READY PLAYER ONE (2018) Review

I consider myself a pop culture lover. Mainly because I like movies, Star Wars, and the occasional video game. It was not until after I watched Spielberg’s latest feature that I learned I am not the “dude-bro” I thought I was. Chocked full of references, homages, action, and featureless dialogue, READY PLAYER ONE is exactly what one would expect when you are looking through the lens of an 18-year-old gamer.

Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives in Ohio in the year 2049, where living conditions are subpar but no one seems to mind. Everyone essentially lives in a virtual video game known as The Oasis, where you can be and do anything your heart desires. When the creator of this virtual world dies, he promises to offer his fortune to the avatar who wins his “contest” (finding an easter egg- fitting). This sends Wade and his Oasis friends (Cooke, Waithe, Zhao, Morisaki) into a quest to find all the clues before an evil corporation (IOI) can win and turn the beloved cybernetic world into a profit-fest.

Spielberg’s carrousel of pop culture works as a high intensity and vibrant praise to the video game world, allowing the audience to have lots of fun in the theatre. In terms of the Oasis, Spielberg creates an imaginative and exciting virtual world, complete with fun-fueled action sequences and plenty of opportunity to drool over popular character and easter egg sightings. Spielberg’s homage to Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING was amazing and lively, and even though I’m too scared to watch Kubrick’s masterpiece, that scene encouraged my scaredy-cat ass to give it a shot.

In terms of performances, Sheridan and Cooke are alright, however their performances are forgettable and their connection seemed forced. “A fanboy knows a hater” was an actual line in this film, showing that this movie tries to be a niche interest; it gives off a vibe that reads “You probably won’t understand this reference.” and “Wow! You’re a girl-gamer! I’m in love!”. The dialogue was very bland, relying on emotion and plot points to speak for themselves, which they did not. Plot points were delivered with a shrug, or were narrated to the audiences, which I found very lazy and drove me to care even less about the story.

On the evil side, Ben Mendelsohn’s corporate villain could not have been more uninspired. As tone-deaf as he is uninteresting, Mendelsohn’s phoned-in performance did not have me believing he could run a corporation such as IOI, let alone lead an army of bots to destroy mankind’s only source of happiness. Likewise, TJ Miller’s lame, half-sarcastic, lazy comedy feels very unwelcome in this film, especially since his character served such little purpose to the overall plot.

In essence, this movie was just fun. Action sequences were thrilling and amusing, looking for references was a good pastime, and Spielberg created a very cool virtual world. Yet, I could not be less invested in the real-world, dude-vibe storyline than I was when I left the theatre.

Score: 4.4/10

Jade

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Despite the massively creative action sequences and the stunning visuals of "The Oasis," Spielberg was not quite able to recreate his classic balance between a simple blockbuster and an interesting, well-grounded story that we all know from "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park."

Score: 5.3/10

Dace

4.9/10