The film equivalent to Smash Bros.

Rating: 4/10 (13 June 2020)

Ready Player One has only been out for 2 years, and it has already shown its age. The story, while an interesting concept, is very poorly executed. Lots of plot holes that go nowhere. How exactly did the world start turning into what it is now? Did Halliday ever dealt with any lawsuits when operating the OASIS, which is filled with excessive pop-culture references?
Sorrento's reasoning for ruling the OASIS is never explained. Why does he want to rule the OASIS? What gave him the idea of wanting to rule it? These plot holes could've easily been solved if they focused less on the excessive nostalgia pandering and focus more on character development. Or better yet, the filmmakers should've split the film into 3 parts (1 part for each of the 3 keys), yeah it would've been more expensive, but the end result would most likely pay off better than what we got. This movie doesn't focus on its story very well, and as a result, comes off as an unfinished mess. This film doesn't even have a strong identity, the amount of nostalgic references to movies, games, TV shows, books, and songs are so excessively in your face and so blatant, that it makes it very tedious and tiring to get through this movie. It's the same issue I have with another property that has the same issues, Smash Bros. is what this film reminded me of, because of how horrifically pandering it is to nostalgic people. Is there anything I like about this movie? Yes there is. There are a couple of jokes that do get a good chuckle out of me, some of the blatant references do make some sense in the context of the film, and the ending is very well put together for having a message that reality is the only place worth living in, as painful and miserable it can be. In conclusion, while I did love this movie back in 2018, I feel like this movie has already aged so badly. Years from now, nostalgia is going to die off as a fad, and considering how many old properties have been referenced and resold to the extreme, I don't see this film holding up in the future, especially when people stop falling for the nostalgia exploitation that companies love to abuse. There are better movies that are about video games or take place in a video game in that movie's world. Wreck-it-Ralph (2012) is one of the better examples of a video game themed film done right, it has references to real games, but they're all background references that aren't in your face nor are they the main focus, while the made-up games are the main focus.
I don't recommend wasting 2 hours and 20 minutes of your time with Ready Player One. Go watch one of Spielberg's other movies instead.