fun and full of 80's references......but that's all.

Rating: 6/10 (24 April 2018)

Ready Player one is the story of Wade Watts and his adventure in a Virtual Reality world called the Oasis. When the creator of the Oasis dies he leaves behind an Easter egg in the Oasis which, when found, will give complete control of the Oasis over to the lucky finder of the egg. This is a film dripping with nostalgia centered around the 1980's pop culture which did entertain me but left me wanting more. LETS GO!!!
The good things... The CGI is very well done (like all Spielberg movies) and the actual basic story was okay and had some interesting morals behind it. The importance of reality being the ultimate and most enjoyable game was one I could get behind and in these times an important one to remember.
For the most part I enjoyed the use of music especially given that it was mostly 80s rock and roll which is really in keeping with the style of the film. The use of science fiction inspired scores is very tasteful and keeps things playful and suspenseful where needed.
For the most part the actors are great at portraying their characters in the Oasis and the voice work is very well done. The cinematography was on point when it cuts to the real world, you do get the sense of a bleak future where everyone is happier in their VR world because outside of it the earth is a poor, overpopulated slum. The film captures that really well and I think should be praised for its use of practical as it could so easily have used CGI for both the VR world and the real world.
Now......The not so good things. The plot is very thin and mainly just a rip off of the goonies or any other treasure finding film. Honestly nothing really original is bought to the table. The characters have very little development and certain things that happen to Wade in the real world are not explained very well. The family turmoil he faces at home is very quickly glossed over and even when tragedy strikes at home Wade bounces back in the very next scene without so much as a tear or glum expression.
All of the other characters play mainly to type and have nothing going on in their backstories besides them helping or hindering Wade in finding the Easter Egg. I did say the actors did a good job at playing the characters but my problem is that when their characters are one dimensional and have so little development it's really hard for me to empathize and fell attached to them.
Like I said without the references this movie is basically a straight forward film with nothing of merit and no significant character development. Hollywood at the moment is relying too much on pop culture references, memes and nostalgia in its latest films. Ready Player One is a prime example of this! I'm sorry but I just can't give a film a glowing review if its main draw is "oh look it's a Jurassic Park reference" or "oh it's that thing I love from ages ago".
In the cinema I was genuinely asking myself why I shouldn't be watching Back to the Future instead of this film. Honestly I think you would have a better time watching any of the films Ready Player One references. Don't get me wrong this film is not a bad one by anyone's standards but it is all sizzling 80s and no plot and character development steak.