READY PLAYER ONE (2018) ****

Ready Player One sounds like it can’t miss, but properly making it come alive on screen is infinitely trickier than you’d think.  Only someone with the gifted touch of Steven Spielberg could’ve pulled it off.  What’s intriguing about the film is that it features only a handful of Spielberg’s directorial touches as his style is largely invisible throughout most of the movie.  Instead, he just lets his imagination loose and invites the audience along for the ride.

In the near future, most of the world’s population is plugged into the Oasis, a Virtual Reality simulator.  Its creator (Mark Rylance) has placed three Easter Eggs in the game and players spend most of their time trying to find them.  Wade (Tye Sheridan) is a loner who thinks he has a line on at least one of the Eggs.  The evil CEO of tech conglomerate (Ben Mendelsohn) wants the Eggs for himself and will stop at nothing to get them.

Based on the novel by Ernie Cline, Ready Player One relies heavily on pop culture nostalgia and video game references.  Even if Spielberg wasn’t able to secure the rights to the scores of characters that pop up in cameos during the games, it would’ve still been a treat.  Having them all fighting side by side is just the icing on the cake.  

I could make a running list of cameos, but I would not dream of spoiling the fun.  Imagine Who Framed Roger Rabbit combined with The LEGO Movie and that should give you an idea of how the various characters are integrated into the narrative.  Some are relegated to mere background players.  Others get jaw-dropping, fist-pumping, and/or standing-ovation-worthy moments to shine.  

This is guaranteed to be the most freeze-framed movie of all time once it hits home video.  The massive battle scenes feature hundreds of your favorite characters from video games, movies, and TV shows.  I watched it once and enjoyed it for the acting, plot, and sheer spectacle of it all.  Now I want to go back and just spot all the cameos lurking in the background.

The young cast is great, but the credit really goes to Mendelsohn for his turn as the slimy corporate villain.  He gives off a distinct Paul Gleason vibe and it’s a wonder they just didn’t use him for Mendelsohn’s avatar within the Oasis.  Without a formidable flesh and blood menace in the “real” world, the stuff inside the Oasis wouldn’t mean nearly as much.

Spielberg has made a lot of “grown-up” movies lately.  This one finds him back in his wheelhouse doing what he does best.  Even though he’s getting up there in age, this very much feels like a young man’s movie, and I’m not saying that because of all the pop culture stuff.  There are sequences here that crackle like some of his earliest, best stuff.  It is without a doubt one of the best films of the year.