Unfaithful adaptation, middle of the road Spielberg

Rating: 5/10 (10 July 2018)

Ready Player One is movie that had an unfair amount of expectations riding on it. It's based on a beloved book and directed by one of the most celebrated living directors of all time. With that in mind, it's pretty understandable why most people were underwhelmed by it. Book fans were disappointed by the drastic departures it took from the original story. Spielberg fans felt like they were being pandered to with cheap nostalgial. That said, if you take away these lofty standards, it's a perfectly fine movie. Certainly nowhere near as impressive as some of Spielberg's other films, but I think it was his best work in the past 10 years. Visually, it's absolutely breathtaking with some of the best CGI you'll see. The characters are pretty one-dimensional but likeable nonetheless. The dialogue is mostly good, but there are a few lines that are either just clunkily inserted exposition or a loosely related popculture reference. In terms of story, it works perfectly fine but as I mentioned, it's significantly different from the book. However, almost all the changes I think were necessary to make it a more cinematically pleasing experience since half of the book is just descriptions of people playing videogames.
If you're expecting a faithful adaptation of the book or the second coming of Spielberg, you'll most likely be disappointed, but if you can set that aside, it's an enjoyable film.