Movie doesn't trust in its own source material

Rating: 2/10 (4 April 2018)

I read the book twice and tried to watch the movie with an open mind. But this movie annoyed the hell out of me. It starts out strong with an upbeat 80s song and an introduction to the "stacks." But it quickly completely abandons the first intriguing quest of the book for an empty CGI race that feels like it belongs in Transformers. The second quest inserts CGI zombies. Halliday's obsession with 80s pop culture is not even mentioned as being the catalyst for the Easter Egg hunt, so there is no explanation as to why Wade and others randomly quote 80s lines. This is literally the basis for the whole book. Why the movie chose to largely ignore this, when there is such a resurgence in 80s pop culture thanks to shows like Stranger Things, is beyond me. I know there are a lot of Easter eggs, but I'll be damned if I caught half of them. Most of the CGI is so quick and filled with laser fire and explosions, it's hard to catch anything. The whole spirit of the book is lost and it feels pointless as a result. And the actor who plays Halliday is excellent, so it's a shame. The movie finally remembers itself in the last 15 minutes with an homage to the Atari game that started it all, but it feels strange and tacked on at the very end. With so much empty action, the movie felt so incredibly long. I thought it would never end.