Movie Review: Ready Player One

It's an interesting fact that, while I consider myself a Steven Spielberg fan, I haven't really sought out a huge number of his films.

I absolutely love Jurassic Park. It's one of my all-time favorite movies. Had an impact on me as a kid (and again once I was old enough to understand more than just "dinosaurs!" XD) that I simply cannot overstate.

I also love Indiana Jones. Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, to be specific. (Haven't seen Temple of Doom, and Crystal Skull was incredibly meh.)

Jaws? Fantastic movie. Amazing work all around.

But aside from those, I have yet to really seek out much of Spielberg's other films. I have seen E.T. (once, when I was like, nine, and have no real memory of it), The Lost World (which is a guilty fondness of mine) and Catch Me If You Can (quite enjoyable in my personal opinion)... But I haven't seen Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, or Lincoln... when it comes to Spielberg, I've always been more into his "fun" or "adventure" movies...

So when it was announced that he was to be directing the film adaptation of the YA novel, I was pretty uncertain. Could Spielberg still spin a good and entertaining adventure yarn, I wondered. I hadn't seen ANY of his movies post Crystal Skull. And after the drubbing that The BFG took, I wondered if maybe one of the men considered an all-time great had lost - or was losing - his touch.

Happily, Ready Player One put my worries to rest.

The story about a dystopian future where a majority of society deal with the crappiness of everyday life by retreating to a massive virtual-reality paradise called "The Oasis," Ready Player One is a quite enjoyable romp of an adventure film, with some highly entertaining side characters and absolutely mindblowing visual effects.

Seriously, this movie is a triumph of how far computer animation has come. So many different types of virtual characters and settings crowd the screen, and yet never really overwhelm the viewer. The movie works quite well at avoiding the uncanny valley effect, and in some shots does a fantastic job of blending styles - one of the film's most impressive images is a scene of the main characters all standing in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. The hi-def CG characters on a traditional film layout is a delightful, unexpected treat, and perfectly emblematic of the many visual gags and surprises that the movie contains.

If I were to name the pop-culture references in Ready Player One, this journal would probably be the size of a good book. I don't want to spoil things, because half the fun of the experience is in the "oh, look at that!" moment. XD Suffice to say, that for video-game fans and pop-culture nuts, there's a lot of freeze-frame bonuses in this movie.

Now, onto the actual characters of the film.

The main protagonist, Wade Watts / "Parzival" (Tye Sheridan) is decent enough. He has a decent everyman persona, and is able to deliver the expositional material that the beginning of the film calls for without it creaking, so that's a definite point in his favor.

But I was much more invested in the film's main female lead, "Art3mis" / Samantha (Olivia Cooke). She has a very strong performance, both as a CG character and in her actual human appearance. Strong, tough, sassy as all hell, but never crossing the line into obnoxious, I really was immersed in her character and her role in the film.

Other allies to Parzival are pretty fun. "Aech" (Lena Waithe) offers good fun as Wade's major online friend. "Daito" and "Sho" a samurai and ninja-themed pair, respectively, also have some good material, but mostly when you meet them in person and not just as their avatars. Daito in particular gets one of the film's crowning moments of awesome, through his samurai-style meditation prior to jumping into the huge VR battle at the climax, with one of the movie's best references ever

The film's antagonists are handled well, too. While the major villain Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendehlson) is in many ways a typical greedy CEO villain, there's still enough entertainment value to his performance he never becomes boring. (In fact, it's rather funny to see that the boss of a huge mega-corporation is rather tech-illiterate - he keeps a sticky-note with his VR password nearby - and also has no interest in his product, just the money he can make off of it.)

A real comic highlight is in virtual bounty hunter "I-R0k" (voiced by TJ Miller). Employed by Sorrento to hunt Parzival and his allies, I-R0k gets some of the film's most hilarious dialogue, just by virtue of hearing Miller's nasally, kind of Jack-Black-ish tones from the mouth of a brutal skull-chested monster of a shooter character. Hearing this brute complain about neck problems or say "That's a camper move!" is a delight.

But probably, the very best character in the movie is that of the Oasis' inventor, techno genius and pop-culture fiend James Halliday (Mark Rylance).

Halliday designed the Oasis, and programmed the ultimate "Easter Egg" into it before he died, to keep people playing, and to find a worthy heir as well. Whoever finds all three keys to the Egg wins not just a fortune, but ultimate control of the Oasis.

It's a very Willy Wonka/Golden Ticket kind of hook, and in many ways you see that with Halliday's character. (In fact, apparently before Gene Wilder died he was considered for the role.) Halliday is very eccentric, quite funny, brilliant... and in some ways, rather a wistful figure too.

Halliday is a very fascinating character - incredibly brilliant, but very awkward socially and soft-spoken. As the film goes on, he becomes in many ways a rather tragic figure: a man who wanted to have connections with others, but was too awkward and nervous to make the step, and so ended up retreating to his programming, and his pop-culture icons, for comfort. You get the impression of a man with a lot of regrets, who wishes he could have done things differently, and wants his successor to avoid making the same mistakes. Halliday, to me at least, becomes a fascinating examination of how fans may both identify themselves - and also trap themselves - through their love of the pop culture in their lives.

Even if the movie had been a lot worse than it was, I would have forgiven a lot, because of the sheer gold in the material with Halliday.

Now, does the movie have flaws?

A few. Most of them are pretty minor - the most irksome to me being an early part of Wade's story in that he lives with his aunt and her deadbeat boyfriend. That was something of a groaner. But so much else in the film makes it all worthwhile.

Seriously, if you haven't seen Ready Player One, go see it!

It's a triumph of effects work, and a very fun ride...

And a nice return to form, for a classic director.