WarGames: The Dead Code (2008 Video) User Reviews

Quite possibly the most transparent movie I've ever seen.

[ifearitall · 3/10 · 29 June 2008]

I can't say that Wargames: The Dead Code is the worst movie I've ever seen, as it had one or two decent moments, but I can easily say it's the most transparent movie I've ever seen. Not once did a plot device present itself without me guessing it 10+ minutes in advance. There was no subtlety to anything the movie did, no intelligence evident at all behind the scenes. Every spoken or typed line's intent was so glaringly obvious it was impossible to "get into" the movie.

I found myself laughing at the horribly thought out plot line, and the bumbled attempts to reclaim the audience, far more often than I found myself enjoying the movie.

Definitely a B movie, but I've seen worse

[peter-2002 · 4/10 · 1 July 2008]

I think this could've been a decent movie, and some of its parts are OK... but in whole it's a B movie. Same about the plot, parts are OK but it has several holes and oddities that doesn't quite add up. Acting is mostly OK, I've seen worse of this too. :)

The beginning sets the level, with cars driving in the desert, making "cool" but totally unnecessary jumps through some small dunes (In slow motion! Cool!), like the drivers had never seen sand before... It gets slightly better from there, but not much.

If you're gonna rent this, get another one too and use this one as a warm-up. Keep expectations low and it might work for you.

Very lacking on plot

[adric22-1 · 4/10 · 23 July 2008]

This movie is mostly chase scenes and special effects. It is very weak on plot. Most of the computer talk was just mumbo-jumbo. I watched this because I was a big fan of the original War Games movie which was based mostly on computer fact and real computer terminology. This movie had none of that. Most of the computer scenes were not only impossible and highly unrealistic of real computers and networks, but just lame. It is like it was written by somebody who has no comprehension of real computers.

The ripley game was lame and was essentially just an arcade game. No real hacking, so what was the point? Movie was boring. Lame sequel.

Why? Oh why? Oh why!!

[ribs-6 · 1/10 · 29 June 2008]

It happened with Assault on Prescient 13 in 2005, it happened with The Lost Boys in 2008 and now it's happened with another classic from the 80's Wargames... :( Why, oh why, oh why won't Hollywood ever learn? Leave them alone...! They can't be remade...! They suck....! We all hate them....!.

Those of you who haven't seen the original 1983 version with Matthew Broderick & Ally Sheedy, go rent/buy it now....!! The hardware may look dated, the special effects are not new millennium but it still beats this rubbish hands down....

For those of us who lived through the 80's when hacking was sexy, the Internet was something mysterious and your disks came as a 8" floppy variety, well we now possess the wisdom to avoid this film like a Thermonuclear War!

Never before has "a nice game of chess" seemed the better option....

Monday TV movie

[cheezypop · 2/10 · 12 July 2008]

Like many others have commented before me here, I have to say that this movie is bad, but not the worst I've seen. There will be no direct references to movie plots or sequences in this comment, because I hate spoilers.

I got a feeling I was watching an episode of a TV show or something, where they had gotten a hold of some extra $$$ to spend on CGI (I've seen worse of those)... All in all, it is quite an insult to the viewer, at least if you have ANY knowledge about computers and/or technology at all. There are just too many of these moments of insults to make me feel comfortable, and I found myself just begging for it all to end - fast - halfway through. In addition, there are countless "easy way out" scenarios, which also is an insult to your intelligence as a thinking human being...

This movie absolutely fades in comparison to the old "Wargames", and I think it's a damn shame they even got to call it a sequel.

Two stars from me, because of one thing and one thing only: the actors' performances aren't half-bad, considering the regurgitated crap of a script they had to work with. Still, they should never have signed on to this movie. Not really a career-move, but I guess we all have bills to pay.

To those of you who gave this movie top score...you have to be on the studio's payroll or something, that's my only explanation.

