By Robert Scucci | Published
Matthew Broderick is probably best known for his portrayal of Ferris Bueller, and rightly so. During 1986 Ferris Bueller’s Rest day is a coming-of-age story about an underachieving high school-aged computer hacker who uses technology to have fun and have the best day of his life while evading the Dean of Students. Broderick portrays a similar character archetype from the 1983s war games (Streaming on Max), a techno-thriller that still holds up today.
Ferris before Ferris
war games, Now streaming on Max, Brodericks introduces David Lightman after first establishing his own technological background. In the film’s opening sequence, it is revealed that the missile squadron’s air traffic controllers work for the US Air Force are always wary of missile attacks in both simulated and real doomsday scenarios. Aware of his men’s hesitation, John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) decides to automate the entire process.
Control of NORAD is transferred to a supercomputer called War Operation Plan Response (WOPR), a cold-hearted machine that is not afraid to launch a missile attack at any time. After all, we are in the middle of a massive arms race between the US and Russia at the end of the Cold War, so this is serious business.
Hooky Woopsie and the threat of World War III
You may be wondering where the Ferris Bueller connection is, but it occurred to me shortly after streaming war games on Max, and I promise I won’t make anything up.
David Lightman, like Ferris in the 1986 film, loves playing around with computers and logs into his school’s database to change his grades as well as the grades of his romantic interest Jennifer Mack (Ally Sheedy). Innocently enough, David is inspired to step up his hacking game after learning about a video game company called Protovision because he wants to see if he can get access to unreleased games currently in development. Things get complicated when David accidentally hacks into WOPR and asks it to play what he believes is a game called “Global Thermonuclear War.”
Luckily, David activates WOPR and the agents working for NORAD get wind of the security breach and suspect David of domestic terrorism. If what is shown on the WOPR screen is correct, David may have caused the machine to start World War III, and NORAD is bringing him in for questioning. While war games “On Max” begins like a teen comedy and the stakes rise exponentially as David attempts to clear his name and save the world from nuclear annihilation.
Equal parts thrill and comedy
war games For the most part, it plays straight like a techno-thriller, but it doesn’t lack humor. Matthew Broderick walks the line between a lovable goofball who is way in over his head and a young technology expert who uses his skills to protect his country from impending nuclear war. As David MacGyvers makes his way through the military-industrial complex, he does so with a wry grin, as if to show the audience that he means business war games It may seem from Max’s description that it is still a highly entertaining work of speculative fiction at the time.
At this time you can vape war games on Max before digging out your VHS copy Ferris Bueller’s day off making it a double feature. Whatever you do, just don’t resort to piracy or you might uncover some launch codes that are better hidden from the public.