Shall we play a game? You will want to after watching director Steven Spielberg’s latest, Ready Player One. Warning, spoilers ahead…
When we see what kind of world we live in today, it’s hard to imagine not wanting to escape reality. Such is the premise of Ready Player One. Based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline, the RPO is set in the year 2045 and humanity is dire need of escaping their harsh reality. To fulfill that need, citizens indulge themselves by entering the virtual reality world of the OASIS, a pop culture smorgasbord where people can go anywhere, do anything and be anyone they wish to be. Upon his death, OASIS creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) left his fortune and sole control of the OASIS within the virtual world. The quest to find these hidden keys draws the attention of many Gunters (egg hunters) one of which is Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan). As Wade forms alliances to help retrieve the keys, a rival company, Innovative Online Industries (IOI) led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) also want the keys for full control of the virtual world for their own gain.
From this point on, the film is a paint by numbers story-line, as Wade using his OASIS avatar Parzival unlocks the first of three keys. He then befriends Art3mis/Samantha Cook (Olivia Cooke) and makes the mistake of revealing his real world identity which puts him and Samantha in cross hairs of IOI and its CEO Sorrento. Sorrento wants Wade to find the keys for him and is willing to pay him handsomely to do so but when Wade refuses, Sorrento targets Wade to be eliminated. However, its Wade’s aunt and her boyfriend who end up getting killed instead in a drone attack. Now, Wade and Samantha along with three other Gunters (they refer to themselves as “High Five”) race against the IOI to find the remaining hidden keys and save the OASIS from possible destruction.
Wade (Sheridan) with Samantha (played by Olivia Cooke). Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.
At 140 minutes, Ready Player One is a bit on the long side and perhaps too busy with all the visual Easter eggs throughout the film no matter how amazing it was to discover and point them out. For that alone I would caution against seeing it in 3D or IMAX. With that said, its the visuals that carry the film as pop culture icons like Batman, Freddy Kruger, Jason, Chucky the doll, King Kong and the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, just to name a few, all make appearances throughout. Even classic vehicles like the DeLorean play a prominent role which only adds to the experience. Major kudos also for a wonderful soundtrack. In the end, Ready Player One is a blast that taps into our childhood with its nostalgia and our childlike imagination with its adventure that is sorely missing in today’s real world.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Simon Pegg, T.J. Miller, Hannah John-Kamen and Mark Rylance
PG13 140 Mins
READY PLAYER ONE – **** (out of 5 stars)
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
