Review of Ready Player One (2018) by Rebecca31 — 31 Mar 2018

Definitely the most ambitious Spielberg movie made in recent years. Let's face it, the only reason everyone is being unnecessarily kind to Ready Player One is Steven Spielberg. Starring numerous characters from games and movies that you love, ie the second reason everyone is loving Ready Player One. The visuals look great but for me it just felt too much like a never ending video game cutscene that I couldn't skip.

Set in a dystopian 2045, the only way people cope is by escaping into OASIS, a virtual reality created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) where the only limit is your imagination. After Halliday's death he has left a series of challenges that will lead the players to an Easter egg which will give the player who finds it his fortune and control of the game. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is just one of the many people who spends most of his time in the OASIS desperately trying to win the digital Easter egg. Every scene is an assault on the eyes, there is so much to take in you spend the majority of the movie preoccupied with spotting reference upon reference. I'm not going to lie, I loved seeing the Iron Giant, and the DeLorean on the big screen. Not to mention the references to Alien, Superman, Jurassic Park etc. and I absolutely loved that sequence about the Shining. Brilliant, well thought out and entertaining. Yet that's all Ready Player One is, everything you loved as a kid brought together in one film. If you strip away the nostalgia and references you're left with a story you've seen done countless times before. The good guys going up against the evil corporate suits, because if the they win it's game over man. All the nostalgia is constantly in your face to distract you from how ridiculous the main characters look. Cartoonish avatars that just couldn't get me to stop seeing them as generic video game characters. Ready Player One doesn't feel like a film, it feels like a game, only you're not playing it, you're watching someone else play it. Recommended for all the gamers and/or Spielberg fans.