WarGames (1983)
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: John Badham
Written By: Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker
Starring: Michael Madsen, William H. Macy, Barry Corbin, Maury Chaykin, Dabney Coleman, Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Art LaFleur, John Spencer, Juanin Clay
Genres: Drama, Sci-fi, Suspense/Thriller
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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WarGames belongs to 26 collections
1. Psychotronic Film and Video Guides (collaborative: moderated by Gregzilla - 40 stars)
2. The Guardian's 1000 films to see before you die (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 30 stars)
3. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
4. Academy Award - Oscar - ALL Best Picture, Directing, Acting & Screenplay Nominees (collaborative - 22 stars)
5. Films available in HD (collaborative: moderated by kubricksucks - 13 stars)
6. Internet/computers (collaborative: moderated by djross - 8 stars)
7. Human Vs. Computer (collaborative: moderated by Sunsplitter - 6 stars)
8. Nuclear war (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
9. Top 3000 movies with the most votes on IMDb (public: fanfic - 5 stars)
10. Artificial Intelligence (public: djross - 4 stars)
11. Hacker (collaborative - 3 stars)
12. robots and A.I. (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 3 stars)
13. Cold War (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 2 stars)
14. Best Original screenplay (collaborative: moderated by Roman_Herbom - 2 stars)
15. Vaporwave aesthetics (collaborative: moderated by Ghalea - 2 stars)
16. Hollywood Hits, 1920 to present (collaborative: moderated by lisa- - 1 star)
17. evil/hostile A.I. (artificial intelligence) (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 1 star)
18. such watch list wow (public: Bullt - 1 star)
19. Annual top 5 worldwide box office, 1975 - 2022 (public: djross - 1 star)
20. Seattle (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket)
21. Ratings (collaborative: moderated by cheapthrills)
22. Video Game Movies (collaborative: moderated by HaileyS)
23. Friendly Fire Podcast subject films (collaborative: moderated by jimmyjazz)
24. Available to watch (public: Paxton)
25. Films Dunstan Owns (public: Dunstan-xxx)
26. 50 Weeks of Cakes & Stakes (public: SeanTres)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 6 |  |
Jasongirl67 | 75 69th |
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A classic 80's film with all the cheese and silly antics you'd expect But this hits a nerve for me ( Technology turning against us humans ) Classic funny line;..... Hell I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good
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| 4 |  |
terrymac | 65 47th |
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This starts well, with a young Michael Madsen ready to push the button. If the overall premise stretches credibility, the execution and message, if a tad simplistic, are decent. Broderick and Sheedy are likeable. Especially Sheedy. I wanted her to babysit me when I was 8. It also features the best raw corn buttering scene I can think of - using a slice of bread: genius. A bit cheesy, but a likeable enough cold-war caper. Won't make you soil yourself like Threads/The War Game/The Day After.
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| 4 |  |
Anomaly | 75 59th |
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A surprisingly entertaining take on a man vs. machine plot integrated into then current events. Also an interesting example of when it pays to be unsubtle: the message of the film is (literally) spelled out on a screen at one point, but it works, and it even holds up today. Cheesy, geeky fun.
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| 4 |  |
Paxton | 69 56th |
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They say that the tornado in The Wizard of Oz is more realistic than the ones in Twister. They say the computer hacking in this movie is more realistic than it is in the movie Hackers. They say Sandra Bullock's upper lip is more realistic in Love Potion #9 than it is in Gravity.
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| 3 |  |
Optimus_mike | 50 27th |
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Hey, that's not how the internet works......
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| 2 |  |
TheDiceman | 55 49th |
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Great film.
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| 2 |  |
Ytadel | 6 70th |
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"A strange game. The only way to win is not to play." HOLY SHIT. METAPHOR. MY MIND IS BLOWN.
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| 2 | Mechatigger | 86 74th |
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Badham has made a film that succeeds as thrill-a-minute action, cautionary political satire, and intricate suspense.
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| 2 | demiurge | 92 91st |
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For a movie about technology, it holds up well even 25 years later.
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| 1 |  |
Magb | 65 30th |
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Better than I expected. It's a surprisingly lucid take on the age-old theme of "man vs. technology". Even though the technological details of the scenario ("backdoors" and stupid password guessing, AI, etc.) are nonsense, the underlying principle is valid. There are some cliches here that I could've done without, including the majority of the "wrong man" stuff. On the whole, though, this is decent.
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| 1 |  |
Filligan | 71 24th |
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This manages to actually draw up tension through horribly dated computer screens. As a fanatic of that era, this serves as an awesome record of 80s technology and Matthew Broderick's youthful looks.
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| 1 |  |
Dorkovsky | 4 41st |
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The idea is kind of a blend of 2001 and Fail-Safe but instead of attempting anything interesting with it they decided to make and market the film to dorky 80's 13 year olds. Notable for being a 80's movie about hacking that doesn't hilariously humiliate itself with it 30 years later.
