Ready Player One: First reactions to new Steven Spielberg film are in: 'The geekiest movie ever made'

Many have praised the adaptation while some are unconvinced by its many pop culture references

The first reactions to new Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One are in following the film's premiere at SXSW Festival in tEXAS.

Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel, laden with references to 1980s popular culture including several of the director's own films, received a standing ovation from audiences who are hailing the film as an “astonishing” technical marvel.

Ready Player One follows a teenage gamer (Tye Sheridan) as he participates in a high-stakes pursuit to find hidden treasure in a virtual reality world called the OASIS. The film also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Cooke and Mark Rylance who plays the world's deceased creator James Halliday.

Early reactions have praised the film - the first of two Spielberg films to be released in 2018 following Best Picture-nominee The Post - as “the film the novel deserves,” while one critic branded “the geekiest movie” ever created.

Variety stated that the majority of the film's scenes paled in comparison to its VR-scenes - which it described as "entrancing."

Still, while Forbes expressed the belief the film is "an instant masterpiece," there were those who weren't as gushing in their praise with one critic describing the film's nostalgia as “crass” and another comparing its deployment of its many references - including Spielberg's own Jurassic Park - to putting stickers on a bedroom door.

You can find a series of Twitter reactions below.

Ready Player One is released on 30 March 2018

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