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Rating: 7/10 (20 March 2018)

I was able to attend a Cineworld preview of the film a couple of weeks before the official release.
Wade Watts (Tye Sheriden) lives in a slum high rise in the future dystopia. He, like the rest of the world, escape their daily struggle to live in OASIS, a virtual reality universe where everything and anything is possible. However, there is battle for control of OASIS, pitting its ideological members against a cynical and murderous corporation bent on monetarising the virtual playground.
Of course the plot, source novel and even Stephen Spielberg have been secondary in the run up to the release of "Ready Player One" as all have taken a back seat to the discussion about the thousands of licenced properties that inhabit the world of the OASIS. Some commenters have found this wave of nostalgia that the films advertising brings to the fore nauseating, so I am happy to report that, in my opinion, the film mostly manages to walk the line between the smart references and endless "look at this, you used to like this" moments pretty well. Occasionally they are forced, ( I recognised the bike from Akira, you don't need to literally tell me it's the bike from Akira - and if people don't recognise it, then telling them "it's the bike from Akira" isn't really going to mean anything to them), but mostly they are either made integral to the plot or on and off screen so fast they are simply background. It's a film that will reward pausing the film at home, and trying to spot exactly who is who and what is what at a later date.
But, apart from the endless cameos what of the actual film itself? It's pretty good, it's a bit patchy and some bits work better than others. Naturally when adapting a novel, even one as superficial as "Ready Player One" at lot of the depth has to go. The struggle of the real world is probably the biggest departure, and the idea that people live, work and go to school in OASIS and not just use it for entertainment. There are other changes to make the film more cinematic, gone are much of the sections of the book where Parzival progresses in the Easter Egg Hunt by playing Atari games and they have been replaced by an car race, that opens the film, and a section of the film that is comfortably the films best - set in recreation of the Overlook hotel from "The Shining". Whilst talking about that scene, I'm pretty amazed that the film will get away with the 12A rating, based on the horror elements in that scene, some parents might be better seeing it themselves first, before letting younger children see it.
Performance wise, the film is a bit all over the place. The two leads, Tye Sheriden as Wade and Olivia Cooke as Samantha/Art3mis are OK. Although over 50% of their performance is vocal / motion capture, their best work is done when they are out of OASIS though. Lena Waithe too, is much better in the real world than when inside the game. Mark Rylance gives another great turn as James Halliday, the creator of the game, he portrays the shy, melancholy nature of the man, without ever slipping into too much clichÃ©. Simon Pegg is less effective, ok playing the younger Ogden Morrow, but struggling when saddled by old man prosthetics. I should say, I saw the film in 3D... which I normally would try and avoid as I find the glasses blurs the action rather than enhancing it... but "Ready Player One" always looked clean and crisp, probably the best I've ever felt with the gimmick.
Enjoyable whilst it lasts "Ready Player One" is a fun ride with some excellent parts. I suspect that come the end of the year it'll likely be pretty forgotten, let alone in a Spielberg career retrospective.