Ready Player One seems like it was tailor-made specifically for director Steven Spielberg, to swoop in and create another sci-fi fantasy extravaganza to add to his long list of classics. The movie places you in a fun-filled carnival for the senses, stacked with so many wonderful pop culture references, you’ll leave with a nostalgic smile on your face.
Based on the Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel of the same name, Ready Player One takes place in the dystopian near future, where we’ve messed up the planet pretty good. When one James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and his partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) create the first virtual reality world called the Oasis, it becomes an instant success. It’s a place in which you can be anyone and do whatever you want and the perfect place to escape the awful world.
After parting ways with his business partner, Halliday runs the company alone and when he finally dies years later, he releases his final challenge to the world. He tells people across the globe that he has placed a literal Easter Egg deep within the Oasis and whoever finds it will inherit the whole of his assets and the Oasis itself. Of course, to find it, you have to first find three keys, or clues, to unlock the egg’s precise location, and it’s no easy task.
These is where we jump off in the film. Set in Columbus, Ohio, we meet Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a young man who lives in the poorer side of town known as “the Stacks.” It’s a trailer park from hell, where trailers are literally stacked up on top of each other, and Wade has pretty miserable existence in the real world. But he finds his solace in the Oasis as his cool avatar Parzival, hanging with his avatar pals and desperately trying to crack Halliday’s challenge.
When Wade/Parzival meets Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), however, the game changes, and suddenly Parzival, Art3mis and his gang start figuring out the clues. This is all much to the chagrin of Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the head of a rival gaming company who is also trying to find the Halliday egg so he can take it all over – and ruin the Oasis forever. The race is on, and the odds are stacked against our underdogs. Can they win?
The performances are all top-notch, especially from Sheridan and Cooke, who gel well together onscreen. Cooke particularly is engaging when she’s being her avatar Art3mis, full of cute swagger and confidence. Mendelsohn chews it up with the best of them, and it’s perfectly fine for him to go over the top. Other standouts include the always-good Mark Rylance, as the sweet, kind-hearted, geeky moral center of the film.
The true star of the film, however, is Oasis. It’s simply the bomb place to be, especially through Spielberg’s visual acuity. No offense to the actors, but you are instantly sucked in the minute any of the characters put on their VR goggles, and you’re completely engrossed in the action sequences. The sights and sounds are nothing short of amazing, and you can actually feel Spielberg just giddily reveling in all the high-tech visuals he can create.
Honestly, Spielberg might be 71-years-old (WTF?), but there’s no question he is still pretty much that nerdy kid inside – except the auteur has the vast experience to create something truly special. Everyone is talking about how Ready Player One is Spielberg’s return to the sci-fi fantasy world he once reigned over, and it’s true. He had a minor dip back into that world with 2016’s The BFG, based on the Roald Dahl’s children’s novel, but it didn’t quite resonate with audiences. Ready Player One should (or at least I hope so).
The film is also an ode to the 1980s, which is where I come in for a brief moment because I grew up in the ’80s, and Ready Player One spoke to me on many levels. I felt like it was made for me. Author Cline co-wrote the script with Zak Penn, and the two are kindred spirits, stuffing the film full of that era’s references. So is Spielberg, to some degree, because it’s in the late ’70s and ’80s when the director perfected his craft. Clearly, Cline’s (and our) alter ego is Halliday, who has infused his Oasis with things that he loved from the ’80s, from the music (I mean, you can’t get enough of Culture Club, Def Leppard and Hall and Oates; you just can’t) to the movies (yep, Back to the Future is in there) and character references. No spoilers, of course, but there is a particular ’80s horror movie highlighted in this, and the action sequence involving it will knock your socks off.
Here’s the thing, though. It’s not just the ’80s being represented in the Oasis, but a number of great pop culture references, from beloved characters like the Iron Giant to King Kong and so much more. Ready Player One could be one of those movies that can appeal to just about everyone, even younger audiences who should appreciate the high-tech gadgetry and modern-day gamer mentality.
Penn and Cline craft a cohesive narrative that isn’t necessarily surprising in its set-up but grabs you nonetheless, and while the film does seem to drag a little the closer we come to the climax, it probably has more to do with Spielberg having difficulty deciding what to cut out. You know what? He’s earned that right. It’s his Oasis, and he can do whatever the hell he wants.
Ready Player One is just one big bowl of spectacular popcorn fun, from beginning to end, and it’ll be one you want to watch over and over. Thank you, Mr. Spielberg.
