Review: READY PLAYER ONE Reached into the Depths of my Geeky Soul and Filled It With Pure Joy

Ready Player One was my most anticipated film of 2018. I am a huge fan of the book, which was written by Ernest Cline, because it is a love letter to the geek culture. It pays tribute to and honors all of the movies, video games, and music that I grew up with in my life, especially the 1980s.

For me, the 80s was such a magical era. My love for movies was born in 1982 when I saw Steven Spielberg’s E.T. and George Lucas’ Return of the Jedi. I have vivid memories of watching those films when I was a kid, and I just fell in love with film. Going to the movies has been my favorite thing to do since those days and I never get tired of it! I am inspired when go to the movies. I love all the feelings and emotions that I feel when I see them. For me, movies are a part of my life and who I am.

The reason I started my review for Ready Player One off like this is so that you understand where I’m coming from and why I loved the movie so much.

Ready Player One completely blew me away and Steven Spielberg once again delivered an amazingly entertaining and magical movie-going experience. Spielberg did what he does best with this movie, which whisks audiences away to a world that explodes with nostalgia and geek pop culture. 

For those of you who are fans of the book, I have to tell you that this film is not a direct adaptation of it. There are a lot of changes that were made, but I think that many of them work in the film’s favor. In some aspects, the movie even improves some things and makes things more interesting and gives us a tighter story. I liked the fact that I didn’t know what was going to happen when I was watching the movie. You will experience the same story but it's just told in a different way. I knew going in that the movie would be different from the book, but it hits all the main story points and the spirit of the book is all over the film. 

One thing the book did that the movie doesn't is epically build up of the relationship between Art3mis  and Parzival. There’s a lot of time to build up that relationship in the book and they don’t see each other face to face until the very end. I loved that aspect of the book. In the movie, the characters meet early on in the story and their relationship progresses pretty fast. This is just one of the things they had to condense to be able to fit it into a two-hour movie. I understand that, and the way they handled it in the film worked great. It still managed to offer us some solid character development with these characters.

That isn’t a complaint, this is just to help fans of the book understand that things have changed in this movie, but don’t let it bother you while you watch it. Embrace the changes. There are some seriously incredible unexpected things that happen in this movie that deviate from the book, but it sure is a crazy fun ride!

Just wait until you see what movie that they enter in the film. It’s different from what’s in the book, but I think the film they chose was even better than what was in the book! This was a huge surprise and one that I know movie fans are going to love! If you aren’t familiar with the book, two of the challenges in the story involved entering a movie. In the book, those films were War Games and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In the movie... No! I’m not going to tell you! I'm just going to let you enjoy the big surprise.

Not only does the movie have an awesome story and great character development but the visual effects are insanely stunning! It’s a good thing too because over half the movie takes place in a virtual universe known as the OASIS. I loved how Spielberg and his team brought this world to life in the film. In all honesty, it couldn’t have been done any better. There are aspects of it that looked exactly like it did in my imagination.

This is one of those films that I just couldn’t stop thinking about after I watched. The more I thought about it, the more I loved what Spielberg and the author of the book, Ernest Cline, created for us. It’s like they reached into the depths of my geeky soul and made this movie for me. I know a lot of people who have seen this movie feel the same way. It just struck a chord with me and I can’t shake the feelings of joy and happiness that I had after watching it.

I had a smile on my face from the beginning of the movie to the very end. That smile just got bigger and bigger throughout the course of the movie. I smiled so much that my face hurt! 

I’m sure this movie going experience is going to be different for everyone. Some people are going to love it as much as I did, and some people are going to hate it. I don’t know why, but that's just how it goes. I do hope that everyone that does see the movie will find at least one thing that they love about it. 

When you do watch this movie, make sure you see it on the biggest screen possible with the best sound. This is a movie that begs for the ultimate theatrical experience. The screen is just filled with so much greatness and so many Easter eggs! There’s no way you’ll be able to catch them all on your first viewing. 

If you’re anything like me, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cheer, and you’ll applaud as you watch this this story unfold. It truly is the one of greatest and most entertaining movie-going experiences ever. This is why I love movies! Ready Player One is everything that I hoped it would be and more.