"Ready Player One" Movie Review

I'll admit that I was on the fence about Ready Player One. While the effects looked cool, I was more interested in how the story would play out. The trailer put me in the mind of Tron: Legacy, and I hoped it wouldn't be awkward like Tron: Legacy could be at times. I'm happy to say that this film eased my doubts and surpassed all expectations.

The film follows Wade Watts, an 18 year-old young man in 'The Stacks' in Columbus, Ohio during the year 2045. For those that don't know, 'The Stacks' refers to a neighborhood of poor people. The one thing that all of humanity has in common is The Oasis, a virtual-reality world where anyone can be anyone, where the only limit is each individual's imagination. People use The Oasis to escape their lives, many staying online for days at a time. One day, it's announced that the creator of The Oasis, Halliday, has died. In his 'video will', it's revealed that he's placed three challenges within The Oasis. At the end of each challenge, the winner will receive a key. Whoever collects all three keys will win full control over The Oasis and will inherit Halliday's half-a-trillion-dollar company. Wade, determined to get out of the slums and make something of himself, teams up with his best friend Aech and his cyber-crush Artemis in order to collect all three keys before the evil corporation IOI does.

Now I had never read the book before this. In fact, I didn't even know it was originally a book until I heard the always hilarious Maude Garret (host of GeekBomb and co-host of NewRockstars) state that she was a huge fan of the book. Well I am certainly going to read it now. The film blew my mind. Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke were perfect together, both on-screen and in cyber form. Ben Mendelsohn always plays a fantastic villain, this time being no exception. What was particularly fun for me was seeing how many game and film characters I could spot. From Iron Giant to Batman to Mechagodzilla, Ready Player One was so full of fun characters and references that I couldn't list them all if I tried.

In conclusion, do yourself a favor and go see this film. It doesn't matter if you're a game enthusiast or not. The story alone is captivating enough and it's just too much fun to pass up. I give the film a 4 out of 4.