Finally a sci-fi movie that equals Aliens and The 5th Element

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2019)

I usually don't write movie reviews because I feel that there's no right opinion when it comes to how a person perceives a movie, sure there are technical aspects that somewhat determine the overall quality of the movie itself but sometimes a great movie to one person may not appeal to another person due to the subject matter.
Which brings to this movie, where the subject matter in question is deeply inter-woven into modern pop culture especially video games and other things that most people identify as "geeky" stuff, and if you are one of those people who simply are not aligned along that wavelength of pop culture, you simply will not get the vast majority of the movie, however this movie is so well-made for those non-geeky demographics that they'll still be able to enjoy the action and story-telling and the overall theme of the movie which for better or worse is about the human element.
Ready Player One is a movie that does not take itself too seriously, but it's also not goofy enough to put off a hardcore fan of pop culture either, the main characters while a bit stereotypical, are mostly likable and not brain-dead puppets, and to me if the movie has a likable main character, that movie is half way home. The story somewhat reminds me of something else that I may have seen before but it's original enough that I can't simply pinpoint it, but if my arm was twisted and forced me to reference a sample, I would say it reminds me of Sword Art Online a little bit. It's basically an ordinary boy saves the virtual world & the real world and getting the girl he loves scenario, yeah it's a generic story but the execution makes it quite entertaining and fun to watch.
It's ironic that the characters that were referenced included Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles because the postal van scenes reminded me of that movie somewhat, however whenever far more iconic characters and mechas graced the silver screen, I can only imagine the hardcore fanboys wetting themselves over it. For me that moment was when Gundam made the appearance, I for one have yearned for Gundam live-action movie for the longest time, and while this was not exactly how I have envisioned seeing it on the big screen, it sure was satisfying to see my imagination coming to life.
One of the best scenes in my opinion is the car race scene, the execution was just breath-taking, the supreme quality and production is where a director like Steven Spielberg makes his paycheck and he delivers in spades. This movie like the subject matter itself was rather bipolar in presentation in that at times it felt like I was watching a great sci-fi masterpiece, but then the other times I felt like I was watching a corny teenybopper comedy, but the former vastly out-classed the latter so it wasn't a distraction per say.
Lastly, I I do not throw around movie titles like Aliens and The 5th Element lightly as I hold them very close to my heart, and if you are totally into the pop culture scene, you may think this is a superior movie than those two. I don't quite feel that strong about it to say that, but it's a very well made sci-fi movie in a while, and because it had more cultural elements that I relate to, I would put it above something like Guardians of the Galaxy. The only concern is that Ready Player One may not age well over time because it's not a classic type of movie, but it'll have a place in the hearts of those fanboys of the pop culture for sure.