Ready Player One

Ready Player One is the latest exciting adventure from celebrated director Steven Spielberg. Very different from his recent work The Post, this film is a futuristic Indiana Jones combined with family-friendly sci-fi movie elements, showcasing all of the amazing visuals and detailed universe-building one can expect from the creator of ET. Speaking of the beloved extraterrestrial – despite being a story based on future events – this feature is full of references to the past, especially pop-culture easter eggs and allusions to iconic movies (including one very cool sequence involving an homage to arguably the most classic).

Plot-wise, our hero Wade (aka Parzival) introduces the viewer to a world where people live inside their technological devices with even more intensity than we do now. Virtual reality is the norm, and everyone is after the three keys of this simulated realm – hidden by its creator James Donovan (Mike Rylance) in a complicated game full of clues and tests. The one who finds them all will have control over this digital reality, and here is where the story begins. Wade and his friends are competing against the one-dimensional villain Nolan Sorrento – played by the always-compelling Ben Mendelsohn – a “businessman” with a desire for power and a not-very-strategic plan to get what he wants. In addition to this, the narrative follows an entire team of people going through Donovan’s past to find answers to the game, as well and an army of soldiers – all of whom are working on Sorrento’s side.

By not getting into too much detail about what each character goes through, the blockbuster remains relatively fast-paced, full of action and breathtaking CGI. It never loses its emotional strength, but sometimes, the dialogue is so packed full of information – fed to the audience in order to make them understand the plot – that it can be distracting at times.

Spielberg could have opted for a more realistic, darker approach to this story. Instead, we have a pleasant adventure with plenty of humour, likeable heroes and a very lighthearted tone. Despite following the director’s safe structure, with some corny moments that we’ve already seen more than once, Ready Player One is an immersive unique adventure boasting very good performances that make for a great time at the cinema.

Maria Barrios

Ready Player One is released nationwide on 29^th March 2018.

Watch the trailer for Ready Player One here: