The book, "Ready Player One", is considered to be a very divisive story for fans and critics. Some people think it's a great throwback adventure for pop-culture while others think it's just fan-service for the sake of weak substance. The mixed reception will pour onto the movie adaptation as prior to the film's release, a lot of disgruntlement was thrown on the film for just using fan-service and references as the hook for a viewer rather than offer something substantial or engaging. Despite the rocky journey, the film managed to be a success at the box office and a sequel based of "Ready Player Two" has now entered development. So, here's the burning question. Was this movie really deserving of the backlash or disinterest? Well, let's jump into the story. It's 2045 and it seems that the general population is all hooked into the OASIS, an ultra VR platform that acts as a video game for both leisure and profit. It just seems far better to be in the virtual world than in the decaying reality that is our world. Wade Watts, a poor yet passioned player, manages to be the first one to receive a key to the easter egg left behind by the deceased creator of the game, James Halliday. Finding the easter egg itself will allow the winner to inherit $500 billion and the ownership of Halliday's company, something that rival CEO of IOI, Nolan Sorrento, wants in order to add more monetization in the OASIS. While Wade gets more popular in the OASIS and develops an interest with a player named Artemis, things start becoming more dangerous as Sorrento is hell-bent on winning the easter egg, even if it means killing Wade himself. The story is essentially a fun, over-the-top adventure and really is all you need. The film tries to offer some sort of depth into the moral or themes of the story by contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of reality and fiction, but the problem is that it's pretty half-assed in that aspect. When it focuses on the tragedy of Halliday, it works. Everyone else though doesn't seem like they earned the moral of the story in regards to why your reality is crucial rather than the online world. It also doesn't help that the movie is almost two-and-a-half hours long. The scenes of "dramatic weight or moral lessons" should just be cut down and just have the film be constantly engaging and fun.The tone reflects the over-the-top story with little to no drama, which sort of works considering the nature of the story and source material. It knows that it's nothing deep or serious and it tries to have fun when it doesn't push some big message of the story.
Wade, played by Tye Sheridan, feels like a mixed-bag of a protagonist. On the one hand, I do think that the ideas of her economic background and his knowledge of pop culture being told more like a academic student rather than a geeked-out nerd sort of works for the world they set up and having him be somewhat capable as the lead character. The problem with Wade though is that not only does the viewer not really gain sympathy for him, but Wade himself makes some questionable and stupid decisions. From telling his name to Artemis to having a weird hate-boner for IOI despite buying their merchandise anyways, it just seems really inconsistent for someone who has been involved in the game for many years. I understand that flawed protagonists can work to be human, but a protagonist having this many flaws just makes him kind of unlikeable in a way. Artemis or Samantha in the real world, played by Olivia Cooke, is a good character harmed by terrible casting. Cooke is by no means a bad actor, but I don't buy how someone like herself be considered an outcast or ugly. If Samantha looked more geeky or average-looking, I think it would be great contrast for the bad-ass, headstrong avatar she created for herself. Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan is just great as he hams up both the stern businessman who is basically EA if the company was a human, and a guy so out of touch with pop culture he has to rely on his co-workers to send him info. I also like his overall idolization with Halliday as he both loathes his former superior and somewhat takes interest in him in trying to solve the easter egg and witnessing Wade achieve said egg. Halliday, played by Mark Rylance, is such a great character in this autistic, socially awkward man who has essentially regretted the choices he's made in real life in regards to his relationships, which is aided by Rylance's fantastic performance. The side characters are pretty good, albeit not super developed. From Lena Withe's Aoch/Helen, T.J Miller's i-R0k, Simon Pegg's Morrow/Curator, to the brothers, Daito/Toshiro and Sho/Zhou, the side cast act as the comic relief that acts as allies for both the heroes and villain who also carry some nice subtlety of their characters or personalities in their performances. While we are on the subject of characters, I will just add all of the cameos and pop-culture references in this area. Despite the marketing and critics acting like the film is nothing but cameos, it's not exactly as distracting or in your face, considering the future setting it takes place in and how so much time has passed that they don't see a select franchise as super relevant to be shoving down your throat. Whatever does take up a bunch of screen-time as a cameo just enhances the movie in a natural way, despite the absurdity of the situation. Overall, I think that the majority of the characters and cameos actually work, aside from Wade's character and role as a protagonist and Samantha being miscast.
Stephen Spielberg makes a grand return to crazy and imaginative filmmaking and world-building after years of polarizing projects and grounded biopics. While the future world of 2045 is a bit uninspired in design, aside from the ghetto neighbourhood known as the Stacks, it's the depiction of the OASIS that really shines in the various roles, activities and portrayals of certain challenges or locations in the virtual world. Regardless of the film being consisted mostly of CGI, you can tell that Spielberg was involved with the film all the way in regards of the visuals, transitions and the sweeping, one-take camerawork by Janusz Kaminski. While the cinematography in the real world feels uninspired compared to that of the OASIS, I think it's completely by Kaminski's design to make the real world feel almost boring and mundane in its ambition compared to the crazy shots and scope of the OASIS. Alan Silvestri pulls off a decent score that, while not "Back to the Future" iconic, still works effectively for the vibe of the movie, especially as he incorporates various tones and themes for certain scenes and callbacks. The soundtrack though is fire with the various 70's/80's hits such as "Blue Monday", "Staying Alive", "We're Not Gonna Take It", etc. The visual effects are fantastic, albeit in a different matter compared to most films. The CGI used to depict the OASIS isn't realistic by any means, but it's a great design to allow characters and objects of various aesthetics to co-exist with one another. It can't be too realistic for the cartoon characters to look out of place, but it can't be too colourful and exaggerated to have realistic models be out of place. The effects and the design of the OASIS just really works in selling this digital world with a semi-realistic/animated look that can allow characters of any design or creation fit in. As for the action sequences, they can be breath-taking and energizing. The race sequence is a highlight with the lack of music and one-take shots with insanity flowing the streets and track. Gunfights are interesting in the OASIS game design, the hunt for the second key in an iconic film is memorizing, and the final battle is just over-sensory galore. Even the truck chase in the real world works in how it can be high-octane in a different film or tone compared to the vivid insanity offered by the OASIS. Spielberg might be losing his touch in recent years, but this film proves that the master of filmmaking and creativity is still one of the best in the industry.
"Ready Player One" is just a great joyride of fandoms and sci-fi action-adventure lovers. It's not perfect with the weak morals, pacing, Wade being an unlikeable protagonist, and Samantha being poorly cast by Cooke. Despite these issues, the adaptation shines with a fun story and tone, solid performances by Mendelsohn and Rylance, fun group of side characters, cameos and references that are just the right amount of eye-popping distracting, Kaminski's excellent cinematography that sweeps across the OASIS, Silvestri's decent score, the amazing soundtrack of nostalgic pop and rock songs, the CGI being very effective for bringing the OASIS to life, the action sequences being extremely chaotic and engaging, and Spielberg's direction still carrying that whimsy and imaginative way of making films through his world-building and visual storytelling. It's not a deep movie or one that can truly age well in regards to the various pop culture references, but it's impossible not to smile when you're watching throughout the majority of the film.
Verdict: 8/10. Great film to just sit back and have fun, flaws and all. Even if you were a disgruntled critic, you can't deny that there weren't a handful of moments that you enjoyed.
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