Disservice to the Book

Rating: 2/10 (15 December 2018)

Ernest Cline's book, Ready Player One, was a master piece. It was one of the best books that I have read in a long time, so I was very excited when I finally had the time to watch the movie. I love watching Spielberg movies, but Ready Player One is an exception. The movie is supposed to be based off of the book; however, the only parts of the book that the movie retained were the names of people, places, and the pursuit of Halliday's Easter Egg. If the movie did not claim that it was based off of the book, then I would give it a higher rating.
The plot of the movie and character development diverged so sharply from the book that if the movie had changed the names of all of the characters and places, I would have no idea that I was watching a movie based off of Ready Player One. A major example of this in the movie are the three challenges leading up to the Easter Egg. The first challenge in the book was playing a game of Joust against a very good AI made by Halliday. The first challenge in the movie was a race through a deadly, virtual New York. A race is more action packed, but it strays away too much from Halliday's 80s character that Cline attempts to highlight in his book. A major variation in character development in the movie is that the high five all live in the same city, and Artemis is a part of some sort of rebellion. In the book, they are all just average kids that live around the world. Living in the same city made it possible to condense the running time of the movie, but it detracts from the fact that the OASIS is a global platform and that people of all backgrounds can unite to do what is right.
The lack of plot line continuity also made the movie hard to watch. A great example of this is the relationship between Wade, and Daito and Sho. At the beginning of the movie, they only briefly mention Daito and Sho, but at the end of the movie they are ready to sacrifice themselves Wade. What happened during the movie that Daito and Sho were willingly to die for Wade. In the book, the three of them help each other complete quests and Wade gives up a very powerful prize to Daito. Wade earns the trust and loyalty during the book. During the movie, Daito and Sho just blindly trust Wade.
The movie does the book a great disservice and I recommend that you do not waste your time with it. If you haven't read the book, I would recommend reading it because it is one of the best books that I have ever read.