The endless reference

Rating: 3/10 (16 March 2020)

With READY PLAYER ONE Spielberg arguably hit a new career low. It's really baffling how unaware of its own socio-economical and cultural themes this film actually is.
The whole setting couldn't be more dystopian and depressing with people basically living in a virtual reality because of their frustration with real life. But the film never adresses that, never once questions the system as a whole and instead chooses to gloss reality over with its naive celebration of nostalgic escapism where 1980s pop culture is elevated to high culture standards.
READY PLAYER ONE is a mind-numbing accumulation of endless references with a very simple and formulaic story barely holding it all together. The way this film presents "culture" is ultimately very telling. Everything is being reduced to either edgy quotes or visual appearance - the Overlook Hotel taken out of Kubrick's THE SHINING is nothing more than a cool backdrop and the Iron Giant just some powerful weapon.
Spielberg probably thinks that a world where all cultural knowledge is reduced to John Hughes movies and the suit from Buckaroo Banzai is cool and somehow desirable. It's not.