If you go to movies just for CGI, hollywood propaganda and no story...this is your movie.

Rating: Null/10 (25 April 2018)

Anybody claiming this is an 'instant classic' has no taste. There I said it. Now on to the review.
First and foremost yes I have read the book. What might you ask are the differences between book and movie? The movie keeps the hunt, Oasis, character names and title...basically everything else is different. Hyperbole? You decide.
OK even ignoring the book (for the most part) this was just bad.
There is a fortune up for grabs and it's all yours for the taking if you can figure out the clues. How do you ask do you compile your research? Go visit the library that was conveniently built just for this hunt. No no personal notes aren't necessary that would require work on your part.
You have a race that everybody fails to complete but they just keep trying over and over the same way...for years.
You are in a 'virtual' environment with goggles that block the real world but run down the street like you are holding a rifle shooting. No nothing bad could come of this. Never
Or better yet you randomly jump, punch and kick the air in front of you on real city streets to do things in the virtual. Completely unnecessarily and makes no sense but hey it 'looks good' on film so lets do it anyway.
You have a multi-story structure that is notoriously unstable that has bombs going off on it. What do you do? Run towards it even after it starts to lean towards you. After crashing right on your heels (after you know your brain kicks in and the 'OMG I'm going to die' gets you running the other way) you walk away without a scratch.
Later you are abducted by some mysterious resistance who's base is immediately raided by the Sixers (convenient? no not at all) then your 'love interest' who just happens to be a member sacrifices herself and gets caught so you can get out a convenient (see a pattern) hatch and are again conveniently saved by your 'bro' who randomly shows up out of nowhere and turns out to be a woman but after just a few lines of dialogue you trust 'her' completely and go along...
After a 'climactic' (or cliche could be used) car chase and ending back up where you started in the 'stacks' the common folk storm out to confront the big bad who was chasing you. Do those hundreds of people (that are within arms reach of him) rip him limb from limb...no no he pulls out a pistol that he holds aloft and the 'seas part' for him. Because you know pistols fire like miniguns that have infinite ammo and they were all going to die...
To top it all off the bad guy is such a moron that when he invites our 'hero' in to threaten him he has his password for his rig on a post-it note in plain view.
This is just off the top of my head. To say it could have been so much better is a no-brainer at this point. Go read the book and forget about this ridiculous nonsense.
The only reason I gave it a 2 was because the CGI was pretty well done and those people deserve credit. Everyone else involved with the movie should be ashamed. This includes the author of the book. I am tired of giving them a free pass while they sellout and their works get butchered.