Any time we have a new Steven Spielberg movie, there’s bound to be tons of hype leading up to its release. Combine that with the fact that said movie is based on a popular book, and the hype and expectations might reach a fever pitch. Luckily though, Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel of the same name, lived up to those expectations in what turned out to be a good, incredibly fun, and visually amazing movie.
Set in the near future, in 2045, in the fastest growing city in the world: Columbus, Ohio (obviously). Due to factors such as pollution, climate change, and overpopulation, much of the Earth’s resources have become severely depleted. To escape the grim realities of real life, most of the world’s population spends their time in the OASIS, an incredibly advanced virtual reality world. OASIS offers users limitless possibilities; you can do anything, be anyone. It was created by tech genius James Halliday who died about five years before the movie’s story begins. Upon his death, Halliday had arranged for a message to be released to the public. He revealed he had hidden an Easter egg within OASIS. The first person to find it will inherit his fortune and full ownership over OASIS. Each “Gunter” (Egg hunter) needs to find three keys, which will unlock the Easter egg upon completion of the final quest. The main character is 18-year-old Wade Watts, who, along with his group of friends race to find the Easter egg before Innovative Online Industries (IOI), led by their corrupt CEO, Nolan Sorrento.
While not a perfect movie (what movie is?) Ready Player One does a lot of things right. There’s the little bit of exposition at the beginning to establish some basic plot points. But after that, the movie hits the gas and doesn’t let up. The pacing was fantastic. That might seem like an odd thing to praise, but with a run time of 2 hours 20 minutes, that’s an important note to make. Even with the lengthy run, it does not feel like a movie that’s approaching two and a half hours. It simply speeds along, leaving the viewer very little time to stop and catch their breath. As mentioned earlier, the visuals of the movie are incredible. It’s one of the most visually appealing movies I’ve seen in a long time. And that should be expected for a movie like this. You can’t have a movie that takes place mostly in a virtual reality world where pretty much anything is possible and not have great visuals. But Spielberg and his crew knocked it out of the park in that department. Perhaps most importantly, Ready Player One is quite simply an incredibly fun movie watching experience. There are a few parts (that I’ll address in a spoiler section) that take the wind out of the sails just a bit, but not enough for me to let them affect my view of the movie too much. So much of it is so much fun that it makes up for the areas in which the film is lacking.
If you’ve been following news on this movie at all, you’ve no doubt heard about the plethora of pop culture references included. For some people, this would be a huge draw; for others it could be a huge drag. I’m probably somewhere more in the middle, though more pro-references than not. I know for certain that I had to have missed countless references throughout the movie and I’m okay with that. There were so many blink-and-you’ll-miss-it references that it would impractical to expect someone to catch them all on one viewing. That being said, you don’t need to know all the references, or any of them, I would argue, to enjoy or understand this movie. The more you get, the more fun you’ll have watching it, but they really function almost as Easter eggs themselves. Something that adds a little extra layer, but not something crucial to the experience. Though I will say the movie’s funniest line (and one use of the f-word) is made much better if you understand the reference that prompts the f-bomb. And in the spirit of transparency, there is one key scene that won’t register as much if you haven’t seen the movie being referenced. I won’t say it here, as the reveal will be a lot better if you don’t know about it going in. But I will talk about it in the spoiler section at the end of this post if you need to satisfy some curiosity.
The sheer volume of pop culture references has been a common complaint among those critical of the movie; that their constant appearances are distracting from the movie-watching experience. To that I’ll say this: If you’re spending your time trying to catch and figure out each and every reference, you’re watching the movie for the wrong reason. Enjoy the movie for what it is, catch whatever references you can, and have a good time doing it. You can always rewatch it and try to find what you missed at that point.
Movie: Ready Player One
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller
Genre: Action, adventure, sci-fi
Rated: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, suggestive material, partial nudity, language
My rating: 83
Should you see it? Yes. Even though it drags a bit at the end, Ready Player One is a fun movie from start to finish. Don’t think too hard about it; go see it.
SPOILER SECTION BELOW. IF YOU DO NOT WANT ANY DETAILS SPOILED – INCLUDING PARTS OF THE ENDING – STOP READING NOW, EXIT OUT OF THIS POST, AND GO SEE READY PLAYER ONE.
- “It’s a f*cking Chucky!” Best line of the movie.
- I don’t know that I have one single, favorite part/sequence of the movie, but the first race and the recreation of The Shining are two leading contenders.
- How dumb was the “Extra Life” deus ex machina? You knew that quarter was going to come back into play somehow, but in this way? Not a fan.
- If OASIS is truly world-wide, what are the chances that all five people in Wade’s group live in such close proximity to each other? I realize that’s nitpicking, but the odds of that have to be astronomically low, yes?
- Probably the only exception to my acceptance of all the pop culture references would be the use of Adventure as the final quest. It made sense that it would be involved somehow, being that it was the first video game to include an Easter egg. But its impact would be much less for those unfamiliar with the game’s history. They had to explain it with some at-times-rough exposition which contributed to a kind of clunky ending for an otherwise pretty smooth movie.
- Sorrento’s change of heart at the end of the movie was probably the worst thing about it. Never at any time leading up to that moment had he shown any shred of decency. And then he sees Wade with the golden egg and all of a sudden he does a complete 180? Not okay, that was bad. Like, really bad.
