For something that seems like innocuous spectacle, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One has quickly turned into one of the most divisive movies of 2018 so far. But as ludicrous as it seems, the strong reactions are understandable. This is a film that thrives on nostalgia for the 1980s, and since we live in a world where that decade is a constant pop culture reference point, a whole movie driven by those fond memories seems like an exhausting idea. Ready Player One also comes in the aftermath of the Gamergate controversy, something that I was relatively unfamiliar with until very recently. But it's been brought up time and time again in connection with this film, and it's clear that many aren't in favor of a cinematic celebration of gamers and geeks. And then there's the matter of the trailers. From the several clips that Warner Bros. released in anticipation of this film, Ready Player One just looked like an overly busy visual eyesore.
And yeah, it is an overwhelming experience. Every frame of Ready Player One is packed with nerdy details and visual innovation, and I have no doubt that fans will have a blast picking apart every single reference and allusion that Spielberg jammed into this epic extravaganza. It's also a pretty nostalgic adventure, though not necessarily in the way you would think. For all of its cultural callbacks, Ready Player One is ultimately a new take on an old formula. It's bold, fresh, and truly spectacular, but at its core, it's an old-fashioned Spielberg movie. After spending the better part of a decade working in the realm of classical dramas and historical biopics, Ready Player One finds the master of the blockbuster working in the mode that I thought he left behind. The result is a blissful piece of popcorn entertainment, the rare slice of spectacle that deserves the label of "mind-blowing."
It also might be a little more complex than one might think. Better writers than me have already unpacked Spielberg's knotty thematic work in Ready Player One, but I've avoided reading them because I have a very clear idea of what I think he's doing here. On one hand, this adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel is Spielberg's paean to escapism and nostalgia, a tribute to the fun that comes from venturing into another world and losing yourself. For anyone who's rejected Spielberg's work in the realm of mainstream blockbusters as mindless nonsense, this is his rebuttal. But at the same time, Ready Player One is the Spielberg movie for the digital age, an age where the OASIS doesn't seem like all that much of an impossibility. As we all spend more time on our phones than with our friends and choose to play Fortnite rather than interact with our significant others, at what point will we stop trying to save the world and just try to escape it?
Ready Player One is a movie of the moment, as a story about a group of teenagers taking on the establishment feels rather timely. But even as its thought-provoking themes serve as fascinating subtext, this eye-popping epic is also just one of Spielberg's most purely entertaining movies. The plot is fairly simple- it's 2045, and the world has gone to hell. As society crumbles, most of Earth's citizens spend time in the OASIS, a virtual reality wonderland created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance), a reclusive and socially awkward genius. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives in the Stacks in Columbus, Ohio, which is the fastest-growing city in the world. Wade spends his days roaming around the OASIS, but with a particular goal in mind- he's desperate to solve Halliday's challenge. In 2040, Halliday died and announced that he had hidden an "Easter Egg" somewhere in the game. Whoever was able to solve Halliday's elaborate riddle and acquire three keys would not only win the Egg, but they would take full control of the OASIS.
As the world's greatest economic resource, the hunt for Halliday's keys quickly became a global quest. Five years later, nobody has even found a single key. Tech company IOI, led by the despicable Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), is at the forefront of the hunt, using their vast resources to study Halliday's beloved 1980s pop culture icons and piece together the clues. Wade, using the moniker of Parzival, has also devoted endless time to studying Halliday's past, hoping to unlock the secrets of the OASIS' creator. When he solves the first challenge and finds the first key, Wade ends up in sudden danger. With IOI on his tail, the young gamer teams up with Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) to form the High Five, a group that will stop at nothing to find the Egg and prevent Sorrento from destroying the OASIS.
On a conceptual level, Ready Player One is a fascinating blend of the past, the present, and the future. When it was announced, this film was billed as a major stride forward in visual effects technology, as the creation of the OASIS would force the filmmakers to craft some of the most eye-popping innovations since Avatar. And for the most part, Spielberg and company deliver the goods. I don't know if we'll ever be able to replicate the feeling of a virtual reality universe on the big screen, at least not until we actually have VR theatrical experiences. For now, it just feels like a shiny animated movie housed inside a "real" story. But Spielberg does an astonishing job of making the OASIS feel properly limitless- a world where, as Wade Watts says, the limits of reality are your own imagination. The digital wizardry of the OASIS allows Ready Player One to have a genuinely epic sense of scope and scale- in a way, it lets Spielberg conjure up the setpieces of his dreams.
The results are spectacular. The film's first major action scene, a car chase challenge inside the OASIS, is revved-up craziness of the highest order, cutting down on the wonderful musical score (more on that later) and letting the roar of the engines and the sound of metal clashing immerse the audience in the world of the OASIS. Another sequence (SPOILER?) takes place inside the world of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, replicating the look and feel of the classic Overlook Hotel to perfection, and it's so downright staggering that I couldn't stop laughing with glee. And of course, there's the final battle, a rollicking war between the players of the OASIS and Sorrento's goons. Spielberg has long been a technological trailblazer, but I had no idea he could still make something with so much raw, unfiltered energy, so much stunning cinematic ambition on a pure visual level. He proved me wrong and then some.
But while the visual effects are a look at where cinema could be going in the next several years, the storytelling relies on the kind of old-fashioned narrative mechanics that I thought had all but disappeared from modern Hollywood. That classic Spielberg magic that defines so many of his masterpieces? It's on display here in a truly wonderful way. While the constant references in Ready Player One seem to indicate a sense of nostalgia for the days of 1980s pop culture, I think what Spielberg and screenwriters Zak Penn and Ernest Cline (who wrote the book) miss the most is the way this kind of old-school movie could make you feel. Everything about the execution of this film feels like the product of another era. Alan Silvestri's gorgeous and energetic score underlies every moment of awe and wonder, as Spielberg's camera breathlessly captures each and every thrilling second, whether it's set in the OASIS or in the wasteland of Columbus. Put simply, this movie is retro fun of the highest order.
