Ready Player One (2018)

While I have a lot of criticism of this film, I did enjoy it and didn’t have too many problems with it while watching it, though it did fall short in several ways.

So the main concept of the film is a blend between TRON and the Matrix, with a lot of pop culture references thrown in.  While it is an appealing scenario, and an enjoyable experience, it lacks creativity.

There is also an inconstancy with the way computers work.  The need to physically transport items or move doesn’t actually exist in a video world, but this could be a built in limitation of Oasis.

“A fanboy knows a hater”

This line was rather ironic, as it seems that a lot of the pop culture references were thrown in there to appeal to the audience, making me think the director was mere adding them for that purpose.

A number of the songs seemed like they wouldn’t be a fan boy’s first choice, as well.

It’s very odd to have a Japanese kid who wants to be a samurai, in full armor.  While that feels like an appealing stereotype in the west, its appeal in Japan is nearly non-existent.  It’s like thinking that most American’s want to play as Minute Men or Cowboys. A similar thing could be said about the Chinese boy wanting to be a ninja.  While ninja’s have a wider appeal, it is still a stereotype having that avatar belong to an Asian.

And thinking that Samantha’s birthmark would detract from Wade’s interest in her is ridiculous.  There are people who do feel their own birthmarks are a detriment, so I can see how the character might feel that way.  Still, it would more interesting to see if Wade could overcome any revulsion he may feel if Samantha was hideously ugly, or deformed, morbidly obese or even a man.

The quest themselves were too simple.

And anyone with even a little knowledge of Adventure knows what that game is most famous for.

First, a Delorean is a poor choice of car, especially if you have to drive it in reverse (as you cannot see out of the back, and looking out the window has a very limited field of view.  And did it really need to be driven in reverse, or could have just driven through the backwards course with his car facing forward?  Driving in reverse at high speed is extremely treacherous and difficult to control.

And the characters solution of shutting down the Oasis on Tuesdays and Thursdays is a ridiculous over simplification of the problem.  And what time zone would those shut downs be based on?  What about people in other time zone, or other countries?  What is someone’s schedule only allows them time to access the oasis on those days?  Or what if a person wants to log on for just an hour?  They are to be prevented from doing that, because some people have a lack of self-control?

Steven Spielberg is largely a horror director.  The majority of his films have the characters being terrorized by some kind of creature: Jaws, Jurassic Park, Gremlins.  In many of his films, the main characters end up running away from some creature, not fighting it in a brave battle, but just trying to survive, which is what happens in a horror film.  Even E.T. and other of his films had horror like situations. Many of his films I went into thinking it would be a fun movie, only to find a horrific situation unfold in the middle of the film.