Disclaimer: This review is from my perspective as a viewer with little or no knowledge of films and how they are made. What is written is entirely how I feel about the movie from my personal view as a movie fan and not a film critique. Also, note my limited English vocabulary in describing things and the absence of film-making terms and jargons. My take on the movie and its understanding are also probably based on the life that I went through as a person, as I think films touches these elements most of the time in terms of story. I hereby apologize for any error in touching those matters. Also, I have a very short-term memory so the review might miss talking about some parts

Synopsis

The story happens in the year 2045 where the gaming scene has taken a global and a bigger stature place in the society. People got connected through their virtual goggles and suits and seem to live life in an online world called Oasis, more than living their real life.

Mostly because there is very little to live for in real life. (sad)

The creator of the Oasis, called James Haliday created a quest of winning half trillion dollars and the total ownership and control of the Oasis to the one who wins the game and acquires the Easter Egg.

So every gamer in the world engaged in the quest and a big global gaming conglomerate called IOI that has all the tech and human resources joins in the fight too.

The story then focused onto the journey of a by named Wade, also known as Parzival when he is in the Oasis and Art3mis a female gamer who has caught his attention and love.

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Together with the other few group gamers, they fight against IOI to win over the control of the Oasis, although there is a bigger hidden story behind all the game and quest related to the creator James Haliday, which is why he created the quest in the first place.

It takes you on this journey through the 80s and 90s visual pop and nerdy icons in a new style and cinematic medium of visual effects, high tech 3D representation of it.

Comment

Strangely, I'm not being pulled by the tech and the nerdiness of the movie theme. But instead, I looked at it in a spiritual way.

The idea and belief that our body is a vessel of a real self that has a higher purpose. And whatever the vessel does in this realm will be reflected in the higher realm.

The premise of high-tech and being in a different world through virtual goggles might have inspired and put the 80s kids in awe but its pretty common nowadays and it might not have the same appeal as to how the first Tron movie with its idea of another virtual world inside the computer.

The attempt to draw nostalgia of the 80s and 90s didn't really work on me either. The magic of it is lost because we all know theoretically how it is all being made - with computers.

It is like going to a magic show knowing how the magicians do their tricks.

The flabbergasted feeling of *Indiana Jones stepping into thin air which is the invisible bridge in the final act of *The Last Crusade, and witnessing Moses part the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments is long lost and I doubt I will experience the same spectacle again. Despite how many trillion pixels and fake glares they put on the screen.

Taken from the book Finding Meaning at the Movie lend to me by a veteran in the film Industry, Hassan Abd Muthalib, it says about popcorn and sensuality in movies.

...If simply exciting and pleasing the audience and making money are the primary goals of moeviemaking, then we need to be alert when we view even the most highly praised movies.
The great push of Hollywood cinema, as Margaret Miles and other have pointed out, is toward convention and conformity - providing a happy ending; portraying disaster overcome without pain; or glossing nonconformity, women's concerns, and the legacy of colonization, to note a few examples.
At the same time, the level of screen violence and explicit sexual activity has escalated, frequently unmotivated by the requirements of the plot logic.
As viewers, we must ask ourselves; Are our emotions being manipulated? Are tough issues being raised only to be sugared over? Are we settling for boring plots or movies with no story at all? Are our beliefs and attitudes being challenged in creative ways, or are they being ignored in favor of "popcorn and candy for the mind"?

Accept for one version of the trailer, where they mix the visuals with A-ha's - Take On Me.

It hits me on the personal level because it is the tune where I grew up with. The riding speed of the keyboard notes synchronized with the memories of me speeding on my bicycle back then.

I guess visual cues of nostalgia has to be attached together with the appropriate sound to trigger that internal memory of the past.

Planned to catch it in 3D but was too late.

THANKS FOR DROPPING BY!

TEAMMALAYSIA FTW!