To all who haven't seen this one: by all means, watch it and make up your own mind. But lower your expectations to the floor (and then some).

Horrible!!!

[sagryphon · 1/10 · 22 August 2008]

Thank God I watched this at a friend's place and did not pay for it. The plot is horribly transparent and the whole movie felt like an episode of a TV show. If you have any knowledge of computers or electronics, watch out. You will feel feel like the movie is an insult to your intelligence.

Also, actress turned Much Music VJ Amanda Walsh displays the worst acting I have ever seen, excluding porn. She's lucky that Matt Lanter is actually decent. He's the one that carries the movie.

I hate that I wasted nearly two hours of my life watching this movie! It's a shame that they got to call it a sequel, because I was a fan of the original, which was actually pretty good.

My insides hurt.

[tim-2342 · 1/10 · 4 July 2008]

Some people seem to think this was the worst movie they have ever seen, and I understand where they're coming from, but I really have seen worse.

That being said, the movies that I can recall (ie the ones I haven't blocked out) that were worse than this, were so bad that they physically pained every sense that was involved with watching the movie. The movies that are worse than War Games 2 are the ones that make you want to gouge out your eyes, or stab sharp objects in your ears to keep yourself from having another piece of your soul ripped away from you by the awfulness.

War Games: The Dead Code isn't that bad, but it comes pretty close. Yes I was a fan of the original, but no I wasn't expecting miracles from this one. Let's face it the original wasn't really that great of a movie in the first place, it was basically just a campy 80s teen romance flick with some geek-appeal to it.

That's all I was hoping for, something bad, but that might have tugged at my geek-strings. Was that too much to ask for? Is it really not possible to do better than the original War Games, even for a straight to video release? Well apparently that was too much to ask for. Stay away from this movie. At first it's just bad, like "Oh yeah, this is bad, but I'm kind of enjoying it, maybe the end will be good like in the original." And then it just gets worse and worse, and by the end, trust me, you will wish you had not seen this movie.

why do they give money to these people?

[olfster · 1/10 · 13 December 2008]

I'll try to use words to describe this on....

I saw the original, which was good in its own way, but back then I should have feared a sequel.

And I was 'afraid' when I picked this one up, but now that I've seen it, I have to say, it's even worse then I thought. Why these movies still get money still makes my mind spin.

Let's start with the actors;they aren't all that good, but it has to be said, some make heads turn by being just plain awful. But what can an actor do with a script like this one. It's trying to be a copy of the original only this time the places have changed, any form of story is gone and any attempt of actually coming up with something that hasn't been done before, fails miserably. In a futile attempt to get it up-to-date, they try to make it exciting by making use of the whole 'big-brother' theme , but that has been worn out ages ago and offers nothing but a filler for between the beginning and the end. An attempt was made to try to save the movie by making a ton of references to the '83 original, but it just ended up being plain funny and sometimes a bit sad. In conclusion, if you have nothing , and I mean nothing , to do... go watch it, or play Frisbee... with the DVD.... by yourself. It'll offer you the same amount of fun.. I promise

Not as bad as made out to be

[nicole_ward · 6/10 · 4 February 2012]

After my friend lending me this film to watch, I have to admit that the main reason I happily put it on was because of Matt Lanter. I love this guy.

Anyway, aside from Matt Lanter playing the lead role in this film, I personally thought it was quite a good film. I did thoroughly enjoy it from beginning to end.

OK, maybe if you are all into computers then it might annoy you - I don't think the makers looked into all the technical sides for this film. However, if you are just watching this film for the sole purpose of entertainment then you may enjoy it.

I haven't seen the original so don't have anything to compare this one too. I just don't think that this film deserves all the bad reviews, as it isn't a horrible film. The acting from Matt Lanter is brilliant (not because I have any bias toward him). I genuinely believe he played an excellent role, and without him this film could have been quite bad. Also, the small on screen time that Gary Reineke had (Dr. Falken), I loved. He also did some very excellent acting.

