Home > Categories > Movies > Sci-Fi > Wargames - The Dead Code review
Welcome to the deadliest game you'll ever play. Colm Feore and Matt Lanter wage war against state-of-the-art defence technology in this riviting sequel to the thrilling Wargames. Charged with explosive action and non-stop thrills, this movie is as pulse-pounding and fun a ride as the original, while delivering a few contemporary twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
When Will Farmer hacks into a resticted network of online gaming known only as R.I.P.L.E.Y, he stumbles onto a national defence system designed to ferret out fledgling terrorist cells... and becomes Ripley's next target. His identity compromised, his family and friends jeapardised and his hometown in the crosshairs of an automated military response, Will's only hope to clear his name lies in beating Ripley at her own game.
But when the game escalates to the next level, it becomes a race against time to stop Ripley from unleashing war.
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Due to the extremely cute and amusing nature of the oh-so-eighties film 'Wargames', I was willing to give this 'sequel' a chance. Unfortunately, it wasn't really a sequel as much as a higher speed remake without any of the cuteness.
The main guy was passable, but lacked the almost 'MacGyver' charm of Matthew Broderick's character in the original. The sort-of love interest had some potential but really ended up as an annoying hanger-on. *Sigh*
While I can't fault this movie on its technical aspects, I just couldn't really get into it on an emotional level. There was no one I could be bothered caring about. (Who really cares if a super computer blows up Washington DC? They were the ones who made the silly thing in the first place...)
Still, if you are looking for a fast paced action which requires very little thought and has a happy ending... this one definitely delivers.
To be honest I actually prefered the original. Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy did a great job of their roles, and though the plot is all too believable the acting here wasnt.
We live in a world where terrorism and cybercrime run rampant. With nearly everything having a chip in it and connecting to a multitude of other devices there are just so many ways we could be gotten at by the morally-ambiguous element of the world. This shows us just one way in which the defence could be worse than the offence.
With a distinct 'Frankensteins Monster' feel to the way in which the plot (of both movies, actually) unfolds we see how sometimes the way in which to genuinely protect ourselves from the greater evil is not to build machines to do our thinking for us. Sure domestic terrorists will play online wargames as part of training and so building a gamezone that plays on the skills they want to learn as a honeytrap is one way to bring therm out where you can nab them but so is sending in undercover arms dealers and money-operatives. Where is the sense in that?
The movie was pretty good but nothing spectacular. Fans of the original movie will probably enjoy seeing how Dr Falken's original machine-mind "Joshua" saves the day this time, but people new to the genre might want to explore other movies along similar themes.
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