My Review of "Ready Player One"

Ready Player One is an interesting science fiction movie that came out back in 2018. I remember watching it back in the day and not quite getting it. Oddly enough I read the book before I watched the movie and I still didn't get it. Fortunately after my 3rd viewing I think I'm starting to see why some people had some great opinions about this movie. This isn't to say you have to watch it as many times as I did to understand.

The movie starts out describing the world our protagonist Parzival lives in. They live in the year 2045 in the city of Columbus. There has been some pretty big world changes that happened and I guess the world isn't doing so great. Instead the world's population is fixated on an online video game world called the OASIS.

It's a virtual reality universe where everyone can be whoever they want to be and do whatever they want to do. It's the perfect utopia I guess but it's governed by OASIS artificial intelligence. The game's maker James Halliday had created the universe the way he would have wanted a utopia to be.

5 years ago Halliday passed away and he placed a little Easter egg inside the game. If a gamer can beat 3 specific tasks they would be granted 3 keys to open up the special Easter egg. Inside the Easter egg would be documentations to own the OASIS universe to do what they'd like with it. Being a trillion dollar industry everyone to claim this prize. Not only for the monetary advantages but also the prestige of being the one that figured it all out.

With money we of course have to have greed. This is where the evil IOI company. IOI is basically every worst evil stereotype a corporation can have. They want to gain possession of the OASIS so they can further profit from the universe.

It's up to Parzival and his gang of plucky friends to save the OASIS from IOI's evil clutches. In order to do that they have to study up on the life and times of Halliday and see what clues he left behind. These clues will be crucial to their quest for the hidden keys and ultimately the illustrious Easter egg.

This movie takes after a ton of movies and pop culture. Some of them obvious and some of them are more subtle. If you're a pop culture buff you will have a great time with this one because some of the homages are pretty spot on. At times it feels like it's smoothly blending from one genre to another. Like it can go from Wizard of Oz to the Lord of the Rings really fast.

When I first saw the movie I thought it was a jumbled mess. There was so much happening on screen at one time that I kind of got lost in the shuffle. It is still so now but more so because I kind of get all the references they're making. I get distracted easily by all of the cameos and nods they make in this movie. There are a ton too and I won't spoil too many for you. This was different from Chip N Dale's Rescue Rangers. They also had a ton of cameos but they kept with a simple storyline. It was easy for me to keep up despite the plethora of cameos.

If you break it down it is a simple movie but with a lot of working parts. It's basically a movie about lost opportunities and taking the chances when you can. Parzival is basically a replica of Halliday in the present day. The thing is this time he's learning from Halliday's lessons because he has to study Halliday to get to the big prize.

In pursuit of the big prize this movie is a spectacle. Not only are the cameos quite surprising at times you also have amazing CGI. This is a movie that is best viewed on the big screen with big sound. The theatre is the best place to see this but if you have a really good system and can get this movie at the best 4K quality that should suffice. It will work out your TV and receiver to the max.

Overall, I actually enjoyed this movie more so than I did the first time I saw it. I'm not sure what happened but something clicked in my head and I started to see what everyone was screaming and shouting about for this movie. It can be still a little busy at times and that can be a bit intimidating for some viewers. Casual viewers might also not understand a lot of the pop cultural references they are referring to in this movie. As it stands I have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. It is actually a pretty fun ride. It's kind of a mindless ride at times but if you have a great way of viewing this movie then it's worth checking it out.