There's a moment during the climax of Ready Player One that caused me to have a revelation. It was during the final battle in the Oasis, the film's virtual world, where one of the heroes dives into the melee in the form of the classic RX-78 Gundam from the 70s to fight the main villain, who was piloting Mechagodzilla at the time. Watching this made me cheer and laugh in joy, probably to the confusion of my fellow moviegoers, but as the moment passed and the film continued a thought came to my mind. I asked myself, "Why did I just cheer at that? Is it just because I know what a Gundam is and thought it was cool to see it? Is throwing a semi-obscure nerd reference like that at me really enough to get me going? Am I an easy mark?"
This thought stayed with me throughout the rest of Ready Player One and after I had left the theater. I began to rethink the movie in these terms, of whether I enjoyed it more because I was able to recognize all the shout-outs, cameos, and easter eggs peppered throughout. I certainly enjoyed the film more than I was expecting, but was this part of the reason? Thinking on it led me to a bigger question, as a critic am I more forgiving to movies and entertainment that play to my sensibilities? Can my objectivity be fudged by playing on shallow eye-candy like seeing a Gundam fight Mechagodzilla? Am I an easy mark?
