I just saw “Wargames” for the first time in ages. Like before, I found the plot a little confusing or contradictory. So, I ask:
(Assuming anyone can still recall anything about this “old” movie!)
a) Wouldn’t the plot have been more clear if the computer (WOPR) played the side of the Russians, and not the Americans? I mean, the MC (David) stopped playing, and the computer, at first, seemed to be waiting for him which is why it kept calling back. And yet, I WAG we’re left to believe the computer decided to move on with its half of the scenario - guessing at what David’s moves might be?
b) Is it left to the audience to believe, as a leap of faith, that teaching the computer about stale-mates in tic-tac-toe would induce the computer to play out every scenario in “Global Thermonuclear War” just to see if stale-mates are a possibility here, too? I feel the plot is missing some logical connection here…
c) Why did Joshua’s father, that eccentric Ph D ., change his mind and decide to help David and his “little friend”, Jennifer, afterall?
Sorry, I’m about 20 years too late to be asking…but all opinions greatly appreciated!
a) The computer called back because it was starved for attention from someone it believed was its creator. It continued with the scenario because the game was realtime, not turn-based and the progression was independent of whether or not the human player decided to make additional moves.
b) No, it is a leap in understanding on the computer’s part that bridges the gap from tic-tac-toe to global thermonuclear war. It can be assumed the computer has run these games many times, but has never made the connection between the pointlessness of tic-tac-toe and nuclear war. A nudge from the heroes gives it the perspective it needs.
c) People change their minds, lose resolve, or whatever, all the time. Basically, Faulken thought he could be stoic about the whole thing, but then reflected on David’s accusation that he wouldn’t stand by and let war happen if Joshua was still alive. The real question is: Where did he get the helicopter?
A) David chose to play the Russians, because…well, come on, who doesn’t like playing the bad guys in a computer game? Also, I believe he set the game up to “auto-play” after the first few moves.
B) I always felt the whole threat of actual thermonuclear war was a red herring, because:
it turned out to be just a game, after all.
C) Because they would have been fucked, otherwise? Hmm, probably when David said, “When was the last time you cared about anything?” it set the gears spinning in Dr. Falken’s mind.
Frankly, I wanna know why a top-secret facility like NORAD was hosting TOUR GROUPS during a major international crisis…
Scupper, the helicopter was the NORAD folks tracking down the kids. They knew that David had escaped and had found out that Falken was alive (and where). The girl bought tickets from CO to near Falken’s island & that probably cinched it for the Feds. Falken, like the kids, might have been an involuntary passenger back to CO. Once at NORAD, he became intrigued by what “Johsua” was doing etc.
Now for some real nitpicks:
There is a scene early on where David is walking east past the UofWash Forestry building to get to the Computer Center, which was actually west of that building at the time. He also woudn’t have walked by the KCTS building to the Forestry building to get to the Computer Center. (Eddie Deezen is a scream in the following scene. And I actually knew people just like those guys at UDub.)
The ferry the kids take to get to Falken’s island is the Canby Ferry on the Williamette River in Oregon. It just crosses the river and doesn’t go to an island. (You can drive from either side to where ever you like anyway, day or night.)
And of course there’s a million computer related stupidities that I won’t start on.
When David was researching Faulken’s project, he discovered that Joshua was an innovative new “learning” program. It’s the old “design a computer that can learn indepedently, which then goes out of control and runs amok” plot. Later, Faulken explains that when he was developing the program, he had tried to teach Joshua about the futility of nuclear war, but had been unsuccessful. Since Joshua was designed to learn by itself, when David showed it the futility of tic tac toe, it continued on to apply that lesson to Thermonuclear War. If you accept the premise that Faulken could design a computer that thinks independently in the first place, then it makes sense. If you can’t accept that premise, then you probably really hated “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Of course, Wargames was obviously dumbed-down quite a bit and had the feel of a “family” movie, but I liked it anyway. Some of the coventions they used for continuity were a little annoying, like the computer’s sythesized voice. I guess they thought that would play better than having to read the words on the screen, but it just kind of bugged me.
I think what they were going for was to show the hubris of the military establishment: At the beginning of the movie, they show them taking out the human links in the missile launch mechanism, giving complete control to the computer, against better judgment. And then it took the fresh perspective afforded by the innocence of youth to make them see the folly of their ways. And Ally Sheedy is so hot.
I thought it was pretty clear that the computer was committed to firing actual ICBMs in retaliation for what it thought was an actual attack. Hence the shots of missiles being fueled in their silos.
I wonder if WOPR was given direct control of missile submarines or strategic bombers.
Also, I believe he set the game up to “auto-play” after the first few moves.