A review by Brooks Rich
We begin with one of John Badham's most well known films. The year is 1983 and the Cold War is very much going on. So what better way to capture the fear and paranoia of the Cold War then with a movie about a teenage hacker who nearly causes nuclear annihilation by hacking into a super military computer.
High school slacker David Lightman is a brilliant computer hacker with no ambition. While attempting to hack into a system to play computer games, he accidentally begins a nuclear showdown with a military computer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response.) With the threat of nuclear annihilation looming, David and his friend Jennifer must find a way to beat the computer and prevent the apocalypse.
WarGames is one of my favorite eighties films. It's exciting and has a hint of realism to it. The world was always just a few seconds away from global annihilation during the Cold War. The film shows that one nuke fired will lead them to all being fired and we can kiss the planet goodbye.
The lovable teenage slacker was a trope often seen in the eighties. David Lightman is a smarter than average slacker but a slacker none of the less. He'd rather hack into the school computer system and change his grades then do any work. David is played by Matthew Broderick in only his second film role and my favorite performance of his. Broderick is always pretty likable in anything he does. I prefer David to Ferris Bueller to be honest.
WarGames shows how solid of a director John Badham is. He's never overly flashy but is always skilled enough to shoot the film and make it look good without taking away from the story. His films always move at a brisk pace. A director doesn't always have to reinvent the wheel and find that fantastic shot that impresses. Sometimes it's just as impressive to consistently be a good director. That's John Badham.
WarGames is a great place to start if you've never seen any of Badham's films. Even with the eighties and Cold War setting it still feels a little bit real even today.
We begin with one of John Badham's most well known films. The year is 1983 and the Cold War is very much going on. So what better way to capture the fear and paranoia of the Cold War then with a movie about a teenage hacker who nearly causes nuclear annihilation by hacking into a super military computer.
High school slacker David Lightman is a brilliant computer hacker with no ambition. While attempting to hack into a system to play computer games, he accidentally begins a nuclear showdown with a military computer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response.) With the threat of nuclear annihilation looming, David and his friend Jennifer must find a way to beat the computer and prevent the apocalypse.
WarGames is one of my favorite eighties films. It's exciting and has a hint of realism to it. The world was always just a few seconds away from global annihilation during the Cold War. The film shows that one nuke fired will lead them to all being fired and we can kiss the planet goodbye.
The lovable teenage slacker was a trope often seen in the eighties. David Lightman is a smarter than average slacker but a slacker none of the less. He'd rather hack into the school computer system and change his grades then do any work. David is played by Matthew Broderick in only his second film role and my favorite performance of his. Broderick is always pretty likable in anything he does. I prefer David to Ferris Bueller to be honest.
WarGames shows how solid of a director John Badham is. He's never overly flashy but is always skilled enough to shoot the film and make it look good without taking away from the story. His films always move at a brisk pace. A director doesn't always have to reinvent the wheel and find that fantastic shot that impresses. Sometimes it's just as impressive to consistently be a good director. That's John Badham.
WarGames is a great place to start if you've never seen any of Badham's films. Even with the eighties and Cold War setting it still feels a little bit real even today.
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