Nice Visuals, Could've Handled the Story/Characters Better

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2018)

I was a bit disappointed by this film. I enjoyed the book and I love Speilberg's films as much as anyone else, but I was not a big fan of how they handled this story. This is also how I feel about the characters. I think they could've spent more time on Wade in real life. I also thought they explained the OASIS well and I really loved Mark Rylance's performance as James Halliday.
Although what may be my main issue with the movie is the romance set up with Parzival and Art3mis. I just couldn't believe it. I thought Art3mis gave into Parzival too quickly especially since she showed him how much she didn't care for him earlier in the film. And I thought the chemistry between them in real life was even more rushed and unbelievable.
I also was not a fan of TJ Miller's character in the movie, and thought Ben Mendelson's character as the CEO of this very large company trying to win the Easter Egg contest in the OASIS in order to profit off it, was taken down too easily. This also applies to his attitude at the end of the film that seemed like it didn't fit. However I did think Mendelson gave a solid performance as he does in most of his movies.
There were also many plot holes in this film that I noticed throughout my watch. Maybe one of the biggest ones that I can't seem to understand is how Parzival/Wade didn't notice the hidden message in Halliday's message until the moment that was convineint for him, despite him stating that he's watched it (if I remember correctly) hundreds of times or more. The rules in the OASIS also weren't always so clear and didn't alwyas apply at the certain points in the movie.
It's a good and enjoyable movie with beautiful visuals and nice action scenes, however it hard to oversee some of the clear flaws that the film presents.
RATING: 7.3/10