5 Reasons Ready Player One is a Great Movie (Spoiler-Free!)

Lucy thinks Ready Player One may surprise you if you give it a chance, and provides a few reasons to check it out.

[GameSpotUniverse]

Which game or movie reference are you hoping makes it into Read Player One?

[wisemoon]

First, let me say “thank you” for liking the film and recommending it. Second, WTF is wrong with everyone hating on the book?! There is a REASON for all the references. It’s NOT trivial and it’s NOT a nostalgia party (well it was for the author, but that’s beside the point). It’s about why and how Halliday hid the Easter egg in the first place. Halliday is the pathos at the heart of this story. Wade and his friends are remarkable only because, in the process of solving the riddles and overcoming challenges, they gain an understanding of Halliday himself. That’s all Halliday ever wanted—to be accepted and understood. How sad that he only achieved it after his death! How is it that no one under the age of 40 seems to even notice that bit? And if they left most of that out of the movie, then they have sacrificed the deepest and most moving elements in order to achieve mass appeal. And if you really grokked the book you would see the deep irony in that.

[DanielS]

"Sadly that we don't have Star Wars World or Star Trek World" - No offense, but just because they don't show or mention it doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the OASIS. That's the whole concept behind the OASIS (which does point out that it has sectors based on both of those franchises). There have been new readers of the book that have asked why (insert franchise here) isn't mentioned in the book (the last one I've had to answer was in question about the GTA series being in the OASIS, and the person asking knowing that GTAV hadn't been released until after the book was published, but pointed out that the series was popular before Cline written the book).

The thing that you have to take into account is this: the reason why the 1980s is so prominent in the book is because of Halliday and his Egg Hunt. And Wade, who is telling the story, is a 1980s fanatic just like Halliday because of the Egg Hunt, to which the clues to the riddles tie into Halliday's likes of things 1970s and 1980s (though he was more obsessed with the 1980s). Outside of the Egg Hunt, other pop cultures exist (as we see with the Ultraman quest that Parzival, Shoto and Daito perform, which the show came out in 1966 and ended in 1967. The Vonnegut, Wade's ship, is a Firefly-class transport from "Firefly", which came out in 2002). And since its in 2045, there's a good chance that the book is only covering a small fraction of pop culture that exists. As we see in the film, we're getting quite a few more modern and recent pop culture references included, such as characters from Overwatch, Battleborne, Halo, etc. Cline, essentially, designed the OASIS to be all of pop culture without needing to mention everything, and leaves enough room for the next two books to include more pop references outside of the 1980s, which could possibly include more recent stuff.

So, just because the OASIS in the film doesn't show or mention a Star Wars or Star Trek world, it doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist in the OASIS.

[ruairidoyle]

having with issues with this channel its like they have just looked up the review on google and pretending like they have read it and it annoyes me so much as the book was amazing

[inceptional]

Saw this today and really enjoyed it. My brother loved the film.

[ChaosUnit]

Having some issue with your volume control, guys?

[KostikaD]

So tired of the hate on the book and film. This video is titled like it's positive, but really they're slagging it off.

[Igarcia]

Seriously. I can't get through this Video. The book was amazing and yes it was FULL of references and the like but that doesn't mean that it isn't good. The story was awesome, and it felt more.... engaging. I loved the movie don't get me wrong, but seriously. If my freshmen students can enjoy it? I think it was a pretty damn good book.

[PetePuebla]

I want to go to the Oasis. I need to get away.

[ANJIN-pq]

This movie is a video game turned into an actual 2 hour movie. So to all those Syfy game lovers. This is a dream come to life

[mytiasgaming]

What you fail to understand is it isn't called Hero's Story in Hollywood terms it's called Hero's Journey. There's a lot of books out there based on that concept. :P

[sawadee-ervu]

Who else was ecstatic when Serenity made an appearance? On another note, if Rush wasn't featured on the actual soundtrack, surely they could have been during the credits. Also if the person doing this review knew what she was talking about, she would have known that there are indeed Star Trek and Star Wars "universes" in the Oasis.

[russtyklingon]

The book is awesome. If you ACTUALLY read it. The referances to music that would be playing in scenes would ground the story in reality. People using movie quotes, weapons, vehicles, outfits. And people keep saying that all of the challenges where just playing arcade games. Like joust, which was hidden at the end of a dungeon full of traps and enemies. Also the book and movie are so different. The movie is a friend oriented action adventure. The book is a loner dystopian mystery that deals with depression, heartbreak and poverty.

[Halauris]

Volume control is all over the place on this video.

[mrrichards]

First of all good vid, but I'd like to point out that all the pop culture references are meant to be packed in that's why Ernest Clien wrote the book, its a throwback to every little bit of pop culture from the 80s up to today. And the reason why the movie is so different is because when you make a film from a book some elements can't be portrayed as well in the movie, therefor some stuff has to change. And plus all the references are mainly there to help the story and to make people say " wow I know what that is". But I get what your saying.

[gabrielkerna]

seen Ready Player One twice already and goin a 3rd time to see it in 3D ; ) oh that Club Scene ; )

[drefoster]

I don't get why so many people hate the book all of a sudden. I genuinely think it has a decent and interesting story which is why i like the book. Sure sometimes there is an overwhelming amount of references but overall i don't think they are the absolute main focus of the book. Yes ready player one isn't perfect but it is very enjoyable overall and i had a good time reading it.

[miriamrobinson]

"A fanboy knows a hater when they see one" is a reference so it's not that cringe

[kristinjoni]

I loved the book. Loved! I loved the movie but not as much. Still- it’s definitely worth seeing and it offers something original and fresh. It would be impossible to translate the book as is into movie form. I didn’t mind all the references and I liked that they didn’t meet one another until the end... and they didn’t all survive until the end in the book. Also- the part where Wade was indentured to IOI (not Art3mis). Love the movie but the book was fun too. I thought it was great

[rgn]

3:12 They were also together in real life in the end of the book.