Ready Player One Review

What I liked: I bet all of the developers loved making this film, I saw so many video game and movie references in the background of scenes. I bet all the developers just inserted their favorites like the ninja turtles, a whole platoon of halo soldiers, and orcs. That it was a video game made it possible and exciting to have all kinds of absolutely random physics and logic defying things happen. Obviously, I loved the T. Rex and who would not enjoy seeing Mechagodzilla or a cyborg orc driving a monster truck? Early in the movie they made good use of the video game architecture in a way that reminded me a bit of secret rooms in super mario. The characters visit the world of the Shining, which was amazing and hilarious. I loved the variety of characters, vehicles and weapons that we get to see and it is more fun (at least for me) that they draw from more than strictly the 1980's. I also really liked the music, for the most part the selections were great for the scenes. The book was seriously streamlined for the screen but the movie still clocks in at almost 2:30. There were three main plus sides of this slimming screen adaptation 1) I didn't know what would happen next and didn't know the solutions to the puzzles 2) the heroism was spread out among more characters than just Wade 3) the characters more mainstream. They were pretty standard dystopian teen characters (this made the characters much more palatable, eliminating things that I found annoying in the book, but also undermined the celebration of all things over the top geek that was essentially the entire book).

What I didn't: Possibly the only worse plan than bringing glow sticks to a gun fight is bringing a boom box to an all out war zone. I think the main problem overall was a lack of coordination. I don't know why this would be surprising in a video game movement led by teenagers, but it did seem like a general short coming. Launching massive ground assaults tends to go better with advance notice, and perhaps a plan. Every time I try to rally everyone living in a ghetto by sending a cryptic message with zero details, it doesn't actually work out. It was terribly convenient that all the main characters lived in the same city but how did they all find each other? I have trouble finding my friends at a prearranged time and location, and I know what they look like. It seems like it would be harder if I were expecting a cyborg orc troll to show up at an unknown time and place. For having such terrible planning skills, how did they start as resistance? where did all the tomato plants come from? I'm also not convinced that couch potato gamers would be that good at karate, all their VR practice not withstanding. And whoever designed the VR suits was not really thinking about marketability when they programmed the suits to transmit pain one would experience from a gun shot or fist fight. What were the mechanics of the game, sometimes one character in the group got a key or item and then everyone on the team had it. I guess they were right about Halliday hating rules because they seemed to be very flexible to the needs of the plot. I would have liked to have seen more Og. It would have really jazzed up the dance club scene. I also would have liked to see some more variety in the video game styles represented. We had some solid Final Fantasy and some good street racing but it would have been fun to have scenes move through FPS and 8-bit styles too. Of all the times one could give up on a diabolical plan, the optimal time is not after creating about 10,000 witnesses but before accomplishing your goal. You have incurred all the cost and realized none of the reward. If you are going to give up do so before or after that point. It's too bad that Maggie fell on such hard times after Waking Ned Divine.

Who should watch this? If you really want to see the movie but are concerned about getting totally inundated with 80's trivia like in the book, never fear, this has been mainstreamized just for you. If you read the book and are hoping for a plot dedicated to obscure bits of 80's trivia, you will likely be disappointed.

Would I watch it again? It was fun to see. I laughed out loud. It would be rewatchable.