Some thoughts on Ready Player One. I haven't gone through everyone else's reviews yet.
I'll start with the positive, because that's the kind of happy glass half full bundle of joy that I am. This movie is a delight for everyone who is a fan of pop culture. I loved the dozens of Easter eggs, some subtle and many not so subtle, that it has. Say whatever you want about the plot or the characters, but tell me watching Master Chief fight alongside Tracer and the Iron Giant on the big screen isn't a blast, or that stepping into The Shining isn't every fan's dream - well, perhaps not so much, but the idea of entering the world of one of your favourite movies!
I wonder how well the movie will age in light of that. I don't know how many references to pop culture there are in the book, but things like Overwatch are too recent to be in it. RPO is a thrill for 2018 but how will it play in 20 years? When are references to pop culture good and when do they date the movie. I'm pretty sure we'll never forget The Shining, but the fps du jour? Probably.
There is a problem with how the movie deals with pop culture though, and I think it's important because it's one of its themes. No one is ever seen actually enjoying any culture. My impression during the movie is that everyone spent the entirety of their free time in Oasis. Wade only seems to have watched The Shining because of the hunt. The movie is less about being a fan of things than it is about obsessing over the life of one dude. He was the true fan, everyone else just spends an unhealthy amount of time going over his life and watching the things he liked.
That brings me to the plot problems. How is any of this a good idea? Put aside the premise of giving your company away to someone based - partly - on their gaming skills, the guy basically creates a cult. He wants people to watch hundreds of hours of videos of him and learn everything about his life. How is that not creepy?
Then there is my usual plethora of complaints. The villain is a corporation, again, because capitalism is evil you guys. And it is also able to get away with blowing up people's homes, of course, since that's how it happens in real life. The sci-fi makes very little sense. If the avatars replicate the players movements, what happens when they fall in the game? What was Wade doing during the dance scene, lying on the floor? How are amateurs somehow loads better at the game than paid professionals? And the romantic arc, well, suffice it to say this is the most 14 year old movie I can remember seeing in a long time. There are glaring plotholes and logical problems, like all the main characters happening to live in the same city. Oasis is a poorly thought through concept that crumbles if you think about it for more than two seconds. My ability to suspend disbelief was sorely tested.
By the end the movie pretends it urges people to appreciate real life but there is absolutely none of that until that point. The fun goes quickly downhill after the first Easter egg is found. This is not good Spilerberg, this is five minutes of voiceover exposition Spielberg.
And are we really going to make Ty Sheridan happen? Ugh.