Overall, this film may not be as technical as people may want, or as 'good as the original' but it is a decent film and much better than the other reviews give it credit.

Not a remake or worthy of the Wargames title

[raypdaley182 · 3/10 · 29 June 2008]

This is loosely based on the ideas of the original 80's hit . It's set in the modern day as we see a base in Afghanistan get destroyed by a UAV right at the start.

And that's exactly where the movie jumps the shark. UAV's aren't armed. They could be but I don't think it's ever been tried for real. We get to see the computer that has masterminded this operation, called R.I.P.L.E.Y. We are introduced to "hacker" Will Farmer (he's good at chemistry & electronics which doesn't make him a computer hacker) & his love interest, Annie) & Will's 1st attempt at hacking is not only a complete failure his IP address is also logged and Annie guessed who it was. We also meet Wills mom who works for a chemical company.

Wills taking money from his neighbours bank account (Mr Massude) isn't a hack (he helped him set up the account), we then get a nod back to the original movie where they decide against playing Global Thermonuclear War & they play The Dead Code. The trace the RIPLEY office are running is NOT on Will but on Massude's pc so all the evidence they were gathering was useless against Will.

Exactly why RIPLEY shut Will's machine down isn't explained (he's only playing an online game?) & also why it felt the need to have to shut down all the electricity in the entire block he lived in as well. Why a counter terrorism agency would see this as a viable target is extremely questionable. As for RIPLEY activating his mobile phone? I think not, it wasn't connected to the pc and the message wouldn't play unless he actually answered the phone so there's more bad "hacking" science there too.

RIPLEY agents arrive at Massude's home, take him away & Will is given a envelope which turns out to contain a lot of money. Will searching for the licence plate of the car that took Massude isn't a "hack" as you never see him break into the DMV computer. The RIPLEY agents who grab Dennis in the airport as he's looking for Will have no authority to arrest or detain him. Will's mother hadn't "been stealing chemicals & Bio agents" either. And even if she did they had no right to arrest or detain Dennis. Patriot Act or not.

I don't know why Will was worried about being arrested for any crime in Canada as its a totally different country with different laws to the US.

The computer has gone rogue and all the action its taken against Will, his mother & Dennis wasn't sanctioned by a Government agency. The phone phreak we see Will do is the 1st show of any hacking skill in the movie, we also get a hack into RIPLEY which seemed too easy for such a powerful system.

The "guy" who ran into Annie at the airport & was also watching them in the street was nothing to do with RIPLEY & the laughable notion that RIPLEY could track a cellphone whilst underground was as stupid as the idea that a computer reads lips.

Another reference to the original movie when they mention Stephen Falken as the designer of the system RIPLEY replaced, the Joshua Project. We discover that the "guy" who ran into Annie is Falken (not played by the original actor sadly) who faked his own death.

We also get to see WOPR as "what's going to help" them beat RIPLEY and they kept the same voice used back then. Falken & WOPR are destroyed too quickly after being hardly used at all (the same explosion should kill Will, Annie & the Russian. It's also unlikely they'd create a self-contained computer system that has the ability to nuke or drop chemical weapons on the country it operates out of.

The whole "Decontamination" plot & idea are totally unbelievable. Those kinds of orders would have to go through the President or Joint Chiefs Of Staff. So yet another laughable & unbelievable idea.

The IP hacks against RIPLEY aren't done by Will, he just contacts one of his friends who suggests & implements the idea. It's excessively laughable that Will would get a login just from increasing RIPLEY's operating temperature. Having Joshua as a backdoor into RIPLEY (especially after it had been blown to bits) is an incredible cop-out and screams of a very desperate writer who had no ideas left and wanted to get this movie over and done with.

