A Technical Masterpiece

Rating: 7/10 (1 April 2018)

Walking into Ready Player One, I had somewhat low expectations. The last Spielberg project to feature a massive CGI budget failed to impress me (The BFG) and the trailers were not very convincing, either. However, after having seen the movie, I'll admit to my wrong skepticism. Ready Player One is an extremely well-made film that entertains from start to finish.
The film follows Wade Watts in the year 2045, when the world has gone to hell and everyone is glued to a virtual reality system called The Oasis. When the founder of The Oasis dies, Wade goes on an adventure to find a hidden easter egg that would give him control over the system and half a trillion dollars.
Ready Player One is a technical masterpiece. The special effects can only be compared to those of Avatar (2009), where nearly the entire film is made up of CGI. Ready Player One embraces the future, setting the bar for what cinema can do and where it might go in the future. It is refreshing to see a film such as this that continues to take risks and come through successful. Spielberg perfectly combines his old-school filmmaking techniques with breathtaking new technology, producing such an enjoyable watching experience.
The characters, for the most part, are all very well written and done. The romance between Wade and a girl inside The Oasis was very rushed and given no time, but that was my only main complaint with them. All the actors did a fantastic job, especially Ben Mendelsohn, who portrays the corporate baddie looking for ultimate Oasis control. Mendelsohn relishes his role as the bad guy, taking inspiration from his previous evil persona in Rogue One (2016) and delivering something truly memorable.
My only flaws with the film were story related, as the script seemed to move super fast towards the beginning without much structure, relying heavily on expositional narration for nearly 15 minutes. The third act, while containing much nostalgia and being visually spectacular, dragged on far too long and ended up feeling kind of bloated. It is a longer movie, clocking in at 2 hours and 20 minutes, and I began feeling the runtime towards the last few sequences.
Despite it's few flaws, Ready Player One is an amazing cinematic experience and one that should be felt inside a theater. The technical mastery on display should be marveled at, whether its the special effects or sound design. Ready Player One is extremely fun, and will keep you entertained from start to finish.