'Ready Player One' is a visual smorgasbord

Not a long time ago, Steven Spielberg directed one of the best movies of 2017 with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in The Post. Just a few month after, he's still proven and tested as one of the busiest yet most enthusiastic director of our time. Still with so much energy and creativity in his sleeves, Steven Spielberg directs the action adventure Ready Player One based on Ernest Cline's bestseller of the same name, and let me be direct, it's an absolute epic.

It's about the future in year 2045, when most of mankind spend their lives in a virtual reality called OASIS, created and designed by the eccentric genius James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who will grant his creation to whoever gets the three keys to a Golden Egg hidden inside the OASIS universe. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is obsessed with Halliday and his game and along with his friends, they help each other to fulfill this quest.

Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

In his almost 40 years of film-making, Spielberg has never been this dynamic with his direction. He's still the best storyteller of our time, and his Ready Player One proves that he's still got the chops that made him celebrated. The CGI used here is extraordinary, that wows and whoas can be heard throughout the film. People can't help it. The liveliness of this film is the same as his old blockbusters. This crowdpleaser is just an addition to his amazing filmography. It doesn't hurt that it's raining easter eggs throughout the film that we might as well call it a visual smorgasbord of pop culture. Genuinely, it feels like an ode to pop culture, video games and video game lovers for that matter--particularly, every scene with Mark Rylance in it. Rylance makes everything tender and light. His humor and natural charm is one of the film's power, and he's not even on screen most of the time and yet he is the heart that makes this more than a visional treat.

On the other hand, Rylance's James Halliday may be the heart, but Ready Player One works as a film with the ensemble's natural magnetism. Tye Sheridan, who I consider as the male JLaw (I know, lol), delivers a firm sense of soul to Cline's beloved lead character Wade Watts. Olivia Cooke, who is a young Rose Byrne (that's defnitely a compliment) in my mind, is undeniably likable as Art3mis. She's come a long way from her Bates Motel stint, to 'Dying Girl' to here, and she has Thoroughbreds under her belt, which is supposed to be good based on the buzz from the movie grapevines. Ben Mendelsohn, on the other hand, is becoming every directors' dream villain, may it be indie or a blockbuster. Other cast includes a likable Lena Waithe as Wade Watts' best friend, Simon Pegg as the curator, Phillip Zhao as Sho and Win Morisako as Daito. Overall, a vivacious bunch of actors and characters.

I watched this film with friends who read the book, and they might be a bit disappointed as Spielberg made it very distinct from the novel. But it's still a highly enjoyable film overall. It might not be as sentimental as Spielberg's other crowd-pleaser but its use of nostalgia will make your viewing experience a memorable one. Watch out for the awesome soundtrack!