There is an awful goof where RIPLEY is playing Dead Code and we see a countdown (saying 17 minutes) then RIPLEY says "Decontamination in 30 minutes", how crap is that when they can't even keep up with their own timer? RIPLEY's attack mission against Philadelphia is halted (far too easily in my opinion) and it decides to attack Joshua in its internal circuits and reroutes the missile aimed a Philly to Washington where RIPLEY is stationed. The idea of the Nuclear exchange to make RIPLEY realise what she's doing won't work (surely she'd already know if she had Joshua insider her as he'd already learnt this lesson in the original movie?) is yet another nod back to the original movie.

Their cop-out at having RIPLEY repeat Joshua's exact same words form the end of the original movie just goes to show how many original ideas they were unable to come up with.

If you want to point fingers for bad & stolen ideas the men to blame are Randall Badat & Rob Kerchner. This is an awful movie and is best avoided.

Total waste of film

[puffertw · 9 March 2022]

If you can believe 40 year old high school students that drive brand new cars who are allowed to take week long absences at the drop of a hat, drink coffee, hack supercomputers; AI's that have long reached the singularity who vocalize everything they are doing through invisible speakers and read lips better than a HAL 9000, AI's who can change satellite orbits with no one noticing; government agents who set up a game system to trap terrorists cause we all know terrorists are the best gamers in the world, agents that believe minors in high school are bioterrorists, agents that are able to run operations in every country in the world, agents who control reaper drones and blow up targets in any middle eastern country they want with impunity, agents who think bleach kept in a kitchen is a biochemical weapon, etc then this movie is for you. Oh, I almost forgot, hackers who dont know the first thing about hacking and how a computer works. This movie is a complete mess. I couldnt make it past the first forty minutes. It is easily the worst movie I have ever watched, and I truly regret the wasted 40 minutes of my lifespan that I can never get back.

Pretty Cool Movie

[UnisausS1 · 9/10 · 18 March 2020]

Everyone says it's a bad movie, or the worst movie they've ever seen ! Some considered it a B movie ! It's not the worst movie, I've seen worse ! To consider this movie a B movie, it's still way up there in ranks ! The first movie was GREAT ! The 2nd movie, this movie, was AWSOME ! Two different time slots, back then & now ! Keeping it up with the times compared to the past ! New technology compared to what they didn't have, & the Actors are great !

Why am I only reading bad things about this movie?

[davidlones365 · 7/10 · 13 August 2008]

OK. First of all, why can't I find a single "good" comment on this movie? Almost everything I read here states "DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!" or "WORST MOVIE I'VE EVER SEEN!". Personally, I liked it. Anyone else who liked the first WarGames and first watched that within 5 years would probably like this one too. Yes, it may be a "B" rate movie, but most people could guess that if they realized it was "Straight -to-DVD". Also, for those who keep complaining about the plot... The only problem I had with it was it was too much like the original. Hey, raypdaley182. Will may have used Massude's computer but he used his own home internet connection which can be traced to his house. Ripley (a "broaken" military computer which has access to every satellite owned by the US government) "detected" a cell phone and "knew" Will was near it. "She" may have simply sent a text message to that phone. You don't have to "answer the phone" for the message to appear, it just pops up on the screen like it did in this movie. (it does this on mine) Also, today many cell phones have some kind of GPS capability built in. So, there's nothing stupid about that idea. And, have you ever heard of "Facial Expresion Recognition"? Assuming that Ripley is in fact a learning computer, you might think "she" would have "learned" a more advanced way of doing this, giving her the ability to "lip-read". (but remember, it's just a movie)

awful

[tmp-33 · 1/10 · 29 June 2008]

I really didn't have high expectations and I must admit that I wasn't disappointed. This movie is so terrible that I felt obligated to register an account here at IMDb just to warn others not to waste their time. The storyline is terrible and you keep asking yourself throughout the movie "can it get any worse?" YES, it can! somehow they manage to make it worst by every minute and you end up thinking "I want my 1 hour 35 minutes back!". Somebody got to pay for this!

I dare you to find a movie which is worst that this...

