Game on!
Ready Player One (12A)
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
Director: Steven Spielberg
The Plot: It's 2045, and the world has become a harsh, overcrowded place. Humanity finds escape in the Oasis - an immersive virtual reality haven where players can do anything and wear the avatar of any character they choose, in a world dominated by the pop culture its creator James Halliday (Rylance) loved. Wade Watts (Sheridan), who goes by the name Parzival in-game, is a "Gunter" - players who are seeking a hidden Easter egg within the game, left by Halliday - this Easter egg takes the form of three incredibly difficult challenges, and the first player to locate and beat all three will win ownership of the Oasis. Parzival teams up with fellow top player Art3mis (Cooke) in a race to win the challenge before Nolan Sorrento (Mendelsohn) - a crooked CEO of a powerful company that wants to claim the Oasis for its own, and isn't afraid to attack them in the real world to do it . . .
Check out the trailer for the film here.
Review: Before I really dive in I need to make two things clear: the first is that I haven't read the novel Ready Player One that the film is based on. Written by Ernest Cline and released in 2011, the book became a cult favourite but for some reason it didn't cross my radar, so as such I can't make any kind of comment as to how faithful an adaptation this film is or anything like that. From what I can tell, a lot of changes have been made for the film - including pretty much all references to Spielberg's films being removed, at the director's request - but Cline himself co-wrote the screenplay, so any die hard fans of the novel should be happy knowing that the author is involved. Secondly, I hold my hands up and say that I am, without a doubt, the target audience for this film, so it was a given that I was going to like it - I mean, come on, it's called Ready Player One, one of the most iconic phrases in video game history. What this film is, is a pure, exciting rush of nostalgia and geekery, a thrill-ride unlike any other that I've seen that, while flawed, is an incredible achievement.
Check out the trailer for the film here.
Review: Before I really dive in I need to make two things clear: the first is that I haven't read the novel Ready Player One that the film is based on. Written by Ernest Cline and released in 2011, the book became a cult favourite but for some reason it didn't cross my radar, so as such I can't make any kind of comment as to how faithful an adaptation this film is or anything like that. From what I can tell, a lot of changes have been made for the film - including pretty much all references to Spielberg's films being removed, at the director's request - but Cline himself co-wrote the screenplay, so any die hard fans of the novel should be happy knowing that the author is involved. Secondly, I hold my hands up and say that I am, without a doubt, the target audience for this film, so it was a given that I was going to like it - I mean, come on, it's called Ready Player One, one of the most iconic phrases in video game history. What this film is, is a pure, exciting rush of nostalgia and geekery, a thrill-ride unlike any other that I've seen that, while flawed, is an incredible achievement.
The most obvious thing to talk about first is the references. Oh boy. The world of the Oasis is one that is shaped by video games, movies, television, music and pop culture from the 80s all the way to the present day, with particular emphasis on the 80s and 90s, modelled as it was by its creator Halliday on all the things he loved and gleefully embraced by its inhabitants who can take on the avatar of any fictional character from any film or video game that they want. As such, the number of different visual and audio references to other films, video games, television, music and general pop-culture is simply astonishing and I cannot do any justice with words to just how much is going on here. There are interactions, mash-ups and battles between characters from all kinds of franchises that are the stuff of a geek's wet dream, in what can only be described as a love letter to this particular period of time. I know for a fact that I didn't catch everything, so crowded are many of the shots with so many difference characters, but just some of the things I saw and recognised references from are:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battletoads
- The Dark Crystal
- Hello Kitty
- Ryu, Chun-Li and Blanka from Street Fighter and Goro from Mortal Kombat
- Batman, Batgirl and Harley Quinn
- Spider-Man and Wolverine
- Multiple references to John Hughes movies
- The Holy Hand Grenade
- Spartans from Halo, Lara Croft, Dante from Devil May Cry and Duke Nukem
- Starships from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Alien
- Tracer and Reaper from Overwatch
- Robocop, Freddy Krueger and Chucky
- Duran Duran, and the "Pure Imagination" song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Wil Wheaton on a poster next to the election poster of the mayor from Back to the Future, whose director Robert Zemeckis is named-checked with The Zemeckis Cube
- The magic spell used to activate Sorrento's barrier is "The Charm of Making" from Excalibur
Where the flaws are to be found, however, are in the script. There's no getting away from it - this is a remarkably cheesy story, that isn't helped by some downright terrible dialogue. The hero goes through three tough challenges, defeats the bad guy and then gets the girl. It's something out of any old video game, or movie . . . but that's kind of the point, isn't it? The film makes no pretences about what it is - it's a huge blockbuster that you come to for the visual thrill-ride and the hearkening back to a nostalgic time period, and as such the story and character development take a back seat. Personally I'm fine with this when the rest of the film is so exciting, but I'm sure that some viewers will be bothered by this a lot more and find more detailed flaws to pick out. I personally would liked to have seen more time given to Parzival and Art3mis's relationship developing and a bit more to flesh out the state of the real world they live in.
