by Robert Succi
| has been published
Matthew Broderick is probably best known for playing Ferris Bueller, and rightfully so. While in 1986 Ferris Bueller day off A coming-of-age story about a high-school-age computer hacker who uses technology to play hooky and have the best time of his life while avoiding the dean of students, Broderick portrays a similar character archetype from 1983. Wargames (Streaming on Max), a techno-thriller that still holds up today.
Ferris before Ferris
war game, Now streaming on Max, Broderick introduces David Lightman after first establishing his own technical background. During the opening sequence of the film, it is made clear that the missile wing controllers are working for the United States Air Force Constantly hesitant to launch missile strikes in both simulated and real-life doomsday scenarios. Wary of his men's dilemma, John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) makes the best decision to automate the entire process.
Control over NORAD was transferred to a supercomputer known as the War Operations Plan Response (WOPR), a cold-hearted machine that would not hesitate to launch a missile strike at a moment's notice. After all, we're in the middle of a massive arms race between the US and Russia at the tail end of the Cold War, so this is serious business.
Hooky Upsy and the threat of World War III
You might be wondering where the Ferris Bueller connection is, but it occurred to me shortly after streaming Wargames on the highestAnd I promise I'm not making anything up.
David Lightman, like Ferris in the 1986 film, likes to mess with computers and logs into his school's database to change his grades, as well as the grades of his romantic interest, Jennifer Mack (Allie Sheedy). Innocently enough, David is inspired to up his hacking game after learning about a video game company called Protovision as he wants to see if he can get access to any unreleased games currently in development. Things get complicated when David inadvertently hacks into WOPR and asks to play what he thinks is a game called “Global Thermonuclear War”.
As luck would have it, David activates WOPR, and agents working for NORAD get wind of the breach, suspecting David of domestic terrorism. If what's going on on the WOPR screen is correct, David can induce the machine to start World War III, and NORAD brings him in for questioning. when Wargames In Max begins as a teen comedy-drama, stakes are quickly raised as David tries to clear his name and save the world from nuclear annihilation.
Equal parts thriller and comedy
Wargames Most play it straight as a techno-thriller, but it's not without a sense of humor. Matthew Broderick Toes the line between a lovable goofball who's in over his head and a young technologist who uses his skills to keep his country safe from an impending nuclear war. As David MacGyvers walks through the military-industrial complex, he does so with a smile to let the audience know that as serious as Wargames Based on Max's narrative as it may seem, it is still a highly entertaining work of speculative fiction at the time.
As of this writing, you can steam war game Max before digging out your VHS copy Ferris Bueller Day Off to create a double attribute from it. Whatever you do, just don't resort to piracy, or you might discover some launch codes that are better hidden from public view.