eXistenZ (1999)

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Reality is real, yo!

The story follows VR game designer Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and security guard Ted Pikul (Jude Law) as they evade an extremist element that wants to attack and destroy the game designer and her game system. On the run, they must fix the game system and go into the game to find out more about what is going on.

Like The Thirteenth Floor and The Matrix, this movie posed questions about what is real. Are we just living in a simulation? With eXistenZ, it had more to do with the resistance to gaming and how games might take over our reality.

I did like the Lovecraftian weirdness on display with the bio-organic system integrations and horrific “meat and bones” approach to the equipment they used in the game.

The acting is good, but the characters are pretty flat. We never really find out much about Allegra or Ted or any of the other characters. Their motivations and desires are pretty lost or only exist to further the plot.

I applaud movies like this that took a bold risk with an abstract idea, but I just with the writing was a little more focused on characters that you could give a shit about.

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