Review: Ready Player One

Director Steven Spielberg brings Ernest Cline's ultimate nerd adventure to life in breathtaking CGI without skimping on the action, story or nostalgia.

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Now that all the holiday madness is out of the way, I'm super excited to review this film for you guys. I was able to read the actual novel before the film came out so I'm feeling prepared to appropriately review this epic movie.

"Ready Player One" takes place in the poverty-stricken year 2045 where the only escape from daily struggles is the virtual world of the OASIS, where you can be anyone and do almost anything. James Halliday, the recently deceased creator of the OASIS, has left a treasure hidden somewhere in the vast world that everyone and their mother is hoping to find. The story centers on teenager Wade Watts and his friends as they try to find the hidden Easter Egg before it falls into the wrong hands.

If that sounds like a lot to explain, that's because it is. The complicated subject material of the novel was one of the things I was most worried about when transferring to film. Thankfully, the movie does a great job of setting up the context, main characters and major plot-lines without too much heavy exposition. Probably thanks to author Ernest Cline also writing the screenplay.

Cline did a bang up job converting his novel into a script that is pretty easy to follow given the dense subject matter. Details, characters and plot points that I didn't think would make the transfer from book to screen manage to make an appearance without feeling shoe-horned in. Of course some events/characters are re-purposed or changed in order to help the film be more relatable. My only problem with the writing is that the love story (which is much more natural and gradual in the book) comes across very forced and honestly could've been dropped and the movie still would have been fantastic.

Now let's get this out of the way really quick: this movie is GORGEOUS to look at. Another worry I had for this film is that, being the setting for 80% of the story is a virtual world, there was gonna have to be a LOT of CGI but I can without a doubt say it all looks stunning. I seriously wanna shake the hands of everyone who worked on the CGI in this movie because it's practically flawless. The characters and settings look so lifelike while at the same time still feeling like a video game. After a while you forget you're watching a mostly CGI movie. That being said, the film does a great job of breaking up the CGI-heavy story with some check-ins with the live action characters so you never feel overwhelmed with visual effects.

As far as the cast goes, there are a lot of characters in this story and unfortunately a lot of them end up being far underdeveloped. I'd have to say that the core four main characters have the most fleshing out and a lot of that has to do with the actors. Keep in mind these guys pretty much had to pull double duty as they not only played live action roles, but also voiced their character's OASIS avatar counterparts. Tye Sheridan (X-men: Apocalypse) shines as main protagonist Wade Watts/Parzival. His casting was perfect. Sheridan plays the dorky yet earnest Watts with ease. His love interest and fellow Easter egg hunter (gunter) is played by "Bates Motel's" Olivia Cooke and I have to say that while anyone could've played her part in the live action scenes, Cooke's voice is what really brings Art3mis to life.

Mark Rylance plays the mysterious OASIS creator James Halliday/Anorak. Rylance is almost unrecognizable as the nerdy video game tycoon. If you look at his appearance here compared to how he looked in "Dunkirk" I doubt you would say it was the same actor. Rylance plays Halliday with the subtlety and social awkwardness that I've come to know in real-life super nerds.

The films villain comes in the form of corporate tyrant Nolan Sorrento, played by "Rogue One's" Ben Mendelsohn who is one of the better film villains I've seen this year. Not once did he come off as cheesy, over-the-top or generic bad guy. Well maybe a little bit towards the end.

What really makes "Ready Player One" amazing though is the sheer force of non-stop nostalgia bombs thrown at the audience. It's what made the book so fun to read. This movie contains all the 80's/90's pop culture goodies anyone could ask for. Movies, TV Shows, Style, Video Games, Celebrities, Music, etc. You name it, it's got it. A lot is crammed in here and while that does make the story suffer from time to time, as far as the pop culture references go, it gives them to you just right. I'd expect nothing less from the guy who directed timeless hits like "Raiders of the Lost Arc," "Jurassic Park," "Jaws," "Saving Private Ryan," and "E.T." Spielberg just has a knack for making movies that stick with the audience long after they've left the theater. And while the film may seem chaotic at times, Spielberg manages to leave viewers with a sweetly nostalgic message that everyone can relate to.

Besides the forced loved story and the underdeveloped side characters that would be my one major complaint. As happy as I was that a lot of the book makes the transfer to the film, there is simply too much they try to cram in. There are a few subplots/characters from the book that I'm happy they included (like the love story) but also feel could've been left out and the movie would've felt less bloated. I also meant it when I said that at times things can get so chaotic on screen that you're not sure where to look. Towards the middle of the film things also start to slow down and I found myself wishing they could hurry it up a bit. Thankfully an action-packed climax and emotionally satisfying final act ended up making up for it.

While it does help to have read the book in order to understand more of the setting and side characters, I truly feel that this movie can be entertaining for anyone who is a fan of pop culture. Like I said above, the real fun in watching this movie is catching not only the in your face pop culture references but also the more subtle ones. I'm sure I could watch this movie a dozen times and still find something new they included that will amuse me. The rocking soundtrack alone is sure to please any 80's/90's fans out there. There's one particular scene featuring Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" that is particularly genius. I would pay for another ticket just to watch that sequence alone. But I would also like to emphasize that despite the CGI action-heavy plot, the movie also conveys a great social commentary on reality vs fantasy and how to truly live in a world where hardships plague the day to day lives of ordinary people. It also does a great job of reminding people of the simple joys of playing a video game. I know I definitely got hit in the feels at the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Despite some overcrowding and a bloated story at times, "Ready Player One" contains plenty of jaw dropping visuals, fun pop culture references and thrilling action sequences that are worth seeing more than once and are sure to entertain fans of all ages.

OVERALL GRADE: B+

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