Review- Ready Player One

Ready Player One is the new Steven Spielberg film and before we get into it, I want to point out where I stood on this film before I saw it. The film is based on a book by Ernest Cline which I read and really enjoyed as the fun, reference filled romp it was. When Steven Spielberg was announced as director, that was exciting too because no one does romps like Spielberg. Hell, I'll even go to bat for The BFG, one of his less popular films recently. These factors come together to create a film I was really excited for and now sadly have to tell you is just not that good. Plenty to get through before that though, including the plot, which may sound familiar. The creator of a virtual world dies and leaves behind three secret keys that will lead to his fortune. We follow Wade Watts on a quest to find these keys and have a rocking time on the way. Impressively, the plot is actually fairly different to the book but I still knew what was going to happen at every step because the plot is very formulaic. The idea is that it's there to be a frame for the fun stuff but the film isn't so great at that bit.

All the performances in the film fall on a sad spectrum from decent to poor, especially gutting since this is an impressive cast. On the decent spectrum is Ben Mendelsohn and Mark Rylance. Rylance can basically do no wrong but this performance is on the lower spectrum of his roles, still making it solid. Equally, Mendolsohn is always great, especially as a villain (like he is here) but he's given fairly generic fodder to chew. In the mediocre section is leads Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke. Sheridan plays Wade in a way that all teens can relate to, in that he is a blank canvas for you to put anything onto. Cooke is also just serviceable although there's a whole plot point around how hideous she looks in reality which doesn't ring true when you cast an attractive actress. Just plain bad though are Hannah John-Kamen and TJ Miller. John-Kamen has been great in things before but she is utterly wasted here, given nothing to do and no real purpose other than a decent check for her. Worst offender of all though is human shit heap TJ Miller, star of The Emoji Movie. Some people like Miller because of Deadpool but he was the worst part of that film, has a dodgy history of sexual harassment and was in the aforementioned Emoji Movie and there was never one point here where he didn't feel out of place with the rest of the film. Simon Pegg also stars but is barely in it and therefore isn't much worth discussion.

There are two problems at the core of the film that drag it down into mediocrity. The first is the confusing world logic of the Oasis, the place where most of the film is set. Many a time, things would happen and I would question how that fit into the in-world logic that had been built up and this is coming from someone who actually read the book. These don't destroy a film but their prevalence pulled me out of the film when I should have been losing myself in it. Bigger as a problem though is there isn't enough heart. Crticise Spielberg for what you will but his films just make your heart fly, a wonderful thing to feel. Leading into that, one thing I've learnt from my favourite films last year (and will be repeating for a long while, sorry) is that I love films that love their characters and their films. Ready Player One is meh on its characters but where that love for films is concerned, the film should shine. After all, it's packed with more references to stuff than I will ever be able to catch or appreciate. The problem is that these references are largely hollow, there as references for the sake of referencing it. There are exceptions to that though and these are what really made the film. One is a simple moment with a few chords from Back to the Future, the other is this spectacular exploration of The Shining which, even having not seen the film, felt like an homage that is there because of love for The Shining, a love that cannot be faked. If the film had more moments like that, I would have fallen head over heels for it. As it is, they brought the film up from the depths.

I really am let down by this film. I understand why people have enjoyed it because they're the reasons I liked the book but the film didn't do it for me. There's some naff performances, by the numbers plotting and an overabundance of references but if you sit close enough to it, you can just about hear the heart beating in this film. Maybe you'll enjoy Ready Player One but for me, I'd be lying if I said I could give it anything more than a