Ready Player One - Loved It

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn
Director: Steven Spielberg
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Book-to-Film | 2018

Synopsis: When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.

Based on the novel by Ernest Cline, this film dives into the future, 2045 to be exact, when humans have been taken over by electronics. Not taken over in the sense like robots, but in the sense that even in today’s time, we are glued to our computers and phones. The OASIS is a virtual world where you can go anywhere and do anything without the repercussions of being harmed or dying. Yes, you can “die” in the OASIS, but you just start over much like a video game (which it was technically made to be in the first place).

Tye Sheridan plays Parzival/Wade, a young man who loves everything about the OASIS, including the creator and the original reason it was created. Inside he has his group of friends: Aech, Sho, Daito, and Art3mis (Olivia Cooke). Parzival is the first player to reach the first key to the Easter Egg in over 5 years since the information was released. This pisses off IOI, a company that invests much time and effort into finding the key and obtaining the fortune.

Ben Mendelsohn plays Sorrento, the head of IOI and the antagonist of the film. Eventually, he finds out Parzival’s real identity and the on screen plot twists and turns and action goes back and forth through virtual and reality.

The movie itself was extremely fun to watch. I liked the way the virtual world was portrayed and the scene jumps between the two worlds. The plot was good and typical from what you’d expect in a movie based off a best selling novel. Perfect for my type of film watching experience. The thing I loved most about the film was the tribute to the films from the 80s and 90s. I could tell that a lot of things were pulled from other movies, particularly those that Spielberg had something to do with, and it just made the movie that much more awesome. Same with the music choices. Mostly 80s songs, the soundtrack was extremely similar to that of Guardians of the Galaxy. The use of boomboxes was a nice touch.

I think my favorite scene was the one where  they were inside the movie The Shining. Probably because I had seen it and knew the references, but also this was probably the funniest part. Aech had never seen the movie, so everything that happened to throw of guard was just hilarious.

Overall, I loved this movie. It’s well worth the 2 hours and 20 minute run time and I’d like to see it again. (5/5).