Ready Player One

Uh, why exactly would everyone in 2045 be profoundly obsessed with the music and pop culture of the eighties? Well, actually, they wouldn't be. But filmmakers who grew up in the eighties and thus see the decade of their youth as their only reference point...well there's your problem. The '80s referentialism has now become de rigeur in today's tentpole productions, and this one is awash in it. Even as a child of the era, I didn't find the choice to be particularly appealing--or, for that matter, believable within the movie's near-future context. What also hurt was the film's poor concept and execution. This flick presents near constant spectacle stitched together with clunky exposition. And then, worst of all, when you get to the end, the story rejects the obvious climax--destroy the damn thing!--and has the characters, who should have reason to feel otherwise, choosing to swallow the dystopia almost whole. This despite two-plus hours of evidence that we're witnessing a nightmare future. Maybe the only good thing about this movie is how roundly it was rejected at the original box office. Perhaps, in that fact, we can see that there's hope for humanity yet.