Screwing up the Classics, “Straight to Video”.
It may not be a cinematic masterpiece, or even a particularly good movie, but WarGames (1983) was one of the few Hollywood flicks on the contemporary ‘hacker’ subculture set in a quasi-realistic environment and one that has since become a ‘classic’ of the genre. It’s also one of the few movies by Lasker and Parkes (another being Sneakers from 1992 — notice the similarities?). It’s a shame then, that — as with countless other films — the studios chose to pick up the franchise once again. But even if this might make some sense to some, what certainly doesn’t is following a movie like WarGames with a B-grade, straight-to-DVD release. I guess expecting the studios to get a clue is a bit too much…
I feel ya, man… I’m kind of getting sick of the whole tendency to remake everything that meant anything to me during the ’80s, with a big ‘OUCH’ attached to most attempts. Still, not belonging to the ‘hacker’ subculture, it’s not specifically War Games that bugs me… although it is one of the ’80s classics, if I had to choose.
Recently, I was overjoyed to read that they’re thinking of bringing out a new Bill & Ted movie, with Keanu - whoah! - Reeves in talks with people etc, but apparently that is to be a mere straight-to-DVD remake of some sort as well. A kind of definition of a buzz-kill, if you’re me.
…Oh well.