Ready Player One: Considerably better than I expected

Rating: 9/10 (5 September 2018)

There seem to be two camps as far as Ready Player One is concerned, those who have read the books (Who tend to dislike the movie) and those who haven't (Who tend to like the movie). I'm in the latter group and am very thankful for this.
When the trailer came out I was unimpressed and didn't get onboard with the hype at all, yes I was impressed with all the pop culture references and characters but I figured it would be all flash and no substance.
Thankfully I couldn't have been anymore wrong, Read Player One has plenty of substance, emotion and charm and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
Set in a near dystopian world where people use a virtual reality world called the Oasis to escape their lives it tells the story of one player and his efforts participating in a competition that with decide the fate of the entire universe (Oasis).
The plot if fantastic and very well handled, the movie looks like a billion dollars, the cast did a decent enough job and the pop culture references though thick and fast didn't overwhelm the movie like I feared they would.
From Overwatchs Tracer, Streetfighters Chun-Li & Ryu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Giant, Chucky, Freddy Kreuger, Mortal Kombats Goro, Gundam, Mech-Godzilla, King Kong, and countless more I being a big ol'nerd really appreciated this. Combined with the incredible mostly 80's soundtrack it's a sight to behold.
The movie wrapped up nicely and went in directions I didn't expect, I'm suitably impressed and would love to see more.
If it's very different than the book I understand peoples anger, for me however this was fantastic.
The Good:
Looks amazing
Solid plot and delivery
Pop culture references are charming
The Bad:
Honestly nothing springs to mind
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I'm still not impressed with Gundam
People CAN swear in Spielberg movies
Old Simon Pegg looks like a tall hobbit
Artemis is the offspring of an elf and a porcupine