Steven Spielberg was right to jump all over the opportunity to make Ready Player One. The beloved book by Ernest Cline (who co-wrote the screenplay with Zak Penn) would make a movie that was firmly in the iconic filmmaker’s wheelhouse. The minute that first Ready Player One trailer hit, all who witnessed its majesty knew that Spielberg + Ready Player One = bloody brilliance.
It is that, legions more — on many levels — and a whole heaping amount of fantastical fun.
Tye Sheridan (Mud) is Wade, a young man who lost his parents and lives with his aunt and her boyfriend of the week in the so-called stacks of Columbus, Ohio. It is decades in the future and things are dismal out there and Wade’s life embodies the average experience of most Americans. The stacks are basically tire-less mobile homes stacked on top of one another to fit in the most people possible in urban and suburban areas. To escape this dismal reality, Wade (and billions of others) make it through their drab world by escaping into The Oasis — a mind-blowing, explosively colorful virtual reality universe where literally anything is possible.
In that world, one can be anything they want and that is usually accompanied by being known by another moniker. Wade is Parzival and before too long, the entire world, virtual and real, is going to know that name.
See, there is a contest set up by the co-founder of The Oasis, Halliday (played by Spielberg’s new favorite thespian, Mark Rylance), that upon his death was set into motion. Competitors in The Oasis are on a mission: To win the various stages of the game and find a series of keys that will unlock a brighter future than most anyone of this time could imagine. The prize is complete control of The Oasis and the company that Halliday started with his partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg). That whole thing has commenced a frenzy that has the entire globe spending every waking moment in The Oasis seeking to change their fate.
Parzival is not alone. Sure, the game is an individual one, but with the help of four other friends… the collective may just have a chance to score a victory for one of them. Among them is gamer Samantha (Olivia Cooke), who goes by the name Art3mis and Helen (Lena Waithe), who is better known as Aech — the latter is Parzival’s online BFF and the former is a hero/love interest to our protagonist.
A film, particularly one that lives in that sci-fi realm, is only as good as its villain and that arrives in the form of one sensational Ben Mendelsohn (recently seen in Darkest Hour as King George VI and the villain in Rogue One) as the CEO of a company seeking to own The Oasis. Mendelsohn’s Sorrento is smooth, savvy and pitch perfect as established in Cline’s book that makes a brilliant leap to the big screen. Sorrento will do anything to nab control of The Oasis. Whoever does, essentially, will have enormous influence over the daily lives of practically the entire world, as they spend their days in the VR landscape.
Spielberg has woven together a thrill ride that pops with energy, visual wizardry and pop culture references that come at us a mile a minute. It seems that Halliday is a huge fan of that arena and his VR world is littered with them, from 80s songs to films (look out for Jurassic Park dinos, King Kong and even the DeLorean from Back to the Future). There are much, much more than those three that were front and center in the marketing materials.
It truly is a wondrous journey and a miracle of IP negotiation that entertainment lawyers will be studying for years to come. The film does not work without these connections to the pop culture past and Spielberg and his team do not simply toss those references in throughout to give people a quick thrill. These items are integral to the plot and the game at the center of Ready Player One. Regardless of one’s grasp of film’s history, there is something for every single viewer to have a moment of “I know that from ‘X!’” As Parzival and Art3mis navigate the clues, it cannot be stated more firmly that finding King Kong or the T-Rex from Jurassic Park enter your visual space is not a distraction at the worst and a salute to a popcorn favorite at the best. What it is are all spokes in a wheel that turns this tale at an ever-increasingly rapid rate until its mind-blowing/thrilling conclusion.
Spielberg’s cinematic command is still fiercely firm and wicked strong. It is a delight to dive into a sci-fi/fantastical world that the iconic filmmaker used to make his regular home. What makes him so special is he has, for decades now, crafted work that grabs our heartstrings with how he directs his cast. We feel for his characters. Even with a film like Ready Player One that involves a breathtaking amount of CG, it manages to simultaneously be emotionally full and visually vivacious. That is something many movies of this ilk forget to address.
The tone remains constantly pure and fans of the novel will have a rare moment not often felt by literary fans. It is possible that the film is even better than the book? In this case, oh yes… absolutely. The pacing is solid throughout, although there is a tad of a drag at the tail end of the second act as it gears up to storm into the third and final frame. But, it is minor.
Casting is something that Spielberg has always excelled at and an aspect of the job that he does not get enough credit for over the years. Rylance continues to shine for his helmer (he won an Oscar for his work on Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies) and his take on this brainiac is the heart and soul of this film. This director is one of those rare filmmakers who knows that a rich emotional connection to characters is as important to the legacy and power of a sci-fi/actioner as the wizardry of the visuals. Mendelsohn does villainy as good as anyone working today. But what he does that is so special in Ready Player One is add dimensions to a character that must find a way to be menacing and approachable at the same time. He needs to win hearts and minds, while still dealing in a devilish manner. The costs could not be higher and through his actions (and the Australian’s acting), that permeates the screen.
Cooke and Sheridan have dynamic chemistry that pops, in both the “real” world of Columbus and the VR world of The Oasis. That is probably the biggest triumph of Spielberg’s latest. These actors must essentially play two parts, albeit ones that are connected by one soul. Wade and Parzival are the same person, sure, but in the VR world, Sheridan’s character is freer and able to do things, say things and even consider things that he would never entertain in his reality. The same can be said for Cooke’s dual roles. They are birds of a feather, sure, but she suffers a bit from a lack of confidence in the real world that vanishes behind her brash, confident and explosively charming avatar.
Spielberg certainly has another winner on his hands with Ready Player One. It’s amazing to think that recently he delivered the Oscar nominated The Post. At 72-years-young, he has delivered two triumphs merely months apart. Each could not be more different than the other and illustrates the fact that, like fine wine, this guy is only getting better with age. As we are discussing Spielberg, that is some scary thoughts. Scary might not be the best word, given that this is something to utterly treasure.
Grade: A-