And you thought The Lost Boys direct-to-dvd sequel looked bad… take a look at MGM’s direct to dvd sequel to one of my all-time favorite movies - the classic 1983 sci-fi hacker film WarGames. And sadly, NO, this is NOT an April Fools Day joke…
WarGames: The Dead Code stars Matt Lanter as a computer geek named Will Farmer who engages a government super-computer named R.I.P.L.E.Y. and enters in a game of online terrorist-attack simulation (yes, instead of global thermonuclear war from the original movie). But apparently the game is actually part of a sophisticated piece of government spyware designed to find potential terrorists. Homeland Security, now believing Farmer is a terrorist, sets out to apprehend him. And the computer, of course, forgets that it’s just playing a game.
If that plot description doesn’t sound bad enough, watch the trailer below. It looks like it takes all the horrible computer visualization from Hackers combined with a story which barely resembles the original film starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy.
Discuss: What did you think?
April 1st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Why must Hollywood continue to ruin the memories of the films from my childhood?
April 1st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
This makes Lost Boys 2 look like a masterpiece
April 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I found the trailer boring, thats gonna be a huge stinker.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:40 pm
“Woah, she’s hot.”
Hahahaha, so bad.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
This isn’t a sequel, it’s a pointless remake, and i’m pretty sure we just saw the whole movie in two minutes and three seconds.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
TwatGames
April 1st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
April Fools ?
or just another ’straight to dvd’ bs that hollywood puts out ever so often these days?
April 1st, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Not “Greetings Professor Falken.” Sorry, no thanks.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I completely fucking agree with you George.
The short answer is, theyre out of ideas.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Most elaborate and expensive April Fool’s joke ever!
Seriously, it’s not that it looks bad, but the plot is like 100% identical to the first one… would this qualify as a remake instead of a sequel??
April 1st, 2008 at 7:00 pm
spoiler alert… he’s gonna win playing tic tac toe. lol
April 1st, 2008 at 7:32 pm
is there a problem with the sound? all i could hear is this annoying sucking sound.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:33 pm
they also ripped of ‘lost in space’ (the tv series) at the end.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:47 pm
So, instead of Ferris Bueller and the sexually precocious Ally Sheedy, we get The Closeted Homosexualist Hardy Boys?
2008, you’re just like all those other years… Promising, then very disappointing. And here I thought you’d be different.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Hey, It could be worse. Matthew Broderick could’ve been in it…
April 1st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I want a cloak and dagger remake…damn you hollywood read my forum post on web blogs about movies and what not.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Total shit movie given the title of a movie that made some money once with a subtitle slapped on it. Or worse a shitty remake update they didn’t think would stand on it’s own. Just like the rest I’ll just ignore it, and let it have no bearing on my opinion of the original Wargames.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:04 am
I watched this trailer having no idea it was going to be a sequel to War Games (it was on the Stargate: The Ark of Truth DVD for some reason), and I thought it looked kind of entertaining. I think if you don’t regard it as having to do with the first movie, perhaps it’ll be okay.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Did you see how he uses WinXP, accessing “R.I.P.L.E.Y.” via a web-interface. This is so lame. This is no geek, he’s just not even a script-kiddie. Mathew Broderick knew how to use the console, and he had a computer in a time when most people didn’t. I’m glad this is just a straight-to-DVD, though it’s more likely to be a straight-to-the-trash.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:35 am
I’m with George on this one. I used to love the original Wargames. This new one looks like poo…
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 am
looks better than i thought. more remake than sequel.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
yeah just like Lost Boys, i’d rather just sit and watch the original again.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:16 am
Dear Hollywood,
Please stop taking my treasured and beloved childhood memories and turning them into embarrassingly crappy movie remakes that lose money.
Thanks!
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
WARGAMES x THE NET x HACKERS and made 1000% stupider…
gwad…
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 am
don’t be too hard on this film. the production value looks good and who says it has to be real/plausible? the first one wasn’t but who cares i was a kid and loved it. maybe young kids will like this movie and then get interested in computers.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
And sadly it doesn’t stop at War Games, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the next movie getting remake treatment.
Fingers crossed that they don’t touch Ghostbusters or any other 80’s classic.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm
1983: Hacking is war dialing, phone phreaking, social engineering, and lock picking (with a tape recorder and some hemostats!)
