Classic Geek Camp
Main Cast: Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin
Director: John Badham
A cult classic among sci-fi lovers and computer geeks, War Games is a jolly cool romp through the hacker culture of the ’80s. Broderick plays David Lightman, a high-school hacker who enjoys banging away at the keyboard in his room more than actually going outside and joining the social scene (which, truth to tell, was me in school). He manages to log into the Department of Defense and interacts with Joshua, a cool AI who seems to like games. Curious, David and his girlfriend Jennifer (Sheedy) play a few games and manage to stumble into a more serious, world-shaking game.
This is a fast-paced, pretty neat take on the whole nuclear weapon fear of the ’80s, combined with the evil USSR and how computers were slowly beginning to take on the importance in daily life they have now. The acting is very good and the plot, while a bit obvious now, was pretty scary and unique back then, and fit the time and mood perfectly. War Games is still pretty viable and a very good watch.
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