Ready Player One is a classic book by Ernest Kline whose journey to the screen had to wait for two things—cinematic technology and the right filmmaker. It found both this year and mesmerized audiences globally. Now that it has come home on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download, it is one to be added to the library to share for generations to come.
An immerse virtual world comes to life in Ready Player One and in the hands of a prolific filmmaker such as Spielberg, it is a marvel on numerous levels. The film is not simply a popcorn flick of the highest order—which clearly it is, the iconic storyteller’s latest also manages to comment on our society and our collective obsession of all things pop culture.
Tye Sheridan is Parzival/Wade, the former his virtual world name and the latter his real name. It is the near future and in Columbus, Ohio—and all over the world for that matter—global overpopulation, stark economic realities and general international malaise has given rise to the most time-consuming thing on the planet… a virtual world where all games and lives are possible. There are sensations and then there is The OASIS, a place where one can strap on a VR headset and simultaneously be transported away from all that ails and be placed in a landscape where one can leave all trace of yourself behind.
The creator/owner of The OASIS—Halliday (of late Spielberg muse Mark Rylance)—has died and in his will, he has left strict instructions for the future of his creation. A contest is to start, and the winner will inherit the entire thing. Yup, you read that right—the winner of The Oasis challenge will instantly become the most powerful and influential soul on earth. For billions who visit his world, it is a priceless chance at a new life and perhaps—even making a change in a world that solely requires it. One of those is Wade, who as Parzival enters the game and we the audience experience the mind-blowing visual, emotional and colorful landscape first hand. Yes, our world pop culture references abound, and Spielberg does not shy away from some of the biggies—from King Kong to Back to the Future to Iron Giant himself.
For more on the film itself, delve deeper with our theatrical Ready Player One review.
Ready Player One is a visual spectacle and as such, the transfer of this film to home video had to be done in the most meticulous of ways, or one of the spokes of the wheel of joy that is Spielberg’s film would be lost. That is achieved and then some—and those bonus features, like many a Spielbergian flick, are as compelling as they are chilling and wickedly entertaining.
Ideally, this puppy should be experienced in the finest home video format around—4K. For the rest of those who have yet to make the technological jump, Blu-Ray and then DVD is exactly the tiered method of viewing quality. Each are still stunning, don’t get me wrong. As stated in that theatrical review, this is also an emotionally engaging story and as such, it is not simply eye and ear candy that marvels the mind and soul.
The cast chimes in on several featurettes and they are—like most Spielberg movies—top notch. Both Simon Pegg and Olivia Cooke dazzle, while Ben Mendelsohn is beyond wicked as our protagonist. The electric ensemble is filled out with Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki and Hannah John-Kamen.
Ernie & Tye’s Excellent Adventure is pure joy. The featurette features Cline and Sheridan talking up their film prior to its premiere at Austin’s SXSW film fest. The insight both provide is stellar as filmmakers could not have chosen two better folks to add their two cents (whose last name is not Spielberg) and give the viewer perspective on the journey of Cline’s novel, with his participation with co-screenwriter Zak Penn, to the screen. Sheridan, on the other hand, speaks to the in front of the camera effort and supreme challenges of making a movie that is firmly situated in a near-future reality and a virtual reality that must be filmed with equal aplomb.
Given the film’s utter adoration of all things Decade of Decadence, the featurette The ’80s: You’re the Inspiration finds the author joined by the film’s cast and crew as all share their affinity for all things 80s. The most fascinating aspect of this entire behind-the-scenes effort (beyond its using the classic 80s Chicago hit as its title) is hearing Spielberg discuss how he wound up cutting most of the “salutes” to his own films of that era. Who knew?
One of countless highlights, visually and dramatically, is when an iconic moment from The Shining is recreated in impeccable fashion. That and more of the visual and story magic is explored in the stunning Game Changer: Cracking the Code. The almost hour-long deeply fascinating look at the entire movie commences with a look at the source material and escalates through the big screen explosion that is Spielberg’s latest game-changer. The filmmaker’s longtime cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński gets a whole heap of credit for once again visually bringing Spielberg’s vision to extraordinary life. Also fascinating is the look at the real-world shooting locations contrasted with the VR (i.e. green screen) world that provided the skeleton for the out-of-this-universe visuals witnessed in the final product.
We love it when film scores get the bonus feature treatment. After all, so much of the film’s tone is enhanced and elevated by the musical stylings of its composer. High Score: Endgame takes an amazing ten-minute look at the score of Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future, Captain America: The First Avenger, Forrest Gump) and how it came to be, how it was incorporated into Spielberg’s film and most importantly, what inspired the Oscar nominated composer with his latest masterpiece.
A close neighbor to the score in terms of the film’s tonal power is the sound design. Level up: Sound for the Future is an interesting (and rare) featurette focusing on how Spielberg’s sonic experts worked their magic to enhance his vision. It also explores, fascinatingly, how avatar voices were created and how iconic sounds from the plethora of pop culture references throughout the film were used.
Last, but not least, Effects for a Brave New World, must be experienced. With such a visual spectacle that is Ready Player One, the viewer will surely be compelled to wonder… how did they do that?
That question (and so much more) is answered and explored in this bonus feature that salutes the wizardry of special effects artists who not only brought their A-game to Spielberg’s film, but pushed the scientific and cinematic envelope in ways we’ll be talking about for years to come.
Film Grade: A-
Bonus Features: A