Spielberg is Lost on Nostalgia.

Rating: 5/10 (23 April 2018)

It seems most people loved the movie mostly due to the references and nostalgic feel to it, while some others criticized for its "misogyny". Now to be fair, it's not boring nor time-consuming, the pacing is decent, is visually interesting (although some people felt dizzy for camera work) some references are kind of clever and the score is moving and 80s.
The concept itself might sound interesting to some, but is filled with overused elements, archetypes and lots of exposition scenes. Particularly on the first fifteen minutes with all the narration. I get that we need to establish the setting but i think there could be a much more visually interesting way to explain for all of this, especially considering this is Spielberg we are talking about. This movie sets us in a place where the world is so awful people have no other option than to live on a virtual reality. The fact that this movie implies that people only play their video game and not other activities like work, play outside, go shopping, we are supposed to get that everything can be done on this game (i guess even getting a medical degree can be got by this method). The way the easter eggs and mysteries are solved get pretty repetitive and sometimes the characters get to discovers things out of nowhere.
But the biggest issue in the film more than the flawed world-building, are the characters, none of them are particularly interesting or compelling. Our main hero is your virgin, shy gamer (even though everyone is like that in this movie ¿?), but of course he is athletic, perfect lips, perfect hair, perfect chin, that makes the whole thing shallow. Similarly the love interest has some sort of problems due to an issue on her body (even though it's no big deal) and of course she´s a Strong and Independent Womyn®. And the rest of the characters, not even worth mentioning. I guess the movie is trying a traditional black & white conflict but i works to movie's disadvantage. The people in this movie act like complete idiots or intellectuals when it's convenient for the plot. As for performances i could only saved Mark Rylance and Ben Mendelsohn ( even if his plays one the stupidest villains) playing of course an evil corporate asshole, you know an executive who doesn't get the importance and art of... pop culture.
And that's another thing, pop culture has been severely criticized not because it's not real art, some have argued that, but more because it turns music, films, video games and comics into vulgar products. It's less an homage of modern arts but more a Funko Pop vomit gallery. And all of this comes from a person who criticizes Disney for not understanding animation.
Ready Player One tries to be escapism and at the same time criticizes it. Well you can't have it both ways (or you can?). Either the movie thinks is way smarter than it actually is or Spielberg just wanted a sub par moral so the average moviegoers can think this movie has a heart. Either way, it's cheap, shallow, cringey and ineffective. It's a silly movie to distract yourself for two hours. I mean, i get it when people say they had fun, it's meant to entertain, you are over analyzing it, etc.
Okay fine, but Spielberg could stop giving his movies supposed dark themes which are never explored and just trick the audience, he is better than. Although due to his recent comments on Indiana Jones I guess I'm going to start questioning his artistic visions for the future.