War Games Movie Review

Teen computer hacker, thinking that he's sneaking an advance look at a new line of video games, breaks into the U.S. missile-defense system and challenges it to a bout of Global Thermonuclear Warfare. The game might just turn out to be the real thing if the boy can't stop it. Though heavily grounded in the Reagan Cold-War years, this remains one of the first and best of the cyberflicks; oft-imitated formula of high-tech whiz kids getting into trouble comes on like gangbusters, though the plot slackens near the end. John Badham signed on late in the project, taking the directorial reins from Martin Brest.

1983 (PG) 110m/C Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Ally Sheedy, Barry Corbin; D: John Badham; W: Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker; C: William A. Fraker. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘83: Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound. VHS, Beta, LV FOX