I plan to diversify my writing by going into a different
venue of reviews – films. Why? Because I
can. And don’t
worry, the game reviews will continue (time and finances permitting,
of course). I will also be taking requests as well for this, just like my game
reviews.
However, now, we have the maiden voyage of my new venture to
contend with. What film could possibly
make a good first one?
I looked around, and then I found, the film for you and me…
And now it’s…War Games
time!
That’s righ, the 1983 classic in which Ferris Bueller nearly
starts World War III. And, let me be
blunt, this is just good stuff. Made in
the waning years of the Cold War, this film demonstrates and put to use that
era’s fear of global nuclear annihilation due to the near open warfare conflict
between the United States and the Soviet Union, and how easily it could be set
off...were it not for the thrilling exploits of Ferris Bueller, his girlfriend, and a scientist who totally isn't British Carl Sagan.
However, before we get to the thrilling exploits of Matthew
Broderick, we get a few scenes to start us off with some United States Air
Force missile combat crew manning their stations right before a drill occurs,
one of them being unable to fire the missiles when instructed to do so. This is apparently the case in a lot of
places, as twenty-two percent of all missile commanders didn’t fire the
missiles either. So it gets decided to
hand it over to a NORAD super computer.
Because that always works well. Just ask the people onboard Discovery One or at Aperture Science.
In spite of some objections, WOPR (an acronym of “War
Operation Plan Response”) is placed in charge of all of the United States’ missile
silos and kept an eye on by the brass.
Then we cut to Seattle where, at an arcade, Matthew
Broderick is playing Galaga (thought
we wouldn’t notice, but we did). I’m aware
that he has a name (David Lightman, for those parties interested), you know as well as I that I’m just going to call him
Ferris Bueller, so let’s get on with it.
Bueller is apparently a complete slacker in spite of being brilliant
enough to work computers like nobody’s business. And, much like Marty McFly after him, is late
for school as soon as we are introduced to him.
Given a failing grade, as well as seeing that his very
obvious love interest (the only female character that gets an entire scene with focus on her and gets named by the time we see
her) got one as well, he manages to hack into the school’s computer and change
it. This doesn’t impress Jennifer at all, and he changes it back...until she leaves, upon which he actually changes her grade once more to a perfect one. In this, and in a
scene following at dinner at the Bueller Household, we get some wonderfully
shameless advertising for then-relevant pieces of technology.
Learning about a new computer system called ‘Protovision’,
Ferris is able to using a technique called ‘war dialing’ (as it became known
after this movie), where he uses the phone system to call up every number in a
certain area to learn where computers are.
In this case, he sets his computer to call every computer in Sunnyvale,
California in order to find any programs that might still be within the
company. And on a computer screen of
green and black, Ferris and Jennifer book a flight to Paris before they come
across a screen that gives a simple “Logon:” option. A few attempts are made before they manage to
get the system to reveal a list of games to them.
Some of them are pretty much your standard fare. Hearts, Checkers, Chess, Bridge…Theatrewide
Tactical Warfare?! As the list gets to the bottom, it takes on a far more
sinister edge until the last item on the list is reached. And, interestingly, it is separated by more
space from the other items on the list: “Global Thermonuclear War”.
 |
| It says "click here to advance the plot". |
Taking a print-out to some friends of his (who are oddly
reminiscent of an even geekier version of the Lone Gunmen), who determine that it’s
something from a government computer. Pointed towards someone named ‘Falken’ as
the man who created the system, Ferris begins a montage wherein we are
viciously attacked by synthesizers.
Ferris does some research on Falken – apparently a computer expert by
the name of Stephen Falken – on such outdated technologies as film slides, card
catalogues, and books, of all things!
– all the while using password after password from the writings that end up
being incorrect and terminating his connection.
From the look of it, Stephen Falken is the ultimate nerd. Or was, anyway, he’s apparently dead. While he was alive, however, he was pushing
forward in the field of computer sciences.
He had developed a way to teach machines how to play games, and to make
them learn from their mistakes.
So, when Skynet takes over, we know who to blame.
However, it’s still a year before Terminator, and Ferris finally finds the password in the name of
Falken’s son, Joshua, and gets access – unknowingly – to the WOPR system. And the system, apparently going off of its
own programing, asks him if he wants to play a game. Leading to the iconic exchange:
“Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?”
“WOULDN’T YOU PREFER A GOOD GAME OF CHESS?”
“Later. Let’s play Global Thermonuclear
War.”
 |
| No, not these War Games... |
And thus, the titular WarGames
begin, with the click of a mouse and Ferris picking the Soviet Union (COMMUNIST!). He and his girlfriend delight in aiming missiles directly for the United States in a
simulation…or so they believe. Back at
NORAD, of course, this is taken as the real deal due to WOPR being in control
of their systems. WOPR feeds them false
data and begins to retaliate against the non-existent attack from the Soviet
Union – beginning the series of events that could lead right into World War III.
