I can write a long review later and explain, but I'll say this as quickly/cleanly as I can.

They made it dumb. They dumbed it down too much. The only way the movie this plays out is even somewhat believable (given the premise in a futuristic world with haptic gear blah blah is all a reality), the only way it makes sense is if every single person in this world has an IQ of about 70. They made it sooooo fucking stupid and the more you watch, the dumber it gets and I just couldn't look past it by the end.

Edit - Few of the biggest beefs though

Constant preaching
Sorrento - Making him retarded
Dumbing it down - Making the clues so stupid/random a 5 yr could figure them out
Dynamic changes - Forcing relationships between people/wasting time etc..
Willy Wonka ripoff

Most things I could have dealt with

Changing all the tasks
not killing anyone
iRock
Aech etc....

All of that didn't bother me too much, but they just fucked up too hard.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Apr 6 2018 01:16pm

I thought it was a pretty fun movie. Would watch again.

i read the book, but so much of it went above my head. my coworker only loved it because he grew up in the 80s and understood the majority of the references. for those who don't understand the 80s references: did you still enjoy the movie?

How could any of it go over your head? It's all explained within the book lol. The only thing you might not get is the occasional song reference or w/e, but they usually explain those too.

it's been a few years since i read it. i just googled for some of the references in the book:
https://www.shmoop.com/ready-player-one/allusions.html

here's a small list of references i can't appreciate:
Anne McCaffrey, The Dragonriders of Pern (4.13)
Arrakis is a planet in Frank Herbert's Dune (4.13)
Magrathea is a planet in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (4.13)
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (4.13)
Mid-World is from Stephen King's Dark Tower series (4.13)
Riverworld is from a series of books by Philip Jose Farmer (4.13)
Larry Niven's Ringworld (4.13)
Richard K. Morgan (6.6)
Joe Haldeman (6.6)
Jack Vance (6.6)
Bruce Sterling (6.6)
Michael Moorcock (6.6)
Roger Zelazny (6.6)
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (17.147)
IOI-655321 (14.5, 16.2, 21.14, 24.7, 29.20), Nolan's ID number, matches Alex's prisoner ID in A Clockwork Orange
The "DON'T PANIC" sticker (18.3) is a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster (18.19) is a drink from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Odin (19.7)
Bifrost (19.43) (19.44)
Cory Doctorow (20.5)
Parzival's ship is named after Kurt Vonnegut, referenced throughout, esp. Chapter 21
A Vorpal sword (21.30) is from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (37.5)
Wade's avatar, Parzival, is named after Percival, the Arthurian Knight
The Zapruder film is part of the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy (0.9)
The Discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb (4.5)
Joan of Arc (9.2)

and the list goes on. if i was familiar with all these works, i'd probably enjoy the book so much more. i was a bit disheartened when i never heard of joust, but coworker happily fan-boy'd over memories of playing it. honestly i was just glad i knew the millennium falcon and delorean.

/edit: sorry if it wasn't clear. i understood the plot. i meant the references went above my head.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Apr 6 2018 09:47pm

Sooooo you list the most obscure references in a book filled with references and none of them have any impact with the story at all, and that's what ruined it for you? This last post makes it painfully clear you just looked up "obscure references in ready player one" and then posted them to try and prove a point. Why don't you try that with family guy, the Simpsons, Archer or any other widely popular comedy and tell me that because you don't get obscure references in those, they're not enjoyable lol.

i think we're just interested in media for different reasons. for example, i watched some scenes of deadpool, but im not big into marvel. my friend watched many of the movies in the MCU and loved the references he made that i didn't understand. maybe you'll enjoy it equally well not knowing the references, and that's awesome if you do. but i don't.



yes, that's exactly why i dont watch those shows. i see the occassional youtube scene when it references something i understand, but for the most part it's not that enjoyable for me.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Apr 7 2018 08:15am

Will watch when it becomes available online

Those are two book series that you definitely have to read before you die.

The oasis was one of the coolest settings I've ever seen for a movie

The rest of the movie was weak at best