A Nerd's Nerd Film

Rating: 8/10 (13 April 2018)

Ready Player One is quite possibly the biggest "nerd's nerd film". What I mean by that is that sure the film can be appreciated by the general public, but there's no question that the large part of the population that goes to see it won't be able to truly appreciate the ins and outs of this Easter egg filled movie. Dozens and probably even closer to hundreds of hidden gems fill this Sci-fi feature helmed by one of the all-time greatest directors, Steven Spielberg. If there's ever a film you wish you could pause, zoom-in, and rewind while in the theater, it's Ready Player One.
There is of course, the disappointing element of the film you have to get over, which is that a good chunk of the film (maybe 75%) is in CGI. Once you get passed the fact that the characters you're supposed to grapple onto, and the environments they inhabit, are entirely fake, then there's not much stopping you from having a blast. I thought the performances by Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and Ben Mendelsohn were all very good, and in Cooke's case, great. The effects and cinematography were about as good as you're going to get without going over budget. And the script was above average.
However, the real journey you go to the theater for is the mystery, easter eggs, and the surprises. Boy were there a ton of them here. There's one particular scene, which was somehow not spoiled by any marketing or journalist, that is one of the coolest film sequences I have seen in quite some time. And Spielberg really does a nice job of appealing to the older generations as well as the newer generations. What a ride this film was.
8.8/10