Ready Player One is a non-stop rush of pop culture references both visual and in the script. It’s a movie about a hunt for Easter eggs that will itself be the subject of a hunt for all the Easter eggs it contains. That seems pretty meta. There’s barely a frame or line that goes by that doesn’t seem to reference some other pop culture property.
There are already great lists of references, such as this one over at Den of Geek. some of my favourites were the magic spell from Excalibur, the Star Trek photon torpedo coffin, the holy hand grenade from Monty Python, and the Iron Giant.
But is it a good movie on its own? That’s completely subjective, isn’t it? I know enjoyed it despite some problems with some of the characters. And I’ll probably enjoy it again on home video where I can pause the movie to see what I missed in the theatre. But then that’s telling isn’t it, that I’d return more for the spectacle than the story itself.
The kind of fun and adventure that only Spielberg himself knows how to do. Nice review.
Thanks!