after all this time I still wasn't ready for player one

I've eventually got around to watching Ready Player One. It's taken me three attempts, mainly because each time I started watching it I decide I didn't really want to go any further.

Slight spoiler paragraph: Man invents game. Everyone plays it because real life is inexplicably dystopian and horrible. Man dies leaving his avatar to tell that there's three keys hidden in the game and whoever can find them can take control of everything. Quest. A bad corporation wants the keys. Act 2 jeopardy. Act 3 swaggering resolution.

Nearly the whole film is CGI and every corner of the 4k HD screen is filled with detail. All of the time. Minimal f1.8 bokeh cinematography. If they've drawn it you can see it.

Even the posters are complicated.

It's pretty full-on. Compare it with other popular sci-fi greats.

These others each carry an idea from their movie, but don't try to put the entire plot onto the poster. Admittedly that fourth one for Star Wars one is a curio from an early VHS version, later changed for the box sets.

Probably if I was more into gaming culture, I might like the freneticism of the story telling. Twitch-reflex 360 degree POV. The opening shows that to good effect, with shots of our hero in the stacked containers of the real world. Curiously, the sequence reminded me of Zemeckis establishing Back to the Future's worlds.

That's before our hero clips on VR-shades and flips into the OASIS, a sort of champagne supernova of gaming environments, deemed preferable for pretty much anyone living in Stacks.

There's references to other movies/games sprinkled all through this one. There's dozens, which is because of the pulling power of Speilberg and his studio's backing to do just about what they like. Often the references are simply in the graphic backgrounds. As an example:

It's an exposition scene back at the workshop, just a after gimmick where they put the 'Valley Forge' from Silent Running back into a toolbox. Look closely in the background: There's the pod from 2001. But wait: There's (to me) the iconic Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop, a series that has featured in rashbre central several times. Come to think of it, there's also the Battlestar Galactica Viper. It reminds me of the (sigh-no longer available) backlot tour in MGM.

Apparently there's no deliberately Spielberg film references included, and surprisingly little direct Bladerunner, which might be a copyright thing. However, like that crucial scene in Bladerunner when Deckard's eyes reflect the same orange-white light as the Replicants, there's an equivalent piece of double dealing in this movie.

I know I wasn't the target audience for this movie, but I might well be for another one, due in November.

It also deals with virtual worlds, this time the whole of the internet and I have a feeling the effect will be altogether more joyful.