MPOV: Ready Player One

My rating: 4/5
IMDb rating: 7.9/10

Released: March 29, 2018
Director: Steven Spielberg
Casts: Olivia Cooke, Tye Sheridan, Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg, T.J. Miller
Category: A 2018 American science fiction adventure film

In 2045, much of Earth's population centers have become slum-like cities. To escape their desolation, people engage in the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), where they can engage in numerous activities for work, education, and entertainment. Users have discovered Anorak's Quest hidden within OASIS, a game programmed by the late OASIS creator, James Halliday. The first to find the Easter egg within Anorak's Quest is promised full ownership of OASIS among other gifts. This has attracted a number of Gunters ("egg hunters") to play the game. Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a video game conglomerate and manufacturer of most of the virtual reality equipment used to access the OASIS, also seeks ownership of the virtual reality world, and its CEO, Nolan Sorrento, has amassed an army of debt-indentured players, known as Sixers (due to their six-digit identification), to seek the prize. However, to date, no one has managed to finish the first quest, a vehicle race across an ever-shifting version of New York City.

Wade Watts, an orphaned, 18-year-old Gunter, lives in a Columbus, Ohio slum with his aunt. In the OASIS, Wade goes by his avatar Parzival, and has partnered with Aech, a male avatar that serves as a virtual mechanic. He later befriends well-known player Art3mis after saving her from being "zeroed out", which would reset their avatar's character progression, by King Kong. Wade decides to study the virtual OASIS library to learn about Halliday's personal life, hoping to find a hint to finish the race. Wade learns that Halliday felt regret when he had to accept the resignation of his partner, Ogden Morrow, over a personal falling-out, with Halliday musing, "Why can't we go backwards for once? Backwards really fast, as fast as we can – really put the pedal to the metal." At the next race, Wade reverses from the start line, finding a hidden, safe path to the finish line of the race. He gains the first of three keys and a clue to the next quest. Aech, Art3mis, as well as players Daito and Sho follow Wade to finish the quest, and the five appear atop the global scoreboards, becoming known as the "High Five".

IOI takes interest in them, desiring to learn their real-life identities. Bounty hunter i-R0k overhears Wade tell Art3mis his real name, disclosing it to Sorrento, who approaches Wade in an attempt to convince him to join IOI to solve Anorak's Quest, but Wade refuses. In retaliation, Sorrento has his assistant F'Nale Zandor attack Wade's slum, killing Wade's aunt and her boyfriend. Wade is rescued by Art3mis' real-life friends and is taken to a Gunter hideout in Columbus, where he meets Art3mis' player, Samantha Cook. The two discover that Halliday had once dated Kira, who later became Morrow's wife, and was the source of their falling-out. In the virtual OASIS archives, Wade wins a bet with its Curator regarding whether Kira's memory remains anywhere within the archives, and the Curator rewards him with a 25-cent coin and grants him access to Halliday's memories of Kira, which turn out to be the entrance to the second quest. By surviving a re-creation of The Shining while searching for Kira, the High Five team each gain the second key and the clue that the last quest is in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom.

The above taken from Wikipedia.

I've not read the original book written by Ernest Cline so it's a blank slate for me. Overall, the movie was truly entertaining, from the start to the end! Engaging original plots with some throwback to the 80's, it's so refreshingly cool and nice to watch especially those realistic mind-blowing CGI's!

I can so imagined our future to be of such especially even now, gadgets have taken over the human minds. So in a matter of years, we would live in the fake world of future-doms, somewhat similar to many other AR related sci-fi flicks with fake persons/ avatars.

According to Cline, there's a possible sequel so if Spielberg is still at the helm, I'll definitely watch it. Great casts with a superb awesome story-line, a must watch movie in the cinema!