Transcript note: This transcript is based on the original working script. It may contain production notes, draft wording, spelling mistakes or other material that differs from the finished video - these scripts were meant to be spoken, not read.

Some film sequels exist purely because someone noticed a familiar title sitting on a shelf unused.

WarGames: The Dead Code, is one of those films.

It's a sequel to a teen cold War techno thriller about nuclear Annihilation.

Released straight to DVD in 2008.

Lets see what makes War Games: The Dead Code a Franchise, Flogged.

[intro]

The original War Games worked because it was specific to its moment.

A heady mix of brand new home computers, dial up modems and good old fashioned cold war paranoia.

Back in those days the two biggest threats were clear winter, or… quick sand.

Don’t ask, it was an eighties thing… But totally possible in the North of England.

Either way - it was a very real fear that human error, or curiosity, could accidentally end the world.

It wasn’t flashy, and it certainly wasn’t dumb.

And it didn’t need explosions every five minutes to be tense.

Most importantly, it understood restraint.

Sure. It's dated now, and it’s more like a fun little time capsule that gave both a young Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy a decent film.

You could almost call it quaint, in hindsight.

The Dead Code updates the premise for the post-9/11, post-Patriot Act era.

This time, it’s not nuclear war.

It’s terrorism.

Surveillance.

Data tracking.

And an AI system designed to predict threats before they happen.

On paper, that sounds like a natural evolution.

In reality, it’s just an excuse to turn WarGames into a generic early-2000s techno-thriller

WarGames: The Dead Code centres on Will Farmer, a smooth teenage hacker.

And, it won’t be a surprise to learn he looks like he was assembled from discarded “generic hacker” casting notes.

He’s found himself in a spot of computer trouble after hacking into his school computer - Trouble is, instead of it being put down to a bit of harmless fun, his little stunt lands him on a Government list.

Enter - Ripley - the new version of WOPR - Running on AI, of course.

Ripley isn't just running simulations, it's already active in the real world and increasingly taking people out of the loop.

Ripley’s strategy?

Masquerade as a harmless gaming site with cash prizes to lure the right people into its web.

And, Will - Needing a bit of money so he can impress a girl takes his chances with Ripley and manages to get its attention a little too much.

And from there… What little logic and sense it had, just seems to fall off a cliff…

In a somewhat bizarre escalation of events, Will’s friends and family are dragged in for interrogation, while Ripley and the Government launch a full-scale manhunt.

Because apparently, a teenager with a laptop warrants the same response as a rogue nation.

And… Yeah.

That was just the basics, in reality it's all pretty way more none sensical that only raises more questions the more you think about it

Suffice to say it's best to switch your brain for this one.

For the most part, there isn’t much connecting The Dead Code to the original at all, until about an hour in, when it seems to suddenly remember it’s a sequel.

That’s when Stephen Falken gets a name-check, and then it kind of gets rushed into full on sequel mode for the third act - Next thing you know we’re in a basement with Stephen stating at WOPR

WOPR is old and forgotten - Antique tech now - He’s been shoved into a basement somewhere like an old Nintendo you don’t want to throw away because of all the good times.

It’s an image that says, well - everything.

This is Joshua, a system that already proved the danger.

The machine that showed how easily human curiosity could spiral into catastrophe.

And here it is - ignored, sidelined, treated like outdated hardware instead of a warning.

It’ll come as no surprise to learn that WOPR is brought back online to save the day.

[sigh]

And that’s the moment the film gives the game away.

Because instead of understanding what WOPR represented in the first place - human error, escalation, restraint - The Dead Code treats it like a patch.

A tool, a solution - A get out of jail free card even.

The original film was about accidentally crossing lines you couldn’t uncross.

This one just flips a switch and waits for the right machine to fix things.

The return of Stephen Falken and WOPR doesn’t add weight, or consequence.

It just underlines how completely the point was missed.

What was once a warning, is now a utility.

What was once frightening, is now just another button to press.

You’ll forgive me for thinking that’s more regression than evolution.

In Wargames, it was an accidental escalation of events that led to the threat of nucelar extermination

And, Dead Code just misses that point entirely.

And, worse, it forces it all.

It's just all action movie generic plot by the number stuff.

Everything is louder, faster and…dumber.

The system isn't frightening because it’s unknowable, it’s frightening because the script says it is - And, that’s not suspense, it’s shorthand.

It’s like the film wants to say something about the government and its surveillance powers - But then, just kind of - Doesn’t.

It’s showing us how algorithms can decide guilt, how the data can be replaced with judgement and how automation of all this can remove accountability…

But, it doesn’t actually commit to any of those ideas and then just wanders off into the next plot beat.

Almost as though it’s scared of its own shadow.

I don’t know if it’s ironic or just plain weird, but this film was released exactly when these themes-surveillance, data mining-were becoming genuinely relevant.

It’s kind of like they made the film, but didn’t want to end up on a list of themselves.

It doesn’t actually say anything.

Like it shouted “OI!” in a crowded playground and then just put it’s head down and kind of kicked it’s feet when asked “What?”

It’s a systematic misunderstanding of what made the first film endure so long.

Wargames never needed a sequel - Its warning was, well - timeless.

On some level, I think I understand what it was going for.

The systems we built, turning on us when we don’t give it nuance of, well - Humans being humans.

Kind of like a really watered down version of Terminator, or The Matrix

Not that I’d ever put them on the same list.

The inclusion of Stephen Falken and WOPR are the only reasons this film is a sequel and not an update or remake of the original film.

At its core, it boils down to being the same story with newer technology and nothing else to define it.

It is a textbook product of that mid-2000s direct-to-DVD purgatory… with no real thought beyond trading on a beloved name.

The original plan was to make more of these movies, where the story would have gone from here is anyone's guess though.

And, I’m not about to start doing that - Getting through this one was bad enough.

So.

A familiar title, a safer budget and a script that could have been any other film -

Seemingly retrofitted to WarGames in a final draft.

Nothing about it feels dangerous.

Nothing about it feels neccessary.

Nothing about it feels like it should exist under this name.

In fact, take away the title and it’d just disappear into the bargain bin with the rest of the other 2000s era tech thrillers.

The Dead Code isn’t offensive, it isn’t shocking, it’s not even that embarrassing.

It’s worse than that.

It’s forgettable.

A sequel to a film about restraint - turned into a movie that can’t stop itself from pushing buttons it doesn’t quite understand.

Anyways - I’ve been Paul and Wargames - The Dead Code was a Franchise, Flogged.

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Or, don’t - I'll still be here when you come back.

And, I’ll catch you on the next rewind - Thanks for watching.