A mesmerising, engaging flick from Spielberg

Film: Ready Player One

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance

Rating: 5/5

Wade Watts is a young man, named so because his father thought it could be like the alter ego of a superhero. Unfortunately, Wade was never quite that. He was like the billions on a damaged Earth: Looking for an escape, which he, like many others found in the OASIS; a massive VR game and the brainchild of James Halliday.

Halliday, celebrated as the most brilliant man of his age, died and left behind 3 tests to see who would be worthy of inheriting the OASIS. Of course, these are no ordinary tests and require a great deal of brainwork to crack.

Given the reward would make the winner the richest and quite possibly the most powerful person to live, everyone is bent on finding and winning the tests but none show commitment as much as Art3mis, called the 'Sixer Fixer' and the IOI, run by a relatively competent villain in Nolan Sorrento and his army of 'Sixers'. Unsurprisingly, Wade, known as Parzival, finds himself thrown into the mix when he meets Art3mis and soon learns that his lofty goal may not be all there is.

The film relies very heavily on exposition to 'tell' the story but also balances it with an equal amount of 'show', creating an exhilarating mix that never feels out of place, giving a believable look into the dangerously fascinating virtual world where skill is power.

The film is loaded with pop culture references, all of which, surprisingly, help drive the plot forward. Be it Kaneda's bike, King Kong or even Mechagodzilla, the film wastes nothing, with every single one getting their time to shine. It is elevated by its exceptional technical brilliance because making a believable virtual world and making all the pop culture references stand out in a battle royale is no mean feat.

Ready Player One is, for the lack of a better term, the sum total of the era we have grown up on. It is a masterful film, not only for the masters of pop culture but also for those who only skim the surface. This is Steven Spielberg at his greatest, most magical, uncompromising and most effective, barring none.