Ready Player One (2018) Review

"In 2045 there's nowhere left to go.  Nowhere, except The Oasis."
-Wade Watts



It's 2045 and the world has pretty much gone to crap.  All anybody does is go into the incredible virtual reality simulator, The Oasis; a world where you can do basically anything.  The game's late creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance) has left ownership and control of The Oasis to the first person who can find the three hidden keys inside of the game.  To do that, they have to beat three extremely difficult challenges.  After Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) beats the first challenge, it becomes a race between Wade and his friends and the maniacal IOI cooperation, lead by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) to beat the challenges, with the fate of The Oasis, and the future of the world hanging in the balance.


What Works:

If you love pop culture, I've found the movie for you.  Not since The Lego Movie or South Park's Imaginationland episodes have I seen so many pop culture icons and references crammed into one place.  It's a lot of fun to see them in action.  The Iron Giant, the DeLorean, and so many more.  It's truly a movie for nerds and geeks, and I love watching it.

The visual effects are truly amazing.  I thought they might be distracting and possibly nauseating when I saw the trailer, but the action in the movie is never confusing.  We never get lost in the insanity of what is happening on the screen.


What Sucks:

I just wish this movie was longer.  I liked everything in the movie, I just wish we could have done some more exploration of the world and some more development of the characters.  An extra half-hour would have made this movie perfect.  Oh well.  I guess I'll just have to read the book.


Verdict:

Ready Player One is basically a celebration of all things geeky and nerdy, and it's a solid celebration. It delivers on everything it promises in the trailer.  I just wish it was longer and we got more of it.  Ready Player One has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 



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