I really didn't have high expectations and I must admit that I wasn't disappointed. This movie is so terrible that I felt obligated to register an account here at IMDb just to warn others not to waste their time. The storyline is terrible and you keep asking yourself throughout the movie "can it get any worse?" YES, it can! somehow they manage to make it worst by every minute and you end up thinking "I want my 1 hour 35 minutes back!". Somebody got to pay for this!

I dare you to find a movie which is worst that this...

This is utter crap - If it ain't broke don't fix it

[luiwallentin · 1/10 · 5 July 2008]

I thought this was a sequel of some sorts, and it is meant to be to the original from 1983. But a sequel is not taking the original plot and destroying it.

I actually had very little expectations to this movie, but I just wasted 95 minutes of life. No suspense - I actually feel clairvoyant, poor acting, and so filled with technical errors, so I as a computer geek just couldn't believe it. They have tried to make it a mix between a generic war movie and 24 hours. But this is not even worthy of a low budget TV movie.

Do not see this movie, this is a complete waste of time. Instead get the original. The theme is still valid. Don't let to much power into a machine. And the acting and plot is far more exiting and compelling.

Someone Liked it.??? No way

[flyingyoyo · 1/10 · 7 September 2008]

This is one of the worse movies that I have ever seen in my entire life. I wish I could travel back in time and do the following:

1) Find out where the "movie" "War Games- The Dead Code" was filmed 2) Watch the original WAR GAMES with my current computer knowledge AND the eyes of a 1983 preteen. 3) Break into the pentagon computer in the 80's with the knowledge and perspective learned and remembered. 4) Reprogram the WHOPPER to NUKE the location of THE DEAD CODE minutes prior to its first day of filming 5) Come back to the present, have a beer and get Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to "flash" my memory blank of the whole event, especially my original viewing of "The Dead Code" 6) Have another beer and watch WARS GAMES 7) Be happy until the next bad remake of a GOOD 80's movie.

8) Did I forget the have Jar Jar killed. I am not sure if I would have to travel into the future for that. Maybe I need access to a wormhole.

Wargames, how did this happen?

[dpacker-1 · 4/10 · 27 April 2009]

You have to understand, when Wargames was released in 1983, it created a generation of wannabe computer hackers. The idea that a teenager could do anything of far reaching proportions, let alone deter a world war was novel and thrilling. Real computers were beginning to show up in people's homes, and for the first time, society was becoming interconnected in a way that made the movie's premise excitingly prescient. Granted, a talking computer that balanced it's free time between chess and global thermonuclear war was a bit far fetched, but the brilliant commentary on nuclear proliferation and the cold war made up for it. I've probably even heard of the hackers that this movie was actually based on.

Fast forward 25 years, and we have a horrible mutant of a thing that I loathe to call a "sequel", called Wargames: The Dead Code. I'll just dig right in. First of all, the plot hinges on a government operated gambling site where folks who win the games automatically become terror suspects. You're probably very confused right now. The idea is that eventually the terrorist will click on the sub-game within the web site called "The Dead Code" where they pilot a plane over a city, spraying it with bioweapons. At some point in the game, you have to choose between "sarin gas" and "anthrax", and if you choose "sarin", then you're automatically confirmed as a bioterrorism weapons expert and your family is taken into custody and interrogated. In the movie, this actually happens. However, since the payment for the game was made from a bank account that was suspicious, it obviously all makes sense.

Second, the avatar of the AI in this straight-to-DVD bomb is an annoying flash animation that keeps repeating the pop-up-ad-esquire sound bite "play with me baby". Because apparently in the future, advanced AI loses interest in intellectual pursuits like chess, and gets into porn.

