WarGames

1983

1h 54m

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

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6 Videos

91 Images

Thriller

Science Fiction

Drama

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

Directors

John Badham

Writers

Walter F. Parkes(screenplay by)

Lawrence Lasker(screenplay by)

Stars

Matthew Broderick

Dabney Coleman

John Wood

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Videos6

Photos91

Top cast

David Lightman

McKittrick

Stephen Falken

Jennifer

General Beringer

Pat Healy

Cabot

Watson

Conley

Richter

Beringer's Aide

Mr. Lightman

Mrs. Lightman

Wigan

Stockman

Ayers

Corporal in the Infirmary

Duncan Wilmore

Major Lem

Directors

John Badham

Writers

Walter F. Parkes(screenplay by)

Lawrence Lasker(screenplay by)

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User reviews3

Review

Featured review

7/10

When the young computer whizz-kid “David” (Matthew Broderick) is showing off to his girlfriend “Jennifer” (Ally Sheedy) about how he can improve her grades and book them on a first class trip to Paris, he inadvertently dials a telephone number that wants to play a game. A game of thermonuclear war! Next day, the news is full of stories about the mobilisation of American defence capabilities and his phone rings again. It’s the computer, it wants to play and he’s just a little terrified. Not so afraid as he is about to get, though, when the FBI turn up and next thing he is in a top secret facility trying to explain to boffin “McKittrick” just how he accidentally tapped into a computer system that now seems to be trying to start WWIII - and nobody knows how to stop it. Can he come up with a solution before the increasingly exasperated “Gen. Beringer” (Barry Corbin) goes to DEFCON 1 and obliterates the globe? It’s a good, solid, sci-fi entertainment this film with Broderick, Sheedy and Corbin on good form, but it also serves as quite a potent reminder that, just as with “The Forbin Project” (1970), the whole idea of automating our defences and letting computers do our thinking for us is fraught with danger. Logic is the ultimate in two-dimensional thinking for a machine. For anything more nuanced, balanced or sophisticated then believe it or not, you need a hormonal teenage boy and some very basic rational thinking.

Geronimo196720 Jun, 2025