Steven Spielberg is my favorite director but occasionally he chooses projects which I wish he would have skipped.  This is one of them.  I am aware that the Edward Cline book on which it is based (Cline also co-wrote the screenplay and helped produce the film) is a fan favorite, but this ugly jump into the future is portentously nihilistic, anti-nostalgic and depressing as hell.  And the moral is that teenagers can use their gaming skills in the virtual world of the “Oasis” to save the real world.  Right.

Steven Spielberg’s film bursts with energy and pop culture references that would take multiple viewings to truly appreciate, but few of those references are meaningful.  Most are reduced to statistics and trivia, yet treated like venerable legends by kids who, by 2045 when the story takes place, would have absolutely no knowledge, memory or concept of them.  It is nice to see the Iron Giant again, for instance, but how many of you have actually seen the film, which debuted in 1999?  It isn’t exactly popular now; by 2045 it will be forgotten, ancient history.  But enough about the nostalgia.

In Spielberg’s / Cline’s dystopian future too many people are spending all their time and money in the virtual world, where at least they can fantasize and role-play to their heart’s content.  Yet society still seems to exist, essential services seem to be performed.  But none of that matters; only the Oasis and its ridiculous treasure hunt does.  Then it’s the kids vs. the big bad corporate stooges in a battle to keep the Oasis running free and open vs. a deluge of ads and restrictions.  Perhaps this is meant as an allegory about our current political system, but if it is it’s clumsy and ineloquent.

Or maybe I’m just out of touch.  I’m not a gamer and I don’t like the rag-tag combination of King Kong, a Jurassic Park dinosaur and a Back to the Future DeLorean all mashed up together in some half-assed high-speed demolition derby that takes place over and over again.  I can’t take it seriously.  The film itself is well-produced, somewhat clever and relentlessly kinetic, and the young characters are very nicely enacted by a game cast.  Even so, I never got excited.  Nothing about this world induces me to care about it.  If you can get into it, great.  Not me.  ☆ ☆.  12 April 2018.