Third, the motivation for these "hackers" is profit and women, as opposed to pure curiosity as in the original movie. For some reason, recent hacker movies feel the need to portray all young adults as average surfer dude kind of people who are just like everyone else. That may work for your average sitcom, but c'mon, you don't learn how to take over government computers by doing your hair, playing sports, and shopping at the mall, folks. The one novel thing I noticed was that at some point in the dialogue there is a reference to a Matt Damon movie, and then later there is the phrase, "Good Hunting, Will". I swear, they named the main character Will just for that phrase so they could send a high five to Mr. Damon. This Will kid isn't bad, but he was certainly wasn't like any obsessive hacker I've ever met. I can't fully state how annoyed I am that this movie shares the same name as the original, because it has absolutely nothing in common with it except… Professor Falken and Joshua (WOPR) make a reappearance in this movie, as a limp old man who apparently is dying of boredom, and a dilapidated old tic-tac-toe machine with a higher pitched voice. After some prodding, Joshua (the AI) has what appears to be sex with the new AI with the porn voice, a bunch of board games flash on the big screens, and the whole "The only way to win, is not to play" revelation is supposed to be the crowning moment. Except that those of us who saw the original, you know, those who would want to see this in the first place have already been there and done that. A recycled ending for a movie made from last month's compost.

The new movie was directed by a guy who's done 90210, and written by guys who do B movies. The original was directed by a guy who's been keeping himself busy with "Heroes", so you see the quality difference there. There was talk of a real remake, but I hope they don't destroy this classic all over again. I swear, if I have to, I'll visit every gambling web site until I find the one that's run by a psychotic government computer. The saving grace is that I was able to stream this on Netflix, so at least the only energy I expended watching this disaster was for breathing, clicking, and indigestion.

A present best left unwrapped and thrown in the attic and forgotten about.

[DjfunkmasterG · 5/10 · 25 August 2013]

WAR GAMES: The Dead Code -

I know this flick is a few years old, but with my recent injury I am now catching up on a lot of bad films and great films, so here goes my thoughts on War Games: The Dead Code.

Most of us, if a fan of cinema, has watched the original John Badham film that starred Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. Hell I am of the firm belief the original film definitely opened the flood gates for more people to get PCs in their home and gave birth to more folks wanting to get into the IT field as a full time career.

The original film, which still is a fun watch to this day (30 years later), was a fun ride with light touches of comedy and a display of arrogance by our own military at just how ignorant they can be with their planning as well as execution of decisions when faced with the threat of being replaced by automation and AI.

For the sake of this review I will call the second film WG2.

WG2, tried to capture the spirit of the original, but felt rushed. Had the film had a better cast, director and script, they could have done a much better job than the film we were given courtesy of MGM. While watching WG2, the director in me kept saying... slow it down, the frantic directing was annoying at times, especially during points they could have really upped the intensity of the situation, like when they agents seized the first kid... Ben, I think his name was in this film. Anyhow, since the film was trying to convey the totalitarian government we all know exists but refuse to acknowledge, it was doing it at such a break neck pace it became disjointed to me. Instead of getting deep into his interrogation instead they don't even scratch the surface and you end up feeling cheated.

The performances were uneven and frantic, something you'd expect from those of us making uber low budget films.

One moment that made me smile was seeing the old WOPR computer and hearing the infamous voice of Joshua. The other moment was the WAR GAME plays with RIPLEY, the AI system put in place that was an upgrade to Joshua. while I was feeling good about the movie during those brief moments, the package as a whole left me feeling cheated.

There was a chance for a great re-make/update to the original film that was left twisting in the wind like many of the street cameras that were used to track the whereabouts of our would be hero Wil Farmer, a teenage computer whiz who played online game run by the governments super computer, RIPLEY, that is used to designate who our potential terrorists. When he beats the game, the movie goes into over-drive trying to feel like a Bourne movie, while at the same time boring the viewer from one moment to the next.

The use of the original Joshua CPU system was a nice add-on but when looking at the entire package it is best left unwrapped, and shoved in the attic and forgotten about.

5 out of 10

Not a patch on the original.

