!! But, nope they decide to just put the place on lockdown before they even have a proper chance to get in there and as usual in these movies, they make it through just in the nick of time!
And last of all, I think the film's climax to an extent is quite confusing as it makes you wonder, did Joshua actually launch the missiles or didn't he? (or it!). The idea of course is that the WOPR or Joshua, plays out a series of war games to see if it can "win the game" but of course it turns out that in nuclear war there are no winners. But years past this climax always confused me, is the NORAD base among the sole survivors of Joshua's nuclear attack or did he/it not get to launch the missiles??? As I said of course, it turns out that it he/it didn't, so in the end all is OK but in a way its left a bit unclear.
SUM UP
So, after 35 years, WarGames is still a very entertaining suspense thriller and it features a fine cast all in good form aswell as some solid direction from John Badham and a good score by Arthur B Rubenstein. And its themes of nuclear war and hacking technology to a fair extent still remain relevant today and its definitely a film that warrants repeated viewing from time to time and overall just a very solid and enjoyable thriller.
OK, so that's it for now and I will be back next month at some point with more reviews.
Till the next one, its bye for now!
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