The story as it is though, taking in their journey to find and complete Halliday's three challenges, does make for some spectacular set-pieces that are the high points of the film and really allows those terrific visual effects to shine. The films most incredible moments include:
- The first challenge, which takes the form of a high-speed race through a twisting version of New York City. Parzival drives the DeLorean from Back to the Future, Art3mis rides Kaneda's motorcycle from Akira, and the other competitors drive vehicles including the Bigfoot monster truck, the 66' Batmobile, the Mach 5 from Speed Racer, Mad Max's Ford Falcon, the A-Team van and the possessed Plymouth Fury from Christine. And did I mention the racers get attacked by the T-Rex from Jurassic Park and Kong himself from King Kong?
- A beautiful scene where Parzival (dressed as Buckaroo Banzai) meets Art3mis at a night-club and the two dance in zero-gravity to the Bee Gee's Stayin' Alive, in an homage to Saturday Night Fever
- The second challenge, which features an astonishing recreation of The Shining where the characters visit the Overlook hotel, complete with creepy twins, naked bathtub lady and elevators of blood
- The final battle, where Parzival rallies the inhabitants of the Oasis (using the boom box from Say Anything) to take on Sorrento's forces who are guarding the citadel that holds the third challenge. The sheer number of different characters that go to battle alongside each other is mind blowing, and culminates in a scene where one player jumps out of the starship Serenity from Firefly, turns into a Gundam mecha, and then teams up with The Iron Giant to take on MechaGodzilla. I mean . . . come on!
The performances are a bit hit-and-miss, but seeing as the leads had to spend a great deal of time wearing motion capture suits I'm inclined to be more lenient. Tye Sheridan is fine as Perzival/Wade, who at least isn't shown to be the perfect hero from the get-go and has to learn how to be the leader that the Oasis needs and also to be the kind of guy that Art3mis wants. I'm a big fan of Olivia Cooke, who was excellent in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and as Art3mis/Samantha she's extremely likable, getting some of the best lines and proving to be as good as (in some cases better) a player than Parzival, and she does well with the real-life scenes that tell her back story. She and Sheridan both would have benefited from more time to flesh out these scenes and their characters developing relationship. Ben Mendelsohn is your typical villain as Sorrento, not being stretched by any means of the imagination, but Spielberg favourite Mark Rylance gets more to work with as the Oasis's creator Halliday, a socially awkward individual who has constructed the three hidden challenges around the biggest regrets of his life. It's always a pleasure to see Simon Pegg, who pops up here as Halliday's ousted partner Ogden Morrow, and I also liked Lena Waithe as Parzival's friend Aech, a girl who hides behind a huge male avatar to cover her insecurities about her own appearance.
As an avid gamer, film fan and child of the 80s and 90s this film connected with me in a deep way, but if you aren't in any of those categories then you won't get as much out of this film as others will. It's flawed, to be sure, and I honestly can't call it perfect, but this is such an exciting rush of nostalgia that it more than makes up for its faults. It's an open love letter to all things pop culture, and if you've ever dreamt of driving the DeLorean or fighting as your favourite video game character then this is something you really need to experience. Spielberg magic at its finest.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
An astonishing visual spectacle that takes viewers on an exciting trip through more films, video games, music and pop culture references than you could possibly imagine. The story is incredibly cheesy, the dialogue terrible in places and the performances mixed, but when you have the sheer amount of nostalgia and fantasy on display those issues fall to the wayside. This is absolute heaven for geeks, film fans, gamers and anyone who grew up from the 80s onward - a must see.
A little treat to finish - as part of the marketing for Ready Player One, loads of iconic film posters from the 80s and 90s were remade using the characters from the film. Some of them are incredibly clever, and all of them are awesome. Check out a selection of them below!
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