Hey bros, if you haven't seen the movie, then you should see it before reading this review. There's spoilers and all here. Everyone likes games, right? I for sure do. Now witness all your favorite game characters and icons all in one movie since Wreck it Ralph came out 6 years ago in Ready Player One.
First of all bro, this is a great movie. Visuals are breathtaking, and the action’s off the charts, like there can’t be enough. You got Godzilla fighting Gundam, King Kong wreckin’ up Mario Kart, and a guy who looks like the leading character in the last movie I reviewed running the whole thing.
So the leading character looks like Dusty if he dyed his hair white and dressed like him too. He’s on this quest to find three special keys in order to control this virtual world where everyone can do and be whoever they want. And he’s going against a CEO of an evil corporation who wants it for himself or was it, oh I don’t know, reasons? Couldn’t guess CEO Bro’s reasons at all.
Anyway, the story’s your typical Hero’s Journey, and it doesn’t branch out of that mold. A couple themes I got out of it were teamwork and thinking outside the box. Hey, the guy who built the thing reminds me of Jason in a way—only older and geekier. Maybe it’s the hair. The ending's predictable, especially for those bros out there who've studied Hero's Journey stories. Reminds me of Willy Wonka where the whole thing was just a test of character. Everything about this follows that formula, except the mentor figure's barely there. The curator robot's only in two or three scenes, then shows up at the very very end.
If there’s a big problem with the movie, it’s the very beginning. The first 15 minutes are a blatant disregard for show, don’t tell. The protag doesn’t need to tell us everything about the virtual world when a scene or two or him enjoying himself would do nicely. We get a lot of this world building later on, but why couldn’t we get this in the beginning?
Another thing I remember is the lack of music in the first race. While there’s kickass action and stuff blowing up everywhere? Where’s the orchestra? Did they spend all the film’s money on licensing? Oh well, bro. Minor stuff.
Would I see it again? Probably. It’s worth at least another watch. There's probably a thing or two I missed the first time, and the movie itself brought me enough entertainment for another go. I'd tell my teammates about it too, but they've already seen it, and they've already gone.