Ready Player One is a 2018 action fantasy film about a virtual reality world called the OASIS that hides the ultimate Easter Egg, prompting many to seek it it fabled fortune.
After watching Ready Player One, it was of no surprise to me when I looked up The Goonies to see Steven Spielberg credited as a writer. Spielberg captures some of that Goonies magic in his latest film about a ragtag group of friends out to save their virtual world, the OASIS. Paired with more cultural references than I’ve ever seen, some amazing CGI, and plenty of action; Ready Player One provides all the fun thrills that you can handle.
The year is 2045 and the world has become overpopulated and desolate. To get away from the misery of reality people escape to the virtual OASIS, where they can go anywhere, be anyone, and do anything. The OASIS is the brainchild of the recently deceased James Halliday (Mark Rylance), a trillionaire programmer who created a competition in his dying hour. The competition, which consists of figuring out clues via his past to find a hidden “Easter egg”, will grant the winner not only Halliday’s stock in the company, but also full control over the OASIS.
Teenager and Halliday super fan, Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), resides in the poverty-stricken “Stacks” in Columbus, OH. He, like so many, uses the OASIS to escape his bleak reality, and wants to find the “Easter egg” so he can buy a better life. Wade finds out that the key to completing challenges to find the “Easter egg” is by leveraging a vault of Halliday’s memories, and finding small hints that he left behind. During the competitions Wade starts to develop affection for renowned OASIS player, Art3mis (Olivia Cook), and the two work together to crack Halliday’s riddles. Art3mis helps Wade realize that there is a more vital importance to winning the competition outside of just money and fame.
Meanwhile, the entity Innovative Online Industries (IOI), led by the evil Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), has an army of OASIS competitors out there to ensure that they find the “Easter egg,” and can take over and monetize the OASIS. IOI also runs a labor camp section of their business for people who are in debt from the OASIS. These camps are virtually impossible to leave, and even drive people to their deaths. It’s a race against time for Wade to find the “Easter egg” before Sorrento and IOI so they don’t monopolize and ruin the OASIS.
This movie is just flat out fun. Spielberg does an excellent job pacing the film at the beginning. He very clearly and concisely describes to the audience the state of the world and gives some background on the OASIS, and he doesn’t waste time doing so. It’s not long before Wade is racing along in a DeLorean, trying to his best to evade King Kong. Next thing you know Wade and his team are exploring the hotel from The Shining searching for the next key in their hunt. There was so much that they could do with the film, so it was refreshing that they didn’t spend the first quarter of it providing backstory.
There’s something to be said about well used references in movies, and hats off to Spielberg and team for everything they included in Ready Player One. From discussing John Hughes movies to the iconic thumbs up from Terminator 2, they got it right. I was having trouble trying to keep up and name every single character reference that I saw as well. They have everyone from The Ninja Turtles to Freddy Krueger, and Mechagodzilla to Master Chief. There was something for everyone in this movie. Dropping in all of these characters could be viewed as an easy way to appease an audience, but honestly, who cares? It’s one of the aspects that made this movie even more fun and enjoyable, and it made the theater experience that much better listening to different people laughing based on which characters hit home for them.
I do have a couple of gripes that I think most people will not even notice or just completely overlook. One thing that I said going into this film is that I hope it doesn’t just feel like I’m watching a video game for two hours. Now, I wouldn’t go that far, but that’s certainly how a better part of the movie felt. It wasn’t enough to truly bother me, but there were times when I wouldn’t have minded having more live character scenes. My other issue was that the end dragged a bit. The climax of the movie felt like it took about 40 minutes, and I think they could’ve effectively wrapped things up in about half the time. Having said that, it’s not as if it was a slow climax, so I’m guessing it won’t bother most people.