Ready Player One: where the limits of reality are down to Spielberg’s imagination

Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One deserves to go down as a cult classic. So much more than just a montage of 80s nerd nostalgia: it was a thrilling adventure with captivating and engaging characters who developed throughout the story. Spielberg’s reimagining? A fun watch with some cool scenes, but its frantic pace doesn’t do justice to the novel.

When watching Ready Player One it’s best to forget what you know about the book. Apart from the final quest, all of the challenges are completely different. The characters are the same (for the most part), but are like bad 2D renders of what should be a life-like representation from The OASIS.

From the early trailers it was clear that Spielberg wanted to adapt a lot of Ready Player One, but keep Cline’s awesome premise. Spielberg depicts The OASIS as a rollercoaster of bloated colour overdosing on visual effects. But for this movie, it does work. From the very first quest where Gunters and Sixers alike race, to the dance scene at The Distracted Globe, it’s visually stunning.

Sadly though, behind the flash there is little substance. Wade Watts was presented as a very relatable character who grew in the eyes of the reader, in Cline’s novel. But there’s little in the way of development from Spielberg’s protagonist (Tye Sheridan), or the other characters for that matter. High level Aech (Lena Waithe) is nothing more than comic relief, and we’re told rather than shown about how respected Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) is. Even Halliday (Mark Rylance) himself feels more like a poor rendition of Cline’s creation. Ogden Morrow is one of the few charismatic characters, thanks to the acting of Simon Pegg, but he’s not nearly included enough for our liking.

Overall, Ready Player One is a fun movie with little depth. The visuals can be awe-inspiring, if at times more like Mise-en Scene throw up rather than a masterpiece. But the rushed feeling of the plot leaves a lot to be desired, and leaves Spielberg’s adaption shadowed by Cline’s imagination. Read the book to get the full OASIS experience.