This is a film that Spielberg has been leading up to for all of his life. Here we have Wade, a gamer in Columbus, Ohio 2045, playing a massive VR game called Oasis. This has nothing to do with Mancunians in questionable headgear, more to do with the Californian scientists in the Fast Show, as if they were more tech savvy that is. It’s a film about a future where people are subjugated, in a number of ways, it’s about capitalism and socio-economics. It also has a voice over, I never generally trust films with those.
I have to say that I found the beginning of the story to be a bit boring, obvious and underwhelming. The whole film came across as a more benign version of the Matrix, combined with elements of Scooby Doo and Vanilla Sky. You can see that there is love in the film, Spielberg and his crew enjoyed themselves, and often that’s enough. They made a film that pleases them, great. The film will please a lot of people, it’ll do well on TV on Bank Holidays. Intrinsically though that is not enough. Spielberg has and will make better films than this, but over the years he has earned the right to make films like this. It is possible to wallow in shallow entertainment, but like a Chinese takeaway, you’ll soon need more.
