Oh, nostalgia! How much fun is it to look back on the early 1980s and recall all our fears of nuclear holocaust?

Not much, I suppose, which tempted me to check out 1983’s WarGames again. I felt curious to see if it still maintained any charms more than four decades after its release.

NORAD program administrator John McKittrick (Dabney Coleman) wants to place the nuclear weapons process under computer control to remove the human factor entirely. Thus WOPR (War Operation Plan Response) gets responsibility to handle the American missile functions.

When teen computer whiz David Lightman (Matthew Broderick) attempts to hack into a game company, he instead ends up connected to WOPR. David stumbles across a few games and decides to play “Global Thermonuclear War”, a decision that triggers WOPR in ways that could eventually lead to catastrophe.

As I went into WarGames, I expected something totally dated. The story’s placement during the US/Soviet Cold War meant it likely would come across as a Reagan-era relic, a piece stuck in its own period in a manner that renders it quaint to 21st century eyes.

Yes, parts of WarGames show their age, but not nearly as many as I expected. The technology provides the flick’s most dated elements, as its “supercomputer” looks woefully inadequate compared to modern systems, and other high-tech components can seem goofy to us these days.

Though I figured the dated technology would create a serious impediment here, in fact that side of things barely impacted on my enjoyment of the film. WarGames uses the computer elements as a story concept, but it doesn’t rely on them to dazzle us.

Sure, the tech looks primitive to our eyes. Nonetheless, the basic premise remains valid so the cheap graphics and whatnot don’t impair the story.

Indeed, I think the idea behind WarGames remains as believable – and scary – as ever. If anything, the concept seems more ominous now since the world contains more people with the access to cause havoc as well as more folks who want to set off nuclear Armageddon. While the setting and tech of the flick are dated, the notions still terrify.

WarGames benefits from a good cast and generally solid performances. The film essentially launched Broderick’s career, and one can see why, since he provides a fine turn as our lead character.

Broderick feels like a real teen, not a mini-adult, and both he and Ally Sheedy as David’s classmate/burgeoning girlfriend Jennifer seem eminently believable as high school students. Coleman seems a little wrong as a computer expert, as he just doesn’t convey the right feel for that kind of part.

However, the role usually uses Coleman as a gruff, smarmy presence. That exists as Coleman’s wheelhouse and he does fine.

All that and Eddie Deezen, too! Most of the characters remain rather one-dimensional, and they don’t always behave in realistic ways, but the actors help compensate for script problems. This is a good cast, and the performers embellish their roles well.

In terms of flaws, I must admit I think the score falters at times, especially during the film’s first half. It boasts an oddly peppy and jovial tone during scenes that should seem tense.

Perhaps the filmmakers decided to keep the early sequences light so later segments would become more dramatic, but it strikes me as a bad choice. The lighthearted music undercuts otherwise tense scenes.

The movie’s simplistic moralizing also makes it droop at the end, but even with these various concerns, I still like WarGames. The movie offers an interesting premise and creates a generally involving tale. As dated as it can be, it continues to work.

WarGames appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though the flick showed its age, I thought it looked pretty good.

For the most part, sharpness looked fine, though some interiors could feel a little soft. Still, the majority of the film brought reasonably positive delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and print flaws remained absent.

WarGames opted for a fairly subdued palette that tended to favor browns. Other more vivid hues popped up at times, and all the colors seemed largely good, if not impressive.

Blacks were largely dark, and shadows showed appropriate clarity. Nothing here looked great but the end product proved satisfactory.

In addition, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked well, as the soundfield opened up in a surprisingly active manner given the movie’s age. Though the flick didn’t boast a plethora of involving action scenes, it used the spectrum in a positive manner.

Music boasted fine stereo delineation, and effects were accurately localized. The various elements meshed together well and created a good sense of place.

Surround usage wasn’t stellar, but that side of things added to the proceedings. The back speakers contributed a nice level of environmental support, particularly in settings like NORAD.

The various machines and other activities swarmed around us in a convincing manner. The music also received light reinforcement from the surrounds.

