[Review] Ready Player One (6.5/10)

On paper, I should have enjoyed this more. But after watching this last night in an almost full cinema with an audience that was cheering and clapping, I did not enjoy the experience.

I am talking about all the popular characters that started popping in and out of the screen. I understand that these are all in the source material, I understand why they were there, I understand that this was not Steven Spielberg's faulty direction, but I was just displeased with the whole thing.

Call me a grumpy old fart, call me going through midlife crisis, but I felt like Spielberg treated me like a pet cat and he took out his keys from his pocket and started dangling in front of me just to get my attention.

Don't get me wrong, I love references to pop culture. But I prefer when the references happen they happen organically and not randomly. Like when the words "Padawan" or "Millenium Falcon" was used, they were in a context which made them made sense. But when a Chocobo suddenly appeared with a rider that did not seem like it was from Final Fantasy, that I have problems with.

But as a movie adapted from a book, this was done as well as can be. From the effects to the pacing and the buildup, from understanding and writing to the execution of what a platform game and an MMORPG were, all these were great.

Coming from Spielberg, I would have expected nothing less, perhaps even more. Because there were some parts of the story that I found myself wanting more explanation or to go more in-depth. Which is also why I think this story would have been a much better idea as a limited TV series, or perhaps even split the movie into a two-parter.

The romance side of things stuck out with a lot of cringe. Parzival played by Tye Sheridan reminded me of Ted Mosby from "How I Met Your Mother", saying "I love you" on the first date. This needed a lot more development in this day and age than to say, just accept it as it is.

Also, why are we not dealing with the emotional stuff? There was a certain event that caused a whole living quarters to collapse and it was not even glazed over.

The final battle also felt too rushed. What was Daito, played by Win Morisaki, doing in the first half of that battle? The members of the eventual High Five needed more screentime because they looked so interesting that the story felt incomplete without humanizing them more; because that was how good the movie could have been. Plus, did I miss an explanation of how the name "High Five" came about? Rushed.

But the story as a whole was great, which is why I may pick up the book instead as I left the cinema wondering and wanting more from the details that I am sure the book can offer. Or maybe I need to watch it again, alone this time, and see if I can enjoy it more.