Ready Player One (2018)
When the creator of a virtual reality world called
the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS
users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.
Director:
Steven SpielbergStars:
In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade
Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS,
an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spends their days.
In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone-the only
limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant
and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense
fortune and total control of the Oasis to the winner of a three-part
contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first
challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends-aka
the High Five-are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and
danger to save the OASIS.
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
29 March 2018 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Baslat See more »Company Credits
Production Co:
Trivia
Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Peter Jackson, and Edgar Wright were all considered to direct this film. See more »Goofs
The book says that everything is supposed to fit in with 80's pop culture, but Tracer is clearly visible in one of the earliest trailers. See more »Crazy Credits
After the credits finish rolling there is a final shot where the Warner Bros. Pictures closing logo has an arcade "Kill Screen" with 8-bit versions of Art3mis, Parzival, Iron Giant, Mario, Sonic, Ralph, Calhoun, and others walking around broken game stages. See more »Soundtracks
World In My Eyes
Written by DEPECHE MODE (as Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Andy Fletcher )
Performed by DEPECHE MODE, VIOLATOR (as Pedro Arcanjo, Pedro Agusto, and David Araya)
Written by DEPECHE MODE (as Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, and Andy Fletcher )
Performed by DEPECHE MODE, VIOLATOR (as Pedro Arcanjo, Pedro Agusto, and David Araya)
With the help of Van Halen’s Jump, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One
launches its video game adventure story at full speed. The year is
2045; the place is Columbus, Ohio. Our hero, Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan),
fills in the details while climbing past his grungy homes of his town,
“the stacks,” where trailer parks are piled on top of each other
sky-high. Things are so miserable in Wade’s world, everyone escapes to
play in an immersive virtual reality game known as the Oasis. Its Steve
Jobs-like founder, James Halliday (Mark Rylance) is worshipped like a
god until his death some years before. However, before he left the
mortal world, the benevolent creator left behind a series of games that
would reward the winner with the Willie Wonka-like prize of the keys to
his virtual kingdom.
That’s a lot of story to race through in two hours and 20 minutes,
but Spielberg paces his movie to fly past the film’s explanations of
events as quickly as possible. The conflict is straightforward and
simple: our hero and his friends must outplay the corporate bad guys led
by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) and beat him to the three keys that
would control the game. Some scenes are just too bloated with with
trivia to have any real weight. The information isn’t given in a casual,
conversational way, but in a pretentious manner, as if they’re trying
to impress you with minutiae.
The Ernest Cline novel on which its based on is perhaps best known
for its many pop culture references. The film follows suit with a
soundtrack filled with an upbeat selection of greatest hits from the
80s, with a few interlopers from the 70s. The deepest cut is perhaps
Prince’s I Wanna Be Your Lover, but the rest are songs you likely know
the lyrics to. It’s tragic that all history of pop culture post-1989
seems to have been lost, but anyone who remembers the 80s may feel
nostalgic spotting artifacts from their past. A DeLorean! There’s
Batman! That’s the … Holy Hand Grenade? There’s even a few nods to
Spielberg’s movies, like when a T-Rex chases a car in Jurassic Park.
It’s easy to get distracted by these cameos on the edge of the story.
The film mimics video games’ weightless camera, creating a floating
point of view around fight scenes and chase scenes. While thrilling to
watch, it’s a style that left me queasy from motion sickness. The
spinning is sometimes so fast, it’s tough to figure out which player is
winning or who is fighting who. With too much movement, momentum is
lost. The audience has to regain its footing in the story before running
off towards the finish line.
While the movie is visually whimsical with its design and
neon colors, the weakness of the source material still pokes out. Plot
holes remain, despite screenwriter Zak Penn and Spielberg’s efforts to
liven up the visuals and punch up the dialogue. I’m not sure I have a
great understanding of how the game mechanics are supposed to work. If
movement is required to move an avatar in the game, how do people play
in the Oasis while standing in their living rooms?
For a movie about the hero’s journey, there’s no arc for any of the
characters. They’re all already heroes, the big bad is evil from start
to finish. Sheridan isn’t given enough to act on. Wade and his
team-mates are almost interchangeable, save for a few differences in
height and race. The grown-ups seem to enjoy their roles a bit more than
the very serious group of young gamers. Mendelsohn has some fun playing
a slippery villain, and Rylance is reliably childish as the Wonka/Jobs
hybrid.
Unfortunately, Ready Player One has a noticeable girl problem: it
can’t see female characters as just other people. For as skilled and
resourceful as Art3mis/Samantha (Olivia Cooke) is, her avatar is that of
an impossible pixie dream girl – a creature with a svelte body,
anime-inspired big eyes, weapons training and the person who knows and
loves almost every reference Wade makes. Of course, she’s damaged with a
birthmark on her face, and he’s the only nice guy who can see that
she’s truly beautiful. Samantha is the artificially programed Eve to
Wade’s Adam, but worse because she never gets the chance to sin.
Those who come away cheering for Ready Player One will likely have
enjoyed the film’s many references, the story’s breakneck speed and
playful visual design. Others may want to unplug from the
paint-by-number characters and shallow plot. The film has much to say
about our present-day fixation on nostalgia. So many characters pine to
go back to their 80s future, but some of us want to see what’s next.
There’s no leveling up or cheat codes that can help with that.
Thanks for reading and have fun watching movies.
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