DVD Review - Player Number One

Hello folks,

Finally got some free time for some home cinema reviews and this time, being a long time Spielberg  and video games fan, I'll have to admit I was very hopeful for this movie. Unfortunately... I shouldn't have been!

Take Goonies (1985) for instance. All character - some more than others - are all different and add to the story/narrative of the film. Not only that, the main character has a special map to help him (and the audience) to follow a mysterious journey to find a hidden treasure. Here, you have none of that! All characters do whatever others do and the story progresses, not by a hidden or special artifact or object to the main character alone, it's propelled by a public data base library that everyone can access, making these characters really not special at all.

To make it worse, the fan service in this film is just astonishingly ridiculous. The movie feels like a mix-mash fan service without any character or element really revealing any of it's points of interest in the movie. If you've seen Wreck-It Ralph (2012) or The Lego Movie (2014) even, the heroes from other franchises that appear there are relevant, if not to the narrative, to a simple gag or even a hero ic moment. Here, again, we have none of that! Ryu (Street Fighter), Tracer (Overwatch), BattleBorn characters and others are just there for the sake of being there like placeholder extras. Hell, even the famous DeLorean  from Back To The Future (1985) does little more in the movie than ride like a normal racing car. It's ridiculous cause people who know what they are like "The car doesn't do anything!" while new kids will just be like "Easter Egg. Easter Egg. Easter Egg."

And all this to prevent a private company from taking over the Oasis and pump it full of... Advertising! Really!? Advertising is the threat we all have to overcome and fight against in the virtual world!? Have you even seen Summer Wars (2009)?! In that anime at least the virtual world had a serious threat that even launch a real nuclear missile. Here... "Let's all rally up against advertising!!!"

If you've played online games and you see this movie you'll feel that Spielberg didn't understand video games quite as much you'd hope. After seeing it, I just felt that Spielberg maybe out of his league here! I mean, you can still enjoy the movie if you have no idea who or what's in it but in the end the story is full of problems solved in the next minute, empty characters and CG sequences that while entertaining are almost all unprovided of context.

A shameful two out of five!

★★☆☆☆