Lacks the magic of Spielberg's past blockbusters.

Rating: 6/10 (4 April 2018)

"I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread." Those words come courtesy of Bilbo (Ian Holm) in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. But they also illustrate perfectly why Ready Player One, while fun in parts and an overall success, doesn't quite capture the magic of its director's past blockbusters.
That director is Stephen Spielberg, an ideal choice to spearhead a film celebrating every dimension and detail of late-twentieth-century pop culture. Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Back to the Future, Jurassic Park-these are just a few of the properties he has brought to the big screen. If each of them could look in from the past to see this newest creation, what would they say?
One thing is undeniable: Ready Player One, whether the movie or Ernest Cline's bestselling novel on which it is based, stands as one of the most original entertainment entities of the new millennium. Its story occurs in the year 2045, with society having taken a less-than-utopian turn. Consequently, nearly everyone spends their time plugged into a virtual world known as the OASIS. Money, friends, fame, love-anything worth experiencing happens in there. Reality is for losers.
Especially considering that the game's original designer, James Halliday (a brilliant Mark Rylance), planted a special egg deep within its digital walls. The first 'player' to find the egg gets half a trillion dollars and total control of the OASIS (which, essentially, amounts to world domination). The catch? The path to the egg consists exclusively of contests, quizzes and other tricky breadcrumbs based on Halliday's love for 80's movies, music and video games. Know the founder and you'll find the finish line.
This is exactly what teenager Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) intends to do. Thanks to his obsessive knowledge of Halliday, he (and thus, his OASIS avatar Parzival) have a great chance to succeed. He's also got a best friend (Aech), a new girl (Art3mis) and an arch nemesis (Nolan Sorrento, head of IOI, the sinister real-world corporation that also wants control of the OASIS).
This is the short version, and still a lot to unpack. I don't want to be 'that guy,' but I did read the book before I saw the movie. For anyone else in the same boat, it should be noted that the movie departs from its source material on several fronts.
Many adjustments are necessary and simply based on the medium. An early scene from the book involving a video game competition becomes a massive, exhilarating car race in the movie. The latter, of course, is much more suited to a visual experience, and the production's willingness to adapt should be applauded. Nor are the changes pure sacrilege, as Cline co-wrote the script. Each alteration echoes the author.
But it also takes us back to Bilbo. For it's not just that a novel contains so much more information than a movie; it's that this particular novel is all about the information, the details. Ready Player One has characters, and a story, but cares more than anything about minutiae-the tidbits of cultural knowledge that only geeks and fanboys would know.
The movie's intentions to highlight this are valiant, but misguided. Yes, we see the Iron Giant battle Mechagodzilla; we feel the eeriness of the Overlook Hotel; we hear the retro beats of Jump and We're Not Gonna Take It. But we don't fully experience any of them. There are just too many. The movie spends all its time simply reaching these coveted niches, there's none left to actually enjoy the visit.
That doesn't mean, of course, that the journey can't be fun. For starters, Ready Player One might feature the most impressive use of CGI since Avatar. This is a movie that literally could not have been made twenty years ago. The story itself is well-paced, with likeable characters speeding through a fresh world of surprise and discovery.
If you view the film as a series of nostalgic moments-Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Atari, The Millennium Falcon-it's hard to be disappointed. But if you're looking for those moments to add up to something-to become more than the sum of vintage parts-then you may have to resort to reading.
There's a scene near the end of the film between two characters in a bedroom. It's simple, quiet; it breathes, it takes its time. Through the silence, and a touch of wonder, it leads us to emotion. Almost without knowing it, we feel like a kid again.
I think this is the movie Spielberg really wanted to make. Sometimes the flash and bang and noise detract from the real entertainment. Here, it's the wonder of new worlds, and new friends. More than anything, that is the soul of Ready Player One.