Enjoyable

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2018)

'Ready Player One' is a visually striking adventure film that becomes too saturated with it's pop-culture references. Directed by Stephen Spielberg, one of America's most renowned directors, one would naturally have high expectations. With greats such as 'Jurassic Park', 'Jaws', 'Indiana Jones' and 'Saving Private Ryan' behind his back, a high quality is certainly expected. And after his rather dull film 'The Post', I was certainly hoping to experience the fun side of Spielberg. Thankfully, we got it! Full of spectacular action sequences, breathtaking animations and an engaging storyline, this film is a delight to watch. Tye Sheridan shines in the leading role of Wade, alongside the great supporting actress of Olivia Cooke. Although we saw more of their animated faces, their talent was certainly apparent on the screen and I am certainly invested in their future endeavours. The soundtrack to this film is wonderful as well, with a vast collection of iconic 80's song that immerse the audience into the nostalgic atmosphere. However, this brings me to the main problem of the film; the pop-culture of the film. This movie is crammed with far too many references and easter eggs that becomes exhausting. It was certainly a self-indulgent move by Spielberg to include references to his previous works, essentially showing off to the audience his success of pop-culture status. While it's certainly cool to notice small nods to familiar franchises, it's rather pretentious to load a movie that is over two hours with non-stop excess of everything loved by nerds over the past decades. It would have been more interesting if the films, games and toys referenced in this film were fictional ones, that alluded to real ones through similarity, rather then blatantly shoving nostalgia down the audiences throat. Additionally, the characters in this film felt very cheaply written and underdeveloped. The leading character wasn't entirely likeable and had a few cheesy moments that showed the character's storylines were certainly undermined during the production. However, this film is certainly not a bad film (I quite enjoyed it), but it is far from perfect.