Ready Player One

Spielberg remains to this day one of the most misunderstood film-makers of his generation. He has been labeled both a peddler of popcorn and a saccharine manipulator (Those who say the latter have clearly forgotten Alex Kitner erupting in a geyser of blood in Jaws, exploding Nazi heads, the horrors of the Holocaust in Schindler and the river of corpses in War of the Worlds).

There are two Spielbergs. There's the man who makes somber, academy award winning dramas (Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, War Horse, Lincoln etc). Then's there's the 10 year old playing in the sand box (The Indy films, Hook, Jurassic Park, Tintin etc). What I enjoy most about the 'Berg, is how he can zigzag between disparate genres. But after a stretch of SF films (A.I, Minority Report and War of the Worlds), I was looking forward to a return to the free wheeling fun with Crystal Skull. It turned out to be an uncharacteristic dud that despite the boffo box office, proved to be deeply unpopular with fans of the series.

This made me cautious about Ready Player One. Had Spielberg lost his touch? I was wrong. This may be one of the most visually amazing and effortlessly fun films I've seen in a long time. I have not read Ernest Cline's novel, so fans of the popular novel may have issues, but I rarely read the books before seeing the film.

The cast are great. Tye Sheridan are Olivia Cooke are the standouts. Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg are fun in supporting roles. Alan Silvestri's robust score is one of his most memorable. I miss John Williams, but it's still a great score. Longtime 'Berg collaborator Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is beautiful. And it's the only film where you'll see a DeLorean chasing a T-Rex on the big screen. That image alone is worth the ticket price. He never went away, but it's nice to see him back playing in the sand box.

Watched 'Ready Player One' as someone who got a lot of pleasure out of the book and who loves a lot of Steven Spielberg's previous work. Despite it getting a fair share of criticism from fans of the book, that there were also enough good things said about it from critics and that many of my friends said it was worthwhile persuaded me enough to see it.

'Ready Player One' left me with a mixed view (or just slightly above). As a book adaptation 'Ready Player One' is severely wanting, having lost what made the book so special. As a film on its own, which is how it will be judged by me being a much fairer way to judge, 'Ready Player One' is quite decent though with faults. It is nowhere near being one of Spielberg's best, a distinction he has not hit for a while (though for me he has not sold out), at the same time it is not one of his misfires either. To me 'Ready Player One' is a middling effort.

Starting with its good merits, 'Ready Player One' looks incredible. One of those films where one is truly immersed in a world filled with a non-stop sense of wonder. The Oasis depiction is rich in wonder, adventure, vibrancy and imagination, the cool factor is also high. The special effects are pretty spectacular. Alan Silvestri provides the best score in a Spielberg film since 'War Horse' (and one of the best in the past fifteen years or so), providing a lot of energy and thrills.

Nostalgia is rife with inspired cameos of numerous significant cultural characters, like the 'Jurassic Park' dinosaur and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even more numerous cultural references, highlights being the 'Back to the Future' Delorean and the Overlook Hotel from 'The Shining'. There is enough wit and intrigue in the writing and the story has many instances where it is fun and laden in thrills, the chase scenes especially. Particularly standing out is the one switching between real world and the Oasis. Spielberg delivers on the spectacle, the world building and the visual style.

Although not complex or subtle, the characters are engaging enough. Olivia Cooke is very appealing and shares charming chemistry with Tye Sheridan. Simon Pegg is great fun, while Ben Mendelssohn has a whale of a time as the villain and Mark Rylance beautifully and terrifically provides the emotion and soul that is not quite there elsewhere.

However, the story does tend to be lacking. There is just too little structurally in a very long, too long even, running time, no matter how many cultural references there are. With trying to take on a lot, character depth and development are sacrificed in favour of spectacle and nostalgia. Luckily those are done well, but one does wish that the characters were more interesting with the lead character in particular not having much growth.

This does affect somewhat Tye Sheridan's performance, shining in the chemistry with Cooke but elsewhere it's somewhat bland and cold. The script does have wit and intrigue but it can also be exposition heavy, and it is here where the writing feels rambling, unnatural and clumsy. There are aspects of Spielberg's directing that comes over well.

