In a year full of blockbuster, effects-driven films, none of them have stood out to me as much as Ready Player One. Its seems that the event movie has been taken over by comic book movies and reboots of beloved franchises. Ready Player One is the culmination of everything that every nerd of the past 30 years holds dear, especially fans of the 80’s. Never has so many pop culture references been shoved into a single film, but does it work or become just a bloated walk down memory lane?

Based on the bestselling book

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Let’s get this out of the way right here. I don’t read books. Once in a while I’ll break down and pour through one, but when I do they’re normally nonfiction. I can count about 5 novels I’ve read without it being assigned reading — The Lost World, World War Z, House of Leaves. Most of the books I’ve read that have been turned into films deviate far from the source material. But everyone told me I had to read this book, so I broke down and cheated a bit by getting the audiobook. And I was hooked.

The book threw countless pop culture references at the reader and actually made them integral to the story rather than just desperate attempts to play on the reader’s nostalgia. The number of references in this book is just staggering, from the casual to truly deep cuts. How could this reasonably get translated to the big screen?

While I’m happy to report that while significant changes were made to some of the events, their order and the method in which they happened, it faithfully retains what made the book so magical.

Another Spielberg classic

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Ready Player One is the story of Wade Watts, a teenager in the near future which is dominated by a massive online VR simulation known as The Oasis. While it was designed to be an immersive game experience, it grew to the point where even school was being taught in the Oasis. This is where people went to escape the stark real world where countless people live in poverty, just getting by while living in makeshift skyscrapers constructed of trailer homes stacked one on top of the other.

The story begins with us being introduced to the contest. James Halliday, the reclusive ubernerd who created the Oasis created a contest that began after he passed away. He hid 3 keys inside the Oasis and whoever was able to find all 3 keys would locate his Easter egg, inherit his massive fortune and gain control of the Oasis to do with as they please. This contest has consumed the world, where people have dedicated their lives to finding these keys.

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This setup throws us into the world of Ready Player One as Wade (known as Parz1val in this Oasis) introduces us to other characters like his best friend H and love interest and rival Artemis. After Parz1val manages to find the first key, they band together with some other friends to hunt down the remaining two. They’re met with resistance at every step by the massive company IOI, which has recruited hundreds of people to find the egg and wrest control of the Oasis away from the people and turn it into a soulless corporate cash cow.

The verdict

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Stunning. This movie is amazing, with jaw-dropping set pieces and a carefully reconstructed plot that finds a way to condense this sprawling novel down into a 2+ hour film. While I would have preferred they kept the order and ways that certain events happened in the book, I think that for the most part the changes they made were reasonable compromises that didn’t fundamentally change the themes of the book. One of the challenges that was changed for the film is something I actually prefer over the book and how they brought our characters into this setting was just amazing.

The huge numbers of classic video games referenced was a treat and it was handled with reverence rather than as cheap shots at nostalgia. In one scene, a character is shown playing a ColecoVision. The console is never name dropped or focused on. This could have been the more recognizable Atari 2600 or they could have time warped it to show him playing a Playstation, but they stuck to their guns and while giving us an amazing shot of nostalgia, it always felt genuine rather than pandering.

This movie has literally hundreds of geeky pop culture Easter eggs sprinkled throughout it — some front and center, some as window dressing — and seeing the Iron Giant, Gundam, MechaGodzilla and the Delorean from Back to the Future all fighting it out in the same massive battle had me smiling from ear to ear. I can’t wait to buy this movie so I can watch it for years to come and hunt for all the things I missed on my initial watch.

If you're a fan of the book, gaming, movies, the 80's and pop culture, get out and see this movie. It deserves to be seen on the big screen.

So have you seen Ready Player One? If so, what did you think? Let's discuss!