Ready Player One
A billionaire Massively Multiplayer Online game creator posthumously challenges his game's players to find his Easter Egg - his entire fortune - in this pop culture-saturated Spielberg sci-fi thriller, based on the hit novel of the same name. Set in the dystopian society of the year 2045, vast numbers of the planet's population escape the awfulness of reality by entering OASIS, the MMO in which the Easter Egg is hidden. All are able to compete, and it's an eager Wade Watts (Tyler Sheridan) who finds the first clue.
- Director:
- Steven Spielberg ('Saving Private Ryan', 'Schindler's List', 'Catch Me If You Can')
- Writer:
- Ernest ClineEric EasonZak Penn
- Cast:
- Tye SheridanOlivia CookeBen MendelsohnSimon PeggMark RylanceHannah John-KamenT.J. MillerWin MorisakiMark DouglasPhilip Zhao
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksIt’s rare for Steven Spielberg to make a film so quintessentially of the times. The veteran filmmaker almost always casts his eye back, if not in historical setting (i.e. The Post, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, The Colour Purple, Lincoln, Amistad, War Horse, Bridge of Spies and Munich) than in aesthetic sensibility. His middle of the road, picture book style rarely signals an overt influence from the zeitgeist; Spielberg’s films are hermetically sealed.
Flicks, Adam Fresco
flicksSteven Spielberg, master of 1980s pop culture, helms Ernest Cline’s rollicking sci-fi adventure tale, in which young heroes take on big corporation IOI inside the virtual universe of The Oasis, seeking three keys. These lead to the ultimate prize, an Easter egg granting ownership of late trillionaire James Halliday’s (Mark Rylance) magic kingdom in which everything’s a reference. The plot is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Halliday is Willy Wonka, and then there’s the huge array of nods to 1980s pop culture. It’s so meta it’s basically South Park’s taco, within a taco, inside a taco.
Blah
From the point of view of an avid Ready Player One book fan, Steven Spielberg's rendition of it deviates heavily from the book. While this is not necessarily a bad move (since original screenplays are a rare breed now), the story misses much of what made the book so great. Given the time limitations and the urgency to get the movie out, Spielberg has done...
Expectations and How to Deal With Them
I loved Ernest Cline's novel and had doubts that even Spielberg could bring it to the screen. So I decided to try and take the film on its own merits, and I think it worked. While the book still wins (hands down in my opinion) this is a really well done version of the story. Things have been changed that I didn't necessarily agree with but the seamless...
Variety
pressIt’s an accomplished and intermittently hypnotic movie. Yet you may feel like you’re occupied more than you are invested.
Total Film
pressSpielberg gets his game face on with spectacular results. One extended scene - no spoilers! - is as fun as cinema gets.
Time Out
pressYou're left with the overriding sensation of a master playing someone else's greatest hits.
The Telegraph
pressIts vision of a world fixated on cultural nursery food has a spiky topicality and an occasionally piercing satirical bite.
The Guardian
pressOthers may want to unplug from the paint-by-number characters and shallow plot.
Newsroom
pressA film that's as superficial and hollow as one of the season's chocolate treats, but looks as shiny and welcoming.
IndieWire
pressIt runs too long and drags a bunch in its final third, but make no mistake: This is Spielberg’s biggest crowdpleaser in years, a CGI ride that wields the technology with an eye for payoff.
Empire Magazine
pressSpielberg balances sugar-rush nostalgia with an involving story to create a pure, uncynical, cinematic ride that recaptures the magic of his early films.
Flicks, Luke Buckmaster
flicksIt’s rare for Steven Spielberg to make a film so quintessentially of the times. The veteran filmmaker almost always casts his eye back, if not in historical setting (i.e. The Post, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, The Colour Purple, Lincoln, Amistad, War Horse, Bridge of Spies and Munich) than in aesthetic sensibility. His middle of the road, picture book style rarely signals an overt influence from the zeitgeist; Spielberg’s films are hermetically sealed.
Flicks, Adam Fresco
flicksSteven Spielberg, master of 1980s pop culture, helms Ernest Cline’s rollicking sci-fi adventure tale, in which young heroes take on big corporation IOI inside the virtual universe of The Oasis, seeking three keys. These lead to the ultimate prize, an Easter egg granting ownership of late trillionaire James Halliday’s (Mark Rylance) magic kingdom in which everything’s a reference. The plot is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Halliday is Willy Wonka, and then there’s the huge array of nods to 1980s pop culture. It’s so meta it’s basically South Park’s taco, within a taco, inside a taco.
Variety
pressIt’s an accomplished and intermittently hypnotic movie. Yet you may feel like you’re occupied more than you are invested.
Total Film
pressSpielberg gets his game face on with spectacular results. One extended scene - no spoilers! - is as fun as cinema gets.
Time Out
pressYou're left with the overriding sensation of a master playing someone else's greatest hits.
The Telegraph
pressIts vision of a world fixated on cultural nursery food has a spiky topicality and an occasionally piercing satirical bite.
The Guardian
pressOthers may want to unplug from the paint-by-number characters and shallow plot.
Newsroom
pressA film that's as superficial and hollow as one of the season's chocolate treats, but looks as shiny and welcoming.
IndieWire
pressIt runs too long and drags a bunch in its final third, but make no mistake: This is Spielberg’s biggest crowdpleaser in years, a CGI ride that wields the technology with an eye for payoff.
Empire Magazine
pressSpielberg balances sugar-rush nostalgia with an involving story to create a pure, uncynical, cinematic ride that recaptures the magic of his early films.
Blah
From the point of view of an avid Ready Player One book fan, Steven Spielberg's rendition of it deviates heavily from the book. While this is not necessarily a bad move (since original screenplays are a rare breed now), the story misses much of what made the book so great. Given the time limitations and the urgency to get the movie out, Spielberg has done...
Expectations and How to Deal With Them
I loved Ernest Cline's novel and had doubts that even Spielberg could bring it to the screen. So I decided to try and take the film on its own merits, and I think it worked. While the book still wins (hands down in my opinion) this is a really well done version of the story. Things have been changed that I didn't necessarily agree with but the seamless...
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