Unfortunately, what doesn't is the complete command of the material and giving the film enough soul and emotion (Rylance cannot bring those qualities out all on his own, no matter how well he did them). Some of the messaging is heavy-handed and the finale is far too overly-sentimental and where the sketchiness of the character development and overall depth is most betrayed.

Overall, diverting and entertaining enough but was expecting more. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Pretty good movie visually and even though the changes from the book are obvious but they don't spoil it. They are changes that have to be made so it translates well on to screen.

The comedy in the film is charming and not over the top. It fits in well with the film.

The visuals are awesome. There are so many Easter eggs and references from pop culture it's unbelievable that they managed to add so many. It'll take a long time to spot them all.

Overall I'd say this film is definitely worth a watch.

Ernest Cline's fast-moving novel was a treasure trove for pop-culture junkies, but the endless references work better on the screen.

The year is 2045; the place is Columbus, Ohio. Our hero, Wade Watts, fills in the details while climbing past his grungy homes of his town, "the stacks," where trailer parks are piled on top of each other sky-high. Things are so miserable in Wade's world, everyone escapes to play in an immersive virtual reality game known as the Oasis. Its founder, James Halliday is worshipped like a god until his death some years before. However, before he left the mortal world, the creator left behind a series of games that would reward the winner with the prize of the keys to his virtual kingdom.

The book was a fast paced adventure that took its time to geek out on all of the 80's pop culture references but the film doesn't do that. . Spielberg doesn't have Wade (the titular character) talk audiences through it, and he doesn't spell out the references, he just quickly stamps down the Delorean in the middle of a action sequence and then continues onward. Fans can pause it frame by frame and analyse it thoroughly looking for the flux capacitor on the dashboard, checking the plates, and scanning for extra bonus material. Even to people who've never seen the Back to the Future movies and aren't vibing on the connection, the car doesn't need explaining. It's just a sleek piece of visual energy, one breathless element among dozens of others. That's why the movie works better than the books in terms of visual style and nostalgia.

The thin plot and the not so well done shallow characters make the film to be just a pop culture reference filled visual treat. Several plot holes( If movement is required to move an avatar in the game, how do people play in the Oasis while standing in their living rooms?) and a non-existent character arc makes it a fun, but a tangible watch. They're all already heroes, the big bad is evil from start to finish.

The story's breakneck speed, it's never ending references, make it a fun, exciting watch.

Keys hidden in a VR game world unlock the fortune of the inventor of the OASIS and control over it, so a group of kids must stop a shady Corporation getting the prize.

Like ET crossed with Willy Wonka, Ready Player One is Spielberg back to classic Spielberg - the kids are fighting off the big bad business boss while trying to win the grand prize of a tech giant's fortune and control of the OASIS, a virtual reality world used by most of the planet's population to escape the horrors of their everyday lives. The tech giant in question is the socially awkward but big dreaming James Halliday expertly played by Mark Rylance in a Brian May wig (originally Spielberg wanted Gene Wilder to play the role before his untimely death in 2016) who lived pop culture references and so made all the challenges (all different to the ones in the 2011 book by Ernest Cline) based around his obsession with 1970s & 80s pop culture.

Characters including the Iron Giant, Harley Quinn, MechaGozilla, Chucky, Lara Croft and King Kong all make an appearance alongside references from games like Overwatch, Pitfall, Mortal Kombat, Joust, Street Fighter II, Bioshock, Battle Toads and Mass Effect and more than enough film nods like Back to the Future, Alien, Saturday Night Fever, Robocop, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Jurassic Park, Beetlejuice, Terminator 2, Mad Max and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The amazing thing is that the constant search for these on-screen glimpses doesn't distract at all from the story and, in typical Spielberg fashion, the action and narrative are married perfectly with one never overshadowing the other.

There are a vast number of audience-made lists out there on forums documenting as many references as they can and there always seems to be one they've missed. It never ends. From the big ones (like an entire sequence set in a particular film which was completely missing from the trailer, so you'll get no spoilers here) to the little ones (like a briefly-mentioned artefact that turns time back by 60 seconds called the Zemeckis Cube, so named after the Back to the Future director), they flash by for you to either catch and enjoy or miss and never know that that was Freddy Krueger being punched in the balls by Duke Nukem.

Best Quote: "I mean ... it's nothing less than a war for control of the future."