Endless flaws

Rating: 4/10 (5 April 2018)

I can't believe that Spielberg would direct something like this... Another example of an iconic director selling out for an easy paycheck. The starting premise of the movie is very strong. In 2045 the world has become an ugly wasteland which is so depressing humanity must turn to the virtual world to cope. Not only is this a wonderful starting point for a sci-fi epic, it also relates to our society today. Unfortunately, that's where the promise ends. They try to sell you the premise that people of all ages cope with their depressing real lives by going into a video game world. The makeup of this virtual world is highly flawed for multiple reasons as it pertains to the movie. The most obvious flaw is the visual graphics. The movie is set nearly 30 years in the future but the graphics are obviously limited to our current technology. That simply doesn't work and makes the movie so easily dated in the real future. Also, the visual effects aren't even impressive by today's standards! What were they thinking????!!!
The movie is littered with endless 80's and 90's pop culture references. Every young character in the movie is also an expert on all of this. In 2045, are you kidding me?! How many teenagers and young adults are big into 50's pop culture today? You'd be hard pressed to find one. They also felt the need to play 80's songs for long periods multiple times in the movie yet they don't go with their respective scenes at all. At the start of the movie you're bombarded with endless explanation about the details of the virtual world. It will likely give you a headache and puts Inception to shame! If that's not bad enough they felt the need to play an upbeat 80's song I won't name during almost the entire intro of explanation, so there's that pointless distraction to deal with.
Another big flaw arrives if you consider what the masses would really want from a virtual world versus what's given to them... Living in a sad dystopian world, the obvious choice for escapism is a world filled with happiness and beauty. Instead they get stressful and often violent competitions in video games. What about the elderly, is that all they get too? There's only one person older than 50 in the entire movie and this individual seemingly doesn't participate in the virtual world.
The pacing of the film is atrociously bad, extremely rushed. The movie rarely gives you a chance to just sit back and take it in without spitting out tons of head spinning new information. The action sequences drag on and on and on like nothing I've ever seen before. If I wasn't with my family I would've walked out on the final fight scene it was so dragged out. I give it a 4/10 for having some fun escapism and redeeming qualities, but ultimately it's disposable and doesn't work.