2008: Hacking is logging on to an MMOG, after finding a gaming site with Google.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I heard a rumor floating that they were trying to do a remake of the original in todays timeframe. I guess seeing the trailer backs it up. And FYI I heard about it BEFORE the first, so I’ll give it some weight for validity. I agree, the remake is going to stink the way technology has advanced. Sadly hardly anybody today has ever had a “colored box” or even knows what they are except a phew of us that used our ears to our advantage. Mom Bell was fun to play with back in the day, sad when they made it hard to with the upgrade of the trunks for phones.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
No God, please.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am
“Why must Hollywood continue to ruin the memories of the films from my childhood?”
Too true!! If it looks like crap, sounds like crap, it is crap.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
this looks like it will suck. Seriously, what kind of hacker have you seen looks like that?
But it just reminded me on Terminator 3 when skynet goes live and starts taking over.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
why are they wearing clothes from the 80s?!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
This looks awful.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:39 am
The movie actually looks cool. I plan on watching it.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I really liked the first one when I was a kid, so why not watch this one too,
I am also looking forward to it,
May 7th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I can’t wait to see this movie, looks good! I don’t know what all the fuss is about, but I would be willing to pay $20 at the movie theater to watch it. Keep up the great work!
May 21st, 2008 at 3:18 am
…I feel sick. I think the comments posted about this are more entertaining than the movie is going to be, and sure as hell better than the trailer. And dear god, they are wearing clothes from the 80’s.
I loved WarGames. It kicked ass. They should have brought back WOPR. The concept they’ve proposed is laughable, and horribly idiotic.
I’m pretty sure that the Defense department doesn’t even use the same internet. Seriously, they switched over to something else years ago. Though I think there are certain universities with access, especially ones that do projects for the defense department. Anyway, not sure I’ll watch this. Part of the theme of the original was the insanity of mutual assured destruction.
Anyway, I think they should do a remake of Gotcha. Fun movie.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:23 am
i dont know if it qualifys as a sequal or a remake, its pretty borderline, the first one which i loved by the way was about thermonuclear war, this is slightly different because its about the modern day threat of terrorists as opposed to 2 countrys who hate each other going to war, on that basis its sort of a sequal but as its very similar you could be right in calling it a remake.
either way i still think this would be a good film and cant wait till it comes out on dvd in the uk. to be honest id like to see this as the first film used old still computers so you could really learn much about hacking from it, if what someone above said is true and he uses winxp to do his hacking into ripley then we might all learn something about hacking.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:32 am
One thing is clear… it is a sequel… it is named War Games TWO, so it must be a sequel :-)
But watching the trailer it became clear that it is only a (maybe not so) cheap remake. They just exchanged the nuclear thread with terrorists, added some special effects ad that’s the result.
And I bet half the movie is filled with stupid chase scenes instead of creating real suspense like in the first War Games. I remember the tension when the big mountain bunker door was closed and David just made it to get in there. It needed no special effects…. it was just well done.
I think it is true. Hollywood is running out of ideas. Or even worse, they have lost the will to take risks. To create something new is a risk… people might not like it. So it’s (most times) safer to warm up an old hit. If it was good 20 years ago, it will be good again…
And the same problem is with the music industry. They all want only some fast bucks. Create a teeny band, let them sing some newly wrapped old hits and forget them after a couple of years.
They all became greedy. How to make the most money with the least effort…. I just think War Games 2 will not bring them big money. I hope it will be a lesson…
June 27th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I am amazed at the comments on this film considering not one of you have even watched it.
Sure it may be crap. It may be good now too. If its stright to DVD then thats a bad sign. But it also means it will be available for download quicker too.
So download it and judge for yourself, and save your $20. If its that bad then you won;t feel guilty that you have ripped them off.
June 28th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Currently watching the original on tv, so I looked War Games up on line and found this site.
It looks rather intriguing, but I do have to admit that it looks almost in line as the original movie.
I do like the title and from what I can see, the trailer does make me want to see it.
For everyone else who has already complained about the movie, I say watch it before you start your complaining.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Well, what can I say …
I’ve just seen the movie and .. its not a sequal but a remake. When you dl or rent or buy he dvd you know exactly why this movie is not in the theaters but straigt to DVD ;-)
July 1st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
First, if u wanna watch it, this is the link:
http://www.watch-movies.net/movies/wargames_the_dead_code/
Second, the movie sucks and u better not spend any money to watch it
Third and final, this movie can cause diarree and vomit, be aware.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
This movie just proves what we’ve known all along… Hollywood no longer has good ideas and the only thing they know how to do is take old good ideas and see how bad they can remake them. If you want to see a good movie… go see The Hammer. At least Adam hasn’t sold out.