LindsayReview! Ready Player One (2018) Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn . IMDB says “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.”
After hearing about the movie adaptation of Ready Player One and catching up on the basic plot outline, I was quickly excited about the project. While I myself opted not to read the book, those around me that did had nothing but praise. Still I had to wonder, even with a giant like Steven Spielberg directing, could this visuals-heavy & intricate concept design work well on the big screen?
The basic plot works like this: In the near future exists a virtual reality world called OASIS lets users take part in a multitude of activities that essentially equate to living an entire separate lives than their own. When the game’s beloved creator James Halliday passes away, it is revealed that he has hidden a special “Easter Egg” in the game and that whoever finds it will be granted ownership of the entire OASIS. As you might imagine, that’s a pretty big deal. It’s been 5 years and no one has even made a dent on the quest to get the egg but our protagonist Wade Watts may be on the verge of the first breakthrough.
This is a cool concept for sure but one of the reasons the book garnered so many hardcore fans was the world’s intense devotion to fandom. In the OASIS, ANYTHING you can think up is possible including any character from any form of media or any song you want to listen to. The creator was so obsessed with 80s pop culture that those looking for the Easter Egg are essentially rewarded for their pop culture knowledge. It is a media-nerd’s dream and the more pop culture you consume, the better your odds are in the game. If you have any excitement about games or film or music, then it’s hard not to get a little pumped up watching Ready Player One.
There is obviously a lot to unpack in the film. You have to introduce audiences to an entire new world and the essentials of everything possible within it. This is where the movie shines the brightest. There are loads of fantastic set pieces designed to immerse you quickly and get you up to speed. The first moments in the OASIS work so well that it moves from overwhelming visual overload to “I’m addicted and never going to leave” in the matter of minutes. It doesn’t take long to see your favorite character or realize how you can operate a Tron light cycle before you are just totally won over. I didn’t specifically count but I believe it was 4 separate instances where I said out-loud “Dope.” (Mainly because I’m a loser but so are you and that’s what this movie is banking on.)
The major issue I had with the film sort of revealed itself to me about half way through and I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I didn’t come to the realization sooner. While the movie is by no means short, there isn’t a whole lot of time spent getting to know the characters. I chalked it up to favoring the world-building over the character-building which would be the right choice for the filmmakers but still left most of the main characters feeling hollow. Specifically Wade, who we are supposed to like and root for and admire for his ability to play the game but I’m still not sure why I know that any of that is true. It was bothering me every time I watched him interact in the real world. The staging and art direction also felt lazy, opting for grays and muted saturation because you know, the real world is so much less inviting. I get it. But something else was just not landing right. Then there was a “tense” real world scene with a brief moment of violence where a rather cartoonish sound effect was used to illustrate a punch. Then the tone suddenly fell right into place. This wasn’t the serious ‘Save the world’ dystopian YA adaptation I have become so accustomed to recently. This is an 80’s movie, duh! Of course it is! Once I started to look at the film with that lens, it became much easier to digest. I still wish that the movie had taken just a few more moments to explain some things and give us a better connection to the main characters. It was the only thing standing in the way of truly setting this movie apart from others in the genre.
Issues aside, Ready Player One is super fun! Spielberg is able to pull off sequences that few other directors could. The movie does actually feel like virtual reality experience – thinking back to scenes feels like you lived through them as opposed to observing them – and if that doesn’t get your butt in a theater, I don’t know what will!
