'Ready Player One' is an explosive pop culture juggernaut

Pop culture can be all-consuming. Whether it be the film references (1980’s “The Shining”), music artists (Duran Duran) or the video games (1979’s “Adventure”), the last few generations have grown up with an indispensable cultural knowledge, all found in “Ready Player One” (2018). Helmed by the legendary Steven Spielberg, the blockbuster is well aware of this shared knowledge and makes ready use of it through an action-packed and sincerely fun and enjoyable story.

“Ready Player One” follows Wade Watts as he and a few friends explore a virtual reality (VR) platform titled the OASIS. In a quick introductory narration, Watts explains that the film’s future world, set in 2045, is in complete desolation. People use the OASIS to escape their plights. The OASIS’ late creator, James Halliday, was obsessed with pop culture from the late 20^th century and early 21^st century. Halliday left behind Easter eggs within the game which present the finder with full ownership of the OASIS and inheritance from the extremely rich Halliday.

Watts’ narration may seem simple, but it starts the story off running, and with a 140-minute runtime, the film needs all the running it can get. In addition, the film’s story about an awkward boy falling in love with a kickass girl and getting help from his group of ragtag friends to save the world in a final battle, isn’t exactly new or becoming less popular (cough, “Stranger Things”). What makes “Ready Player One” more than this trope is its deep-rooted commitment to generations of source material.

The film is mostly set in the OASIS, meaning most of what the audience watches is what the characters see through their VR headsets. The audience sees their avatars, their gameplay and the gorgeous OASIS universe almost as if the audience is playing the game with them. In the film's best visual moments, it feels like watching a video game walkthrough on YouTube. There are amazing moments where establishing shots pan from the ceiling to the back of the characters as they walk, exactly like moments in roleplaying video games.

There are mountains of film references, video game nods and television jokes. There are possibly over a thousand (according to screenwriter Zak Penn) blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments, like avatars in the OASIS being characters from favorite video games like the “Batman: Arkham Series” (2009-2016), films like “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984) and “Say Anything” (1989), television like “Mobile Suit Gundam” (1979) and music like the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing” (1976). Arguably, there is no way to find every single pop culture reference in every frame of the film, no matter the number of viewings.

It’s not even just the visual references that make this film so enjoyable; it’s the film’s recognition of its well-worn metaphors and hilarious one-liners. IOI, the villains of the film who want Halliday’sOASIS for themselves appear like every other mysterious bad guy organization in every other film ever. When IOI’s CEO Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) acknowledges his stereotypical villain-in-a-suit trope, “Ready Player One” makes the swift decision to poke fun at itself.

That’s where this film avoids being just another “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” (2003): “Ready Player One” knows it’s in theaters to bring in audience members, write an ode to pop culture, have a really fun 140 minutes, sell some popcorn and soda and call it a night. It doesn’t try to have any extremely meaningful moments or raise the stakes for its characters, nor should it.

Aside from some slight emotional backstory behind Watts and his love interest Samantha Cook (Olivia Cooke), the characters are relatively one-dimensional, and they don’t need to be anything more than that. There is one moment when Cook explains to Watts that people in the OASIS only present what they want others to see, and this theme trickles into characters like Helen (Lena Waithe) and other moments in the film, but it isn’t overdone.

In many ways, “Ready Player One” is one of the world’s best video game walkthroughs and one of the most mindlessly fun movies around. For anyone who loves pop culture, the film will feel like a nostalgic thrill ride. It’s Spielberg’s love letter to the culture he helped create, and the film is most definitely a love song audiences can sing along with.