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| 1 |  |
Alex Watkins | 3 38th |
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Cheesy and dated, but entertaining and not entirely obsolete.
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| 1 |  |
Nathan S | 3 45th |
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Full of dated 1980s style computer wizardry, and a hell of a lot of fun.
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| 1 |  |
Shmendrek | 3 61st |
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"The only way to win the game is to not play at all!" Fucking right scary nuke computer! Fucking right.
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| 1 |  |
miss jesus | 28 8th |
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Interesting premise ruined by inept filmmaking and senseless writing. The opening undercuts the dramatic force of the reveal half an hour later... When the kid is accused of being a Russian spy, he decides to prove his innocence by acting exactly like a Russian spy... Since the kid can hack of course he knows how to phreak which he does with a soda can pull tab.... And when he's trying to hide from NORAD he neglects to even disconnect his modem... Incredibly sloppy work for such a beloved film.
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| 1 |  |
Luna6ix | 76 57th |
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It's cool to remember computers from the 80's, and Ally Sheedy is/was pretty hot. bottom line is it's an entertaining movie, just not thaaaat entertaining.
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| 1 |  |
Vandelay1 | 72 80th |
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good movie
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| 1 | Ranald | 55 24th |
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Most of it is very enjoyable, but it falls apart completely in the final act, as characters change personality to suit the plot, bit parts suddenly become important characters and we get a rather silly resolution.
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| 1 |  |
chemical404 | 65 71st |
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Part cold-war thriller, part summer blockbuster for teenagers this movie is still entertaining even 30 years after it has been made. The plot doesn't go for some complicated concepts, but it does show the dangers of relying on technology as well as the futility of war. Depiction of technology and hacking is pivotal part of the plot, and seen today it looks so dated, but in a cute way. Notice these trivial and odd scenes all through the film.
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| 1 |  |
QVT | 60 64th |
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God, ally sheedy.
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| 1 | aaaaaaarrggg | 71 73rd |
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Likable bit of high-tech fluff. Excellent performances from Broderick and the lovely Sheedy and a well-calculated screenplay that gets the maximum mileage out of its far-fetched (but not entirely improbable) premise help make this a lot more fun than some more recent teen-oriented cyber-thrillers I could name.
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| 1 |  |
DavidBlast | 80 80th |
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This needs to find it's way into John Connor's hands, you know what I mean, folks?
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| 1 |  |
billkerwin | 85 66th |
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A fine little thriller with an important message for us all.
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| 1 | daybrinjer | 99 99th |
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Great movie, lots of great quotes such as, "How about a game of chess?" I still type this into espeak sometimes on my computer just because of how awesome this movie was.
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| 1 |  |
FronzKofko | 94 79th |
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wargames owns hard
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| 1 | ilumos | 85 55th |
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Love the aesthetic, and the realistic portrail of phreaking/cracking. The innocent romance is sweet too, and the despairing Brit makes me chuckle.
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| 1 |  |
SpikyCactus | 75 64th |
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Top badass moment? Dr. Falken's nihilistic rant about the end of humanity. It's about the only thing that doesn't feel dated in this movie, although it still has its moments. But wtf, what genius put a McDonald's Wopr Burger in charge of world peace? Privatisation gone mad, that's what it is. And that thing David does with the payphones, I used to be able to do something like that, for real. Also, it's bloody Noughts and Crosses, not Tic Tac Toe! No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.
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| 1 | sickbay | 71 22nd |
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This is a real gem of a movie and Matthew was amazing.
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| 1 |  |
disconnected | 66 45th |
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Here's a film that captures some of the reality of adolescence as well as featuring a misanthopic genius, a love interest I could see myself genuinely falling in love with, a paranoid atmosphere, and an omnipotent government which doubles as an unweildly bureaucracy: there are so many things I idiosyncratically love represented here that I had to get something out of it, though sadly it turns into a total disaster in the final act with a tossed-off finale that doesn't make a lick of sense.
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| 1 | JohnnyW2001 | 70 31st |
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Classic 80s entertainment. I have a soft-spot for this movie.
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| 1 |  |
medinavi | 71 49th |
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Pek cok iyi fikri olan ama pek cogunu anlatmayi beceremeyen bir film. Kimin neyi savundugu cogu zaman muallak, anlatmak istedigi moral hikaye karisik ama zamanina gore anlatim tarzinin durulugu ve teknik anlamdaki ustunlugu ve zamanina gore guzel fikirleriyle yine de iyi bi seyirlik. Filmin tonu da tam tutturulamamis gibi. Sonu da cok tahmin edilebilir ve istenen tansiyon verilememis.
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| 1 |  |
nobamba | 60 61st |
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A classic but haha what a silly movie at times. The concept was probably breaking when it came out and certainly less exciting now if you nitpick on the technology. Ally Sheedy was quite a sight. Fav scene: the sigh of relief and cheering when we found out the missiles didn't actually hit America.
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| Average Percentile 51.76% from 4125 Ratings |  |