Ready Player One Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs

4. Ben Mendelsohn's Terrific Villain

I’ve already sung the praises of most of the cast, but if there’s one who deserves to be singled out it’s undoubtedly Ben Mendelsohn, whose Nolan Sorrento continually steals the show.

As the power-mad CEO of IOI, seeking to take control of the OASIS, there are at first shades of his Rogue One villain Orson Krennic in Sorrento; a bureaucrat type who is desperate to climb as high as possible.

A key bit of backstory, however, adds a touch of depth to the character and it becomes easy to see how he turned out the way he did.

Better, though, is when Mendelsohn really starts to cut loose as the film progresses and he spends more time in the OASIS. He becomes much more of a megalomaniac and gets crazier as we get deeper into the race for the three keys that will give him the control he craves, and the performance is a huge amount of fun to watch. Mendelsohn’s been a scene stealer for some time, but he gets a more central role here and goes full throttle, and it’s a sheer delight to witness.