Ready Player One - A RMNT Review

Before I write my thoughts on the film, I want to talk about something that it reminded me off, my childhood. When I was little, I imagined the idea of many characters, regards of what product brand they’re from, to crossover, team up and work together to save the day. I grew up watching many cartoons and movies and played video games and its still astounds me to this day how I learned many things from that experience, such as learning English, knowing the difference between right and wrong, learning from your own mistakes and do the best you can, etc. I heard of the film sometime around last year, but wasn’t a hundred percent certain of what to expect since I never read the book, but when the official trailer was released, my interests went up and when I learned that one of my favorite film directors and influences is involved, I knew that it would be something special: a movie revolving around a video game world revolving around pop culture directed by someone whose films became part of pop culture in the 80’s and 90’s. And now, its time to talk about Ready Player One. Shall we START?

Ready Player One is the latest film from Steven Spielberg that’s based on the book by Ernest Cline, who also co-wrote the film’s script alongside Zak Penn, best known for previously co-writing The Avengers and stars Ty Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance, in his third collaboration with Spielberg after Bridge of Spies and The BFG. The film takes place in the year 2045, where humanity escapes their desolated real world by engaging in the virtual reality world of the OASIS, where you can work, learn, play, and socialize as characters of pop culture such as from movies, TV shows, video games and comic books. Now speaking of pop culture, this is where it becomes a double-edged sword. On one hand, if you grew up with pop culture, then this is the movie to watch due to how fun it is to spot which character and/or vehicle from the movies, shows and games you grew up watching, but on the other, it can be distracting as it can sometimes misdirect you away from the main story, but overall, its still an overall joy to see many familiar characters from my childhood back in the 90’s. But from that aspect, it’ll take many rewatches to determine which other characters from pop culture that many might’ve missed made an appearance.

The main story follows Wade Watts, who lives in a slum in Columbus, Ohio with his aunt, who’s been raising him after his parents died when he was a child and that’s all the backstory, but I’ll talk more on him later. The character spends his time in the OASIS since it is the movie’s main setting, aside from the real world, as he goes there under the avatar name, Parzival, where he meets up with his friends including one going by the username “Aech” and popular gamer “Art3mis”, who he’s developed feelings for. James Halliday, the late creator of the OASIS game, programmed a game within it before his death and whoever completes it, will be the sole owner of the game, along with huge amount of money. But in order to find the main objective, the Easter Egg, players must find three keys and only be obtained by beating three challenges. But the players aren’t the only ones who seek to complete the quest as a huge video game company called “IOI” wants to own the OASIS for their own purposes.

The movie paces surprisingly well for a 2-hour and 20 minute film as it balances well between scenes taking in the OASIS and the real world and making certain that the main characters, supportive characters, minor characters, and even the pop culture references have fair amounts of screen time to move the story, but the editing however, can be a bit grading at times, but not in a frustrating way. The movie’s tone is also nicely balanced as it delivers some good humor, mostly consisting, of course, with pop culture references, but also delivered by the characters themselves, particularly in the dialogue from the natural delivery and character chemistry.

The film’s action sequences are also eye-catching, from the exciting and dangerous racing scene, characters fighting in hand-to-combat in either the game world and in the real world, a car chase sequence and the biggest battle sequence I’ve ever seen in a fictional video game world, as it represents everything I love from my childhood days! The movie also explores a relevant theme, and that is, socialization and the importance of appreciating what’s around you and to enjoy doing other activities outside of video games. I’ll admit, it can be difficult meeting new people to find common ground with, but in time, its worth experiencing and sharing moments with those closest to you.

As the characters in the film, while they’re not the most complex characters, they are still well-rounded characters that are all portrayed well by a talented cast. Ty Sheridan plays the main character, Wade Watts AKA Parzival, who has the basic backstory of being raised by an aunt in the slums, as I mentioned before, but at first he has a simple motivation: he plays the game to escape from the desolation from reality as I believe he feels more free and wants to win the challenge to use the money to get away from the current life he’s living at, but all that changes when he first meets Art3mis, who has her own motivation, to put an end to IOI after what they did to her father years ago and to ensure they fail in their plans with OASIS. The two on screen together feel genuine especially when they both meet in person for the first time, and help keep us engaged to the story aside from the main game setting, along with Parxival’s best friend “Aech”, who’s both a trusting and helpful ally and brings provides fun banter with Parxival and other characters too. As for “Art3mis”, played by a spunky and confident Olivia Cooke, she’s shown to be a strong free-spirit who loves gaming and pop culture like Wade, but doesn’t want to get to close as she feels that if they were to meet in person, Parzival would be disappointed, but also she reminds him that there are more important matters than just playing games. As for the film’s main antagonist, Nolan Sorrento, played by Ben Mendelsohn, who runs IOI and wants to take control of OASIS and will desperately do whatever it takes to succeed, including using a huge number of players called Sixers and a group of experts on pop culture. He may be your typical corporate business villains you’ve seen in countless films, but thanks to Ben’s performance and direction, he surprisingly stands out and shows that he means business, especially in later scenes of the film. Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg as James Halliday and Ogden Morrow respectively, are the film’s representations of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, with Halliday being the sole passionate creator of the virtual game and Morrow handling the business side of things. They do solid jobs with their characters as well as their interactions, but Mark Rylance is the man of the hour, as Halliday is someone who loves all things pop culture, and at near the end of the film, his character shows much more depth to show that he’s just someone who lives to enjoy playing the game rather than complete them and his life revolving around it brings more weight. As for the other supportive characters, they either stand out well and others not so much due to lack of screen time.

The world of OASIS is a visual marvel, full of many locations, thriving with many, many activities that can keep you occupied for many days. The colors, scope, and creativity are everything one can imagine when you think of the OASIS. The legendary visual effects company, Industrial Light Magic, are to be praised for building such a massive wonder that sparks the imagination of those who love animation and video games. Its basically the ultimate mishmash of all things pop culture. Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography is to also be praised for capturing the immersive visuals of the OASIS, including the setting of a classic horror film that I won’t spoil as it was something both unexpected, but amazing at the same time. For more than 40 years, John Williams has always collaborated with Spielberg to deliver incredible film scores, but this time, he couldn’t return to collaborate as he was busy working on the score of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So Spielberg hired Alan Silvestri to compose the film and proved that he was a right choice as he delivered, what I consider one of his best scores, as it was full of excitement and really captures the sense of adventure that Spielberg showed in his past films, so I definitely look forward to what amazing music he composed for Avengers: Infinity War!

Steven Spielberg has truly delivered another exciting full of sci-fi adventure as it delivers an engaging story, a memorable cast of characters portrayed by a talented group of actors and actresses, a visually immersive world created by the best computer-generated effects, an impressive film score from Alan Silvestri, eye-catching cinematography, and of course, the biggest assortment of pop culture references ever assembled on film! This is a must-see if you’re a fan of pop culture, looking for a very entertaining visual experience, or if you’re just simply a fan of Steven Spielberg’s works!

Story: 4 / 5

Characters: 4 / 5

Visuals: 5 / 5

Final Rating: 4 / 5