It’s actually very difficult to review this, because almost everything about it (the state of computers, the state of the world, the state of “video arcades”, the state of your average high school student, the state of Dabney Coleman) is pretty much archaic and obsolete. The first time I saw it, I thought it was amazing, scary, and brilliant. But I was 9 years old then.
Now, when I watch it, I’m surprised about the opening scene (that it exists, and that it isn’t anywhere near as cheezy as I figure the movie experience is going to be) and then I’m mostly just amused/nostalgic/rolling my eyes/saying “oh gawd”.
The thing is, plenty of movies were made in 1983 or before that HAVEN’T become comical after being released as “thrillers”. So I think that, despite a few moments of genius/brilliance/burnt-into-the-social-lexicon-ness, this is a (relative) failure today because so much attention was devoted to concept and message and so little was devoted to dialogue/believability/continuity/acting.
Favorite Character: Joshua
Grade: C+
7/25/12: The ending visuals alone urge me to shove it up a grade… Grade: B-