Audio quality seemed pretty positive as well. Speech was the weakest link, as some lines were a bit rough. Nonetheless, the dialogue usually sounded acceptably natural, and the material always remained intelligible.

Effects appeared acceptably life-like, and music showed nice range and clarity. Bass response was surprisingly good, as the movie boasted solid low-end. Overall, this was a very effective track for a 43-year-old flick.

As we head to extras, we launch with a circa 1998 audio commentary from director John Badham and screenwriters Lawrence Lasker and Walter Parkes. All three sit together for this running, screen-specific look at sets and locations, cast, characters and performances, effects, the script and rewrites, research, facts and various liberties, stunts, and a few other production elements.

Across the board, the participants make this a good commentary. They cover all the appropriate bases and do so in a lively and entertaining manner. The track examines the film well.

A documentary called Loading WarGames runs 45 minutes, five seconds. We hear from Parkes, Lasker, Badham, executive producer Leonard Goldberg, screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, cinematographer William A. Fraker, visual effects supervisor Michael Fink, Aintitcool.com’s Harry Knowles, visual consultant Geoffrey Kirkland, editor Tom Rolf, composer Arthur B. Rubinstein, critic/film scholar FX Feeney, Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman, and actors Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, and Barry Corbin.

“Loading” looks at the story’s origins and the development of its story and script, finding a studio and a director, cast, characters and performances, rewrites, a change in director, and reshoots, visual design, sets and effects, editing and music, and the movie’s release and legacy.

After such a good commentary, I wasn’t sure how much remained left to say in the documentary. Happily, “Loading” adds plenty of good notes. Next we locate three featurettes. Attack of the Hackers lasts 13 minutes, 35 seconds as it provides notes from former National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism Richard A. Clarke, Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, Popular Mechanics technology editor Glenn Derene, technology author Dan Verton, and hackers John T. Draper and Loyd Blankenship.

The show talks about the origins of hacking and aspects of that culture, its status in the early Eighties, and current concerns. While “Attack” provides a basic overview of hacking, it nonetheless includes some interesting material, so it’s worth a look.

Inside NORAD: Cold War Fortress goes for 10 minutes, 54 seconds. It features Clarke, Fink, Feeney, Mankiewicz, Parkes, Broderick, Goldberg, Derene, and NORAD’s Lt. Col. Tony Crews, Gen. Gene Renuart, Col. Tom Muir, Col. Andre Dupuis and Col. David Freaney.

“Fortress” provides info about the Cold War and the atmosphere in the early Eighties, the NORAD facility and its operation. As with the last featurette, this one runs through its subjects too briskly to be terribly thorough. Still, it includes some good facts and provides another good summary.

For the final featurette, we find the four-minute, 30-second Tic Tac Toe: A True Story. It gives us some facts about the game.

I don’t care for the campy feel to the piece, as it makes us question the veracity of the material. If the info’s accurate, though, it throws out a few interesting details about Tic Tac Toe.

After this we get an Interactive Superpower Weapons Briefing Gallery. Here we can examine facts about 14 pieces of US weaponry and 15 Soviet components. The information remains basic, but we learn a decent amount about the warfare abilities of the two superpowers circa 1983.

The disc ends with the movie’s trailer.

The Shout release drops a preview of 2008’s lousy direct-to-video sequel WarGames: The Dead Code and an interactive look at circa 1983 US/USSR weaponry. I don’t miss the Dead Code promo but I liked the “Briefing Gallery”.

One might expect a silly, quaint period piece from 1983’s WarGames, but I think it usually manages to transcend its age. With a clever premise and some nice performances, the movie holds up well. The Blu-ray offers good picture and audio along with a selection of mostly useful supplements. Expect a solid release for an involving film.

Note that this Blu-ray only comes paired with the movie’s 4K UHD version. Shout chose not to release a solo Blu-ray for their release of WarGames.

This means Blu-ray fans without 4K UHD players will need to buy this package to get the movie’s BD – at least in the Shout incarnation. MGM released an out-of-print Blu-ray in 2012 that I never saw so I couldn’t compare the two.