[jeff-368 · 1/10 · 6 July 2008]

I wondered why John Wood was not playing Dr. Falken until I watched the film. BAD plot, bad science, bad acting and overall a bad film. Please don't watch this film. Rent the original "War Games" if you are feeling nostalgic.

I didn't like the bending of the plot to beat-the-terrorist-threat idea either. In the first film W.O.P.R was built because Russia had 1000s of warheads pointed at the U.S.A. In this film the idea behind the computer was to kill terrorist in training before they are a threat. Politics aside, one of the good thing about the first film was the highlighting that even a stupid computer could grasp the idea of the pointlessness of war in the end. No such insight is offered in this film.

Not bad

[kenneytj · 7/10 · 29 July 2008]

Gotta say, I didn't mind this one that much, sure it had its cheesy parts, and of course the appearance of the blonde from Much Music was an added bonus I suppose.

For the few people that totally missed the movie, it is NOT a remake of the 1983 version of WarGames staring Matther Broderick, this is however a SEQUEL to WarGames, Read the back of the case. Now to carry on.

The entire plot is I have to agree rather foresight-able, I saw turns coming with the movie. Even the sudden appearance of Joshua, from, well the first movie (refer to comment above for people thinking it is a remake) was I thought a wicked add in, I am however disappointed that the scenes with the chess game early on in the movie was not applied to the end, I was wrong about that one :D Over all I feel it wasn't a horrible movie, there is by far worse out there, and I know there will be worse to come, this is after all the Hollywood way.

This movie is an insult to the first one!!!

[ChicagoWax · 1/10 · 26 July 2008]

I can't believe I watched this expecting more. It starts out OK. This movie pushes the limits of reality way to far!! At least the first one was somewhat realistic. It rips off the first movie and even mentions the Joshua Project. Anyone who knows anything about computers will hate this movie. It does have one good message in it though, WATCH OUT FOR BIG BROTHER!!! The movie just makes it seem like Big Brother is way bigger than he actually is in reality. That was very aggravating. Even the make-up on the actors was completely bad. Some of the acting is pretty good. Some of the acting is really bad though. The script was OK at some points and completely messed up at other parts. This movie plays on convenience about every five minutes. Like I said, I can't believe I watched it expecting more. I think I am gonna pop in the original to get back to earth...Q

Un**believable!

[axeman_69 · 2 September 2008]

Take the classic "Wargames", add 25 years of technological advances and remove all character development, plot, emotional appeal and believability, and you have "Wargames - The Dead Zone".

I'm not quite sure why this movie was made. They apparently couldn't decide whether to make a remake or a sequel. With minor adjustments, this movie has the exact same plot as the original (hence 'remake') yet, it somehow tries to pawn itself off as a sequel with historical references and characters from the original. Strange, very strange.

The original was much better and I can't in good conscience recommend this movie to anyone unless you want to see how a UAV can travel 10,000 miles in 30 minutes or blow up a group of terrorist with an inert missile--quite impressive!

Do not read comments but see this film. It's brilliant !!!!

[jan-lissens · 10/10 · 1 July 2008]

With all the negative comments, I almost did not see this film. I will not go into the sordid details on how I got to see this before the DVD release, but I went and pre-ordered it before doing this review and already reserved a special place for it, right next to the first one.

Without spoiling anything, let me say that I think this movie was absolutely brilliant. So, it's got a UAV that can fire bombs. So, the plot may not be worthy of a Shakespeare play. In my opinion, this type of movie is all about entertaining the audience. As as far as this audience is concerned, it succeeded with a bullet (or with a thermonuclear missile).

I always adored the original Wargames, and this was a true sequel. I was a teenager went it came out and a computer geek - two abilities I lost over the years - and that movie was absolute fun. This one rehashes the basic premise of the first movie, but in a new and modern way and added some 'Enemy of the State' like surveillance and pursuit. Some people may find it lacking in realism, but it was believable enough. It posed the same question: What are the risks of letting computers decide things on their own, but without the pervading sense of doom that this thought had during the eighties.

