“Ready Player One” is one strange movie. The action scenes and CGI were absolutely outstanding, making everything on screen feel real and the fake characters not-so fake. That being said, those characters feel fake for an entirely different reason: the script. This film is based on the book of the same name by Ernest Cline, and the book and movie suffer from the same problems. 

They are both filled to the brim with references, to the point that it gets on your nerves. The biggest problem is that the time dedicated to the references takes time away from much-needed character development. This film was seemingly made for me, a lover of pop culture. However since my love for cinema trumps that love of pop culture, this film disappointed me slightly. 

The film follows main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) as he fights in the VR (virtual reality) world of “The Oasis” to find the three keys. The keys unlocks the fortune of the creator of “The Oasis,” Halliday, who’s played brilliantly by Mark Rylance. Most of the film takes place in “The Oasis,” and luckily those are the best parts of the film. Those sequences that are entirely CGI are so masterfully staged and blocked that it’s impossible not to smile. This film is directed by Steven Spielberg, whose directorial abilities I will never again question after the release of this film. He knows how to make actions scenes, and this film just re-affirms that fact. 

Sheridan is fine as Watts, but the real standouts of the film came in the supporting cast. Ben Mendelsohn gives another excellent villain turn, this time as head of the evil corporation I0I, Sorrento, whose company is trying to monetize “The Oasis.” Olivia Cooke as Art3mis and Lena Waithe as Aech were great sidekicks and love interests for Watts.

However, the script never gives us enough time with these characters, besides Watts, to really feel for them. It is more concerned with shallow references, which are at times are so fun to point out but at other times feel tired and overplayed. 

One scene in particular at a nightclub was a low point for references for me. That being said, there were many references that were spectacular, in particular a scarier scene in the middle of the film involving a horror classic. Being able to spot characters from TV, film, and video games in this film was a ton of fun. However I wish that wasn’t the main thing they focused on from the book. 

Speaking of the book, this film is merely a shallow adaption of the book. The characters or more or less the same as their book counterparts, but that’s about it for similarities. All three of the key challenges were different to the book, some in minor ways, other in massive ways. For example, a video game came to life challenge is replaced with a high-speed impossible race, filled with references to “Jurassic Park” and “King Kong.” 

The biggest, and arguably worst change they made from book to screen was the amount of time the actions take in the book versus in the film. For example, it is months, if not years between the time when each of the Keys are found. In the film, it seems like the keys are all found within three or four days, which ruins the foundation the film sets up at the beginning: that nobody has been able to find the first key in over 5 years. It makes certain character moments feel rushed, since the relationships took months of time to build in the book. 

This is a great action film: there’s no denying that. However, this movie struggles when it comes the characters and the script. It is obsessed with references, which are great visual treats, but these moments slow down the film and take necessary time away from the character development. It’s hard for me to recommend this film to anyone that is not a fan of pop culture, or those that have read the book. This is a film to check out on Netflix in a year or so.