Great Spielberg Adventure Film

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2018)

As a lover of Spielberg, I had high expectations for this film, and to be honest, I was not let down. Ready Player One tells a simple yet captivating story filled with interesting puzzles, pop culture references, and great action sequences. I enjoyed how the story felt like an adventure that had components similar to a quest in a video game such as collecting items, solving puzzles, and overcoming obstacles. I think this was a smart choice since it made the notion that the Oasis was a video game much more believable. I also really enjoyed the action sequences in this film. I am not the biggest fan of action movies, but I thought this film shot the scenes tastefully. The racing scene and the large battle near the end of the film were two of the action scenes that really stood out to me. There were not a whole lot of quick cuts and blurry visual effects, proving that Spielberg and his team put time and effort into those scenes.
Many people seem to have complaints about the film's use of pop culture references, some even calling it "Super Smash Bros: The Movie." I would disagree with many of these criticisms. I felt as though most of the references did not distract or take away from the film. Sure, there were moments of, "Oh look there is..." but overall, I did not think that I was constantly being taken out of the experience. I also think that it is realistic that everyone in the Oasis is some sort of licensed avatar. Look at games like VR Chat today, all the people running around in that game are using a licensed avatar. In my opinion, I enjoyed the references (minus the terrible line about Twitch streams) and thought it was a unique experience seeing all of the pop culture icons on screen at the same time.
Even though I enjoyed the film, there were some definite issues I had with it. The first issue I had, which seems to be a popular criticism, was that the characters did not have a ton of depth. You got some brief backstory on some of the characters, but mostly the motivations for the actions were brushed over rather quickly. There were many times I craved for backstory or relationships to be more developed such as the relationship between Wade and his aunt, what happened to Wade's parents, and a few other plot points. Another issue that I had with the film was that the initial 15 minutes felt very expositional. I understand that the film had a lot to explain to setup the story, but I think it could have done a better job in the beginning of showing instead of telling through narrative exposition.
Ready Player One had some issues, but overall, I think it was an enjoyable film. The quest-like plot structure along with some interesting surprises made the film a captivating and fun experience. I would recommend this film to people who enjoy action adventure films, video games, and/or science fiction.
The Good:

Fun adventure story
Some interesting surprises
Great visual effects
Execution of action sequences

The Bad:

The shallow depth of most characters
A great deal of expositional dialog initially
Mentioning Twitch...