robotuser

First, in an effort to be positive: There are so many things in this film done amazingly well - especially considering the budget. The cinematography was quite good, the production design and props were - again, for the money - amazing. Costume department had a strong showing. Well done. The special effects were not groundbreaking, but for groundbreaking special effects, it seems you have to employ 1,000 VFX artists. (You ever count the names in the VFX section of the credits of a blockbuster? That's a small city right there.) In any event, the effects were good enough to not be a distraction.

The creative aspects of this film, sadly, did not live up to the technical achievements. I understand that this film is strongly influenced by Blade Runner, Inception, The Matrix, perhaps the book Ready Player One (which Spielberg has made into a film). No issues there. However, if you're going to play in that space, the characters have to be grounded, they have to pull you into the story. The dialogue has to be believable to the ear. The actors have to sell that world to the audience. This did not happen, as other reviewers have mentioned.

However, if you are starting out as a filmmaker, this is a great film to watch. You get to see that impressive visuals can be achieved with a modest budget ... and think about how much better it could have been if the writing had been a step up.

Definitely worth watching, from that perspective.