WarGames (1983)

This is one of those movies with only one moment people are likely to reference, and it's at the end (albeit not a twist like in Soylent Green). At first, I assumed there was nothing else of value in WG. Then it occurred to me that viewers wouldn't know that much if the rest were boring, so I opted in.

David (Matthew Broderick in his first leading role) is too rebellious for school but has a way with machines. In an attempt to remotely hack into a computer game company database and sample an upcoming release, he inadvertently reaches a NORAD supercomputer nicknamed Joshua (voiced by John Wood) and starts a war-planning simulation. Wouldn't you know that the systems engineering chief (Dabney Coleman) had just arranged for Joshua to have full control because the human element was too unpredictable. Joshua's screen displays fool NORAD into thinking that the USSR is making highly threatening moves, and the American response raises Russian alarms. David gets in trouble, authorities believing he's either a prankster or an agent. Oddly enough, for a long time, he's the only one to take the Joshua threat seriously. The computer is more autonomous than widely assumed, makes no distinction between games and reality, and fully expects to launch missiles within a few dozen hours of strategizing. It's up to David, his girlfriend (Ally Sheedy), and Joshua's reclusive creator (also John Wood) to prevent WWIII and the presumed end of the world.

Between unlikelihood and confusion, it sounds like a formula for a comedy, right? But while some details are played for laughs, especially ad libs such as by the general (Barry Corbin), it mostly isn't. According to a making-of featurette, earlier drafts actually went much darker. Guess that's Cold War entertainment in a nutshell: Every Fail-Safe has the potential to become a Dr. Strangelove with a few shifts.

The filmmakers didn't see this as sci-fi, but let's be real: Even today, it'd be a stretch for a computer to imitate sentience as effectively as Joshua does. And in 1983, PCs were barely a thing. Broderick had to learn to type for the role. (He spent more time practicing Galaga for an early scene.) As someone who discovered the Internet only in the '90s, I take interesting in seeing how hacking might have looked back then, with a few liberties taken for cinematics' sake.

David might be my favorite Broderick character. You may see him as a dry run for Ferris Buhler, but while many Ferris viewers have gotten disenchanted with the jerk as they grew older, this earlier jerk is more fun even at his least considerate. Not to mention more impressive with his Macgyver-like technical skills on several occasions.

The intended moral is probably that we shouldn't be so paranoid. Ironically, I think it gives us a reason to be paranoid: We shouldn't have such lax online security. Of course, no self-respecting programmer today would use a plain six-letter name as a password, but that's just scratching the surface. Also, we shouldn't trust the judgment of machines in sensitive matters.

A strange movie, but I wouldn't say the only winning move is not to watch. It's better than I dared hope, even as it reminds me of The Manhattan Project.