If you love the book don't watch the movie!

Rating: 6/10 (20 March 2018)

I went to an advance screening of Ready Player One last night. I was very excited having been looking forward to seeing this movie since I read the book for the first time ( and many times since) shortly after its release in 2011. I was confident that in the hands of the great Steven Spielberg it would be a masterpiece.
I have tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible but it does assume you have watched the trailers and know a little about the plot of the book.
If you go in to watch this film expecting the screenplay to match the book, you will be disappointed; a lot! As was I. This has had the full Hollywood makeover replacing key parts of the story, losing the development of the main characters, and the struggles that Wade had to face to climb from the bottom in the stacks (no pun intended), and reducing the fantastic 80's references to background noise - even to replacing some of the main plot elements that made the book such a joy to read to non-sensical excuses to throw in more action and a few 'scares'. Just had you home blown up with the only family you have? Hey that's okay, I just met a pretty girl! And if you are expecting to have Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) fill that MASSIVE part that he played in the final chapters of the book, prepare for some further disappointment!
If you are looking for just another popcorn action movie, heavy on the CGI and bullet count, with flimsy plot, and loaded with saccharine sickly moments and messages about technology use - this may be for you. But it is certainly not what I was expecting nor hoping for. However, I appreciate that there are many people who haven't read the book and don't even know of it's existence. So my overall rating as a 'so-so' action movie reflects this.