Director Steven Spielberg has returned in all his phantasmagorical glory, and this time, appealing to what every pop culture fan has dreamed of: the chance to enter a virtual world where, as Wade Watts puts it, “the limits of reality are your own imagination.”

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the arrival of Ready Player One, and boy oh boy it’s one hell of a thrill ride. Stuffed to the gills with insane visual effects, superb acting and a heartwarming story that reaches out to the millennial age of pop culture lovers, Ready Player One shows that even after having a stroke of bad luck in the last few years, Steven Spielberg can still deliver in the only
way he knows how.

The OASIS is the dream of any pop culture fan come to life, an entire virtual world where you can become any anime, video game or film character. Though a bit jarring at first the film opens up with one of, if not the most, insane drag races in cinematic history. While the overall design of The OASIS was stunning, what really stood out about the visuals was the design of The OASIS avatars.

Particularly, the avatars for Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Sho, because their avatars were original and not some video game rip-off. The performance capture animation used to bring the avatars to life was truly amazing, rivaling the animation used to bring the inhabitants of Pandora to life.

The acting was particularly impressive, especially after the last few films Spielberg has come out with, of which the acting has been stale and boring. It was nice to see Spielberg return to the style of acting that made his original films so good, a combination of humor and drama.

With Ready Player One, the acting was mostly humorous, but without sparing any drama. The acting and cast was great, they all had their moments to shine with either comedy, drama or just all of the above. Ready Player One’s story is among Steven Spielberg’s most original in quite some time, and appeals to any fan of popular culture. The film is the tale of a young man and his friends as they fight to keep control of an interactive virtual world out of the hands of a corporate giant, who wishes to use it to own people.

For those of us who have never felt at home in the real world, who feel alone or find that life brings us down too often, and use video games, films or tv shows as a way of tuning out, this film’s story is a testament to that demographic. Also, the film’s story comes with a surprisingly heartwarming message, that says reality may be hard, and it may bring us down from time to time, but in the end, reality is the only thing that truly holds what’s important.

Overall, Ready Player One is the best film Steven Spielberg released since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, brimming with cinematic ingenuity that only he can deliver. An adventure for any pop culture fan or anyone interested in a fun time at the movies, Ready

Player One will take you on a thrill ride the likes of which only show up in your dreams or in the most insane video games. I give Ready Player One a 10/10.