The action was fast paced, visual effects were good, the characters were as good as they needed to be.

And especially: the closing line of the movie in the epilogue scene gave the film the most satisfying end I have seen in years. I cannot wait until the DVD comes out and I can watch it again (and again) The only thing that felt somewhat ludicrous was the premise of identifying potential or actual terrorists by the way they play an online game, but if you just go with it it makes a little bit of sense...sort of. It sure didn't prevent me from enjoying it.

Basically, I haven't enjoyed a sequel movie as much as this in ages. And if you haven't seen the original, you'll still like this, if you want a movie that is entertaining, exciting and plain simply fun. If you only enjoy deep characters and complicated plots, chances are you may not.

WARNING: CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS We get to see some familiar characters, there is some incredibly lines (like the computer wishing Will a good game with "Good hunting, Will!") WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD The Joshua sequences were great. The taglines of the original movie "Greetings, Professor Falken" and "An interesting game...the only winning move is not to play" were there. Both of them rank way up there with "Good Morning, Dave" and "Hasta La Vista, Baby".

I wonder if they used the original WOPR prop? Note the interesting differences in styling between Eighties supercomputers and 21st century supercomputers.

The confrontation between R.i.p.l.e.y (Alien, anyone) and Joshua was great, and I was glad to see Tic Tac Toe was still in there.

Anyway, don't read this review. Just have a look at the film yourselves and enjoy it. Me, I just may go back to using "Greetings, Professor Falken" as my PC's startup sequence again. Or perhaps "That was humor...ha...ha...ha...ha..."

Bondiana for Teens

[Vivkon · 6/10 · 2 October 2018]

Continuing the plot of the "WarGames" (1983) with a new cast and threats "WarGames: The Dead Code" (2008) emerges as a new Bondiana for teenagers. A male character addicted to games and involved in semi-legal activities through the Internet becomes a target of Special Services and supercomputer "R.I.P.L.E.Y." As in all movies with James Bond patina, the gamer has a girlfriend. The Dead Code (2008) presents the girlfriend as smarter than her first prototype in the film of 1983 and more skilful at STEM. The threat, in the movie of 2008, is related to real life events - Middle East terrorism and biological weapons. At first, the online game looks harmless, but brings on real consequences, using deadly chemical agents. Special Services cannot prevent this. Only the gamer and his girlfriend can figure out how to prevent mass death in Philadelphia. The previous computer "Joshua" now teaches "Ripley" to be more humane, turning it from a killing machine to a submissive "tech pet" for Special Services. The creators of the movie assign some human-like features to the computer, i.e. revenge and even a sense of humor.

The Original is better

[bob-rutzel-1 · 4/10 · 6 August 2008]

Will Farmer (Lanter) plays a computer game that simulates a terrorist attack, and Ripley, the super government computer, designed to profile potential terrorists, tracks him because Will borrowed (by hacking) some money from his next door neighbor's bank account to pay for a class trip to play chess in Philadelphia. The next door neighbor whose computer Will was fixing, has relatives in the mid-east who thru their bank send money to the neighbor's bank , and Ripley sees a terrorist connection. Ripley has the power to call up missile strikes. Oh, oh!

This version of War Games has a much faster pace and more aggressiveness than the War Games movie in the early 1980s. Well, the electronic industry has so much more to work with these days. Makes sense. So the movie dazzles us with fantastic CGI on computer screens, and once Joshua, the forerunner to Ripley, is found operational, we are left with watching computer against computer and the humans are cringing, hoping, praying….sort of, oh-oh-ing, OMG-ing, and more cringing hoping things will go their way. In other words we are now experiencing a made-for-TV type movie, and it's Oh Hum Time. Go back to the 1980s and watch the original War Games movie. It's much better.

But, we really have to ask ourselves: are we making computers too intelligent where one day, in time, they will rule us? Hmmm………..

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.