Hang On, It Looks Like Critics Are Actually Enjoying ‘Ready Player One’
Didn't see this coming.
Steven Spielberg’s big pop-cultural homage Ready Player One has debuted at SXSW to a bunch of reviewers and in a surprising turn, they actually seem to enjoy it?
If you haven’t heard of Ready Player One, it’s the highly-anticipated adaptation of Ernest Cline’s classic science fiction novel of the same name. The film is set in a dystopian future in which everyone lives in precarious towers of caravans and plays in a giant virtual reality gamescape called The OASIS. It’s billed as a VR action extravaganza, and looks to be full of hijinks.
The film got off to a bad start when it released some truly bad promotional posters that were pretty much universally mocked. But mostly, people suspected the movie’s extreme focus on pop cultural references might stand in the way of anything resembling plot or purpose.
Little clues in the trailers and teasers, such as the famously pacifistic Iron Giant having a gun for an arm, helped confirm this suspicion for some.
The Ready Player One premiere featuring the Iron Giant and his gun that he famously loved so much pic.twitter.com/v8ofo4300R
— Dan Sheehan (@ItsDanSheehan) March 12, 2018
But now a lot of critics have actually responded very well to the film — many surprising themselves at just how on board they are.
It’s on a very healthy 80 percent over at film aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and is listing as ‘generally favourable reviews’ on Metacritic. Maybe this is a real ugly duckling kind of narrative.
Went into READY PLAYER ONE skeptical as hell. Came out largely as a joyous convert. I have a handful of issues with the structure and characters, but it improves on the book in important ways, the action is riveting, and I really bought the humor. #readyplayerone
— Tasha Robinson (@TashaRobinson) March 12, 2018
I didn’t think I would like #ReadyPlayerOne, but I liked it a WHOLE LOT. I think people cheered and laughed every 2 mins and dang this film was entertaining. So many references, I can’t wait for everyone to see it so we can all talk about it! #sxsw
— Beatrice Verhoeven (@bverhoev) March 12, 2018
However, while many were reluctantly charmed by Speilberg’s new pop-culture melange, there were still some who remained stonily unimpressed.
literally my face during every second of Ready Player One. pic.twitter.com/dqZTNeN81r
— Britt Hayes (@MissBrittHayes) March 12, 2018
Ready Player One will hit theatres on March 30, 2018.