By Renee’ C.
Rating: 4.5 (Out of 5 Reels)
When the creator of a virtual reality world, Halliday (Mark Rylance), called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune (IMDB).
The protagonists in this film, Wade (Tye Sheridan), Samantha (Olivia Cooke), Helen (Lena Waithe), Sho (Philip Zhao), and Diato (Win Morisaki) unwittingly become a force for change in this world of computer based characters. Their main goal is to make sure that the company called IOI does not gain complete rule of the OASIS because that would be bad for everyone. Ben Mendelshon as Sorrento, does an excellent job playing the maniacal corporate executive bent on gaining complete control of the OASIS.
It is refreshing at times to go into a movie not knowing much about the story because it allows me to be extremely open minded about what I experience because I have no expectations and that is what I experienced here. Steven Spielberg has another blockbuster on his hands because the teenager in all of us will love the ride he provides in this film. As expected the visual effects are spectacular and it is fun to see and hear all of the retro characters and music in this film. I heard it took Spielberg’s team two years to gain the rights to use the character references and music.
It is an extremely sad commentary however that almost everyone in this future world spends all their time living in a virtual world because they want to escape the real world. The only slightly negative thing I have to say is that at two hours and twenty minutes it could have been shortened a bit. Regardless, this film is a fun ride from beginning to end and seeing it on the big screen is definitely recommended.