As WOPR begins to take “winning the game” into its own
hands, the film takes on a decidedly darker edge and the tension is immediately
set high as it provides a literally countdown timer to Nuclear Armageddon. The last two thirds of the film manage to
maintain this up until the conclusion, wherein WOPR learns that tic-tac-toe is
a rather stupid game, and so is nuclear war.
And thus, the Great War is held off for another ninety-four years, and
the day is saved.
This film receives pretty much universal praise, and it’s
easy to see why. It’s the perfect
thriller for its era – using the ever-looming threat of nuclear attack as the
source of tension for the duration.
Surprisingly, however, this film doesn’t paint the Soviets as some sort
of evil. The only real antagonist in the
film is WOPR, and only then out of innocent ignorance over the consequences of
what it’s doing.
Matthew Broderick deserves particular praise as well, as the
lead. Somehow he is able to pull off
being a brilliant but lazy slacker in a way that doesn’t come off as being a
complete sociopath. Being only twenty
one at the time, he brings that youth exuberance to his performance that
he…still brings to performances despite being over fifty now at the time that
I’m writing this up. Here, though, it
works well enough. He also brings around
the technical know-how of his character to life in a believable way, though
that may be attributed more to screenwriters Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parker,
and Walon Green than Broderick’s acting.
John Wood’s Stephen Falken (oh, yeah. Falken is actually alive, spoiler alert!)
comes off when he is introduced as a fatalist, knowing full well (somehow) what
WOPR is up to and is deciding that if humanity is going to take the pains to
plan out its own destruction, then it deserves to destroy itself and for nature
to “start again” as he puts it. A
somewhat relatable sentiment, though given the fact that he could stop the end
of the world with a phone call to NORAD, he comes off as being a real
jerk. Though, luckily he is convinced by
Ferris and Jennifer to help, leading into the last twenty minutes of the film,
which are definitely the tensest (and rightly so).
 |
| I have a feeling I know the only winning move for this one... |
I get this strange feeling, given his speech to the two
leads about the futility of the nuclear struggle and the fact that nature will
just start again after humanity is gone that he would have been happy in
Operation Golden Age with just the slightest push. In the end, though, he agrees to help thanks
to Ferris and Jennifer refusing to give up in spite of it all, which does
redeem him a bit.
The film actually has a shortage of technobabble all around,
with things either simply being shown in action or explained in a very concise,
believable way. Again, the dialogue –
particularly as delivered by Broderick – is set up for just this, and War Games really outshines a lot of more
recent films in this regard. To put it
against a film from a decade and some change later, take Hackers where it had a few moments where you’d go “Nobody talks
like that”.
And, of course, while the film delivers it’s anti-war
message of ‘the only winning move is not to play’ (in a way that isn’t jarring
in tone after seeing an unintelligible Italian-American and a Swedish
Russian beating each other to death), there is a rather startling thing I
realized after the fact: WOPR could just
as easily do it again. At the end of the
film, WOPR is put into a simulation of tic-tac-toe by Ferris and Falken and
learns that – much like nuclear war – there is absolutely no point to playing
it because there is no chance for victory.
However it never seems to acknowledge the sanctity of human
life. When asked if the simulation is
real or just a game, it blatantly asks what the difference is. And while it learns that there is no chance for
victory in nuclear war…as the circumstances were then, could it not very easily continue to try and find a solution
through simulation alone? And then, perhaps…say, in a few decades, try to
replicate it once more? Of course the
film doesn’t acknowledge this possibility as WOPR seems satisfied with the
no-win scenario…for the time being, at least.
…I’m just saying, people.
We’d better be happy it was dismantled after production. Or the prop for it, at least.
This film is great.
The plot moves at a good pace for a thriller, it’s filled with tension,
and it has a happy ending that I think everyone can enjoy. I could poke some more fun at the outdated
technology used all around, particularly at NORAD with the giant Lite-Brite
displays (though, apparently, the computers and other technology used in the
film were actually more advanced in the era than the actual NORAD equipment)
and some of the more now-archaic aspects.
There is also shameless
product placement. In no less than one
scene, they showed Pepsi, 7 Eleven, State Farm Insurance, and McDonalds (and
people were complaining about that one scene in Man of Steel, sheesh…). The
plugs for computers come relatively early and then don’t come up much
again. No ads for Apple II’s or for the
Sony Walkman. I could mock either of the
aspects, but I don’t really feel a need to due to it really being such a small
part of the film.
To put my thoughts into a misquote: "A great movie. The only winning move is to watch."
"WarGames" belongs to MGM and is available on Netflix Instant Play and everywhere movies are sold.
