Game on

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2018)

Steven Spielberg has been inspired by James Cameron's use of 3D in Avatar as this is a film worth watching on 3D, with set pieces that are ready made for 3D viewing.
Spielberg has also gone for a popcorn film full of cultural references to the 1970s and 80s. If you are a vintage arcade geek, a gamer or love 1980s film, this is the film for you.
You can glimpse Batman, Robocop, the Tardis, Chucky the doll, King Kong. There are references to Back to the Future, Star Trek and Spielberg sends a affectionate note to one of his idols, Stanley Kubrick.
Set in 2045, the world has gone to pot and the population immerse themselves in the virtual world of the Oasis. In Columbus, Ohio; Wade Watts is living in a hell hole called the Stacks with his aunt. He finds a key to an adventure left by the late designer of the Oasis. Wade with his virtual friends have to race to against a ruthless corporation to gain further keys which gives the winner the ownership of the virtual kingdom.
The characters are thinly sketched, Wade does come across as naive, displaying a person who has spent more time in a virtual world than real one. The plot is straightforward, nothing very much deep here.
Spielberg has infused the film with lots of fun and action. However at times it is too simplistic. When the police show up at the end of the movie, you do wonder where they were for the rest of the time as the bad guys seem to have the real world all to themselves. The villain must have a really bad memory if he needs to write THAT password down on a piece of paper.