And herein lies the fundamental conundrum of Ready Player One. Have you heard people complain that this movie has thin characters? A somewhat simplistic narrative? Well, those criticisms are more than fair. Wade is merely a functional protagonist, Sam is a rather one-note love interest, the rest of the High Five have little to no definition, and Nolan Sorrento is hindered by a lack of intrinsic motivation. Spielberg is playing in purely archetypal territory here, and great actors like Ben Mendelsohn, Tye Sheridan, and Olivia Cooke are left with little to do. There was a little voice in the back of my head throughout Ready Player One telling me that the characters were too flat, that there was just too much happening, that the narrative and logical holes were too omnipresent to ignore. The critical side of my brain was trying to get in on the fight here, trying to prove to me that I shouldn't be enjoying this all so much.
I've seen Ready Player One twice now, and each time, that voice got quieter and quieter as the movie went on. Each time, I found myself completely and totally immersed not only by the world that Spielberg created, but by the effortless, bombastic spirit with which he tells his story. And that's the point of the whole thing. It's meant to feed that part of your brain that loves to go to the theater to inhale popcorn and transport yourself to a world that could never exist in reality. It's nostalgic for a different time, both for the real world and for cinema, but that's because Spielberg has always been nostalgic for a bygone era. Whether that's a yearning for political decency or a desire to go back and watch those old Saturday morning serials just one more time, he understands the value of nostalgia like nobody else. When Halliday says "Why can't we just go backwards for once?" to Simon Pegg's Ogden Morrow in a crucial scene, I do believe that Spielberg really means that. That's not just a line- it's a thesis statement.
And for those who have never been fully content with the real world, Spielberg identifies with that struggle. Whether it's by creating escapist art or creating characters who want to escape (Roy Neary of Close Encounters comes to mind), Spielberg and his contemporaries have always found pleasure in far-out worlds and trips to the past. But in Ready Player One, there's a careful, profound acknowledgement that the escape we take cannot be permanent. Because the real world, as Halliday says, is the only place we can get a decent meal. The heart of the movie is Mark Rylance, bringing pathos and an awkward sense of humanity to the genius inventor. Halliday's story is marred by tragedy and heartbreak, and for him, it's almost a cautionary tale. The escape became permanent for him, and I think Spielberg fears something like the OASIS becoming a reality as much as he adores its possibilities. Rylance breaks up the non-stop action at some crucial junctures, and he slows the movie to a halt in the best way possible.
If anything, Ready Player One serves once and for all as Spielberg's testament to the power of the cinematic experience, its ability to sweep you off your feet, to take you to another world and blow your mind for a few hours. There's genuine joy in every frame of this film, and it does what only the best blockbusters can do. But the cinematic experience can't last forever. It can't replace real life. We can't live in the world of Star Wars or the OASIS, even if we think it might be better than the real world. As the temptation to escape takes on different forms, Spielberg is calling for us to open our eyes and remember to connect. If that seems preachy, it really isn't. There's a brilliant trick on display here, as Spielberg subtly uses top-notch cinematic escapism to remind us of just how important human connection and social capital will always be.
No matter the ultimate message, one thing remains true throughout all of this- Ready Player One is the most fun I've had in a theater so far this year. It's easy to feel cynical about the world of big-budget cinema, but movies like this remind me just how fun they can be when done properly. Are there nitpicks and flaws? Sure, I can't deny that. Did I care? Not in the slightest. This is a tremendous adventure- a wondrous fantasy tale and a visual feast with just the right amount of Spielbergian wonder. Stuffed with enough unfiltered joy to last a lifetime, Ready Player One finds one of our most beloved directors tapping into a world of magic and madness. It's thoughtful and complex, no doubt about that. But for those 140 minutes, I was utterly transported. Exhausting, thrilling, wildly entertaining, and infinitely rewarding- no matter which superlative you throw at it, Ready Player One is simply a blast.
THE FINAL GRADE: A (9.1/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
And yeah, it is an overwhelming experience. Every frame of Ready Player One is packed with nerdy details and visual innovation, and I have no doubt that fans will have a blast picking apart every single reference and allusion that Spielberg jammed into this epic extravaganza. It's also a pretty nostalgic adventure, though not necessarily in the way you would think. For all of its cultural callbacks, Ready Player One is ultimately a new take on an old formula. It's bold, fresh, and truly spectacular, but at its core, it's an old-fashioned Spielberg movie. After spending the better part of a decade working in the realm of classical dramas and historical biopics, Ready Player One finds the master of the blockbuster working in the mode that I thought he left behind. The result is a blissful piece of popcorn entertainment, the rare slice of spectacle that deserves the label of "mind-blowing."
It also might be a little more complex than one might think. Better writers than me have already unpacked Spielberg's knotty thematic work in Ready Player One, but I've avoided reading them because I have a very clear idea of what I think he's doing here. On one hand, this adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel is Spielberg's paean to escapism and nostalgia, a tribute to the fun that comes from venturing into another world and losing yourself. For anyone who's rejected Spielberg's work in the realm of mainstream blockbusters as mindless nonsense, this is his rebuttal. But at the same time, Ready Player One is the Spielberg movie for the digital age, an age where the OASIS doesn't seem like all that much of an impossibility. As we all spend more time on our phones than with our friends and choose to play Fortnite rather than interact with our significant others, at what point will we stop trying to save the world and just try to escape it?
Ready Player One is a movie of the moment, as a story about a group of teenagers taking on the establishment feels rather timely. But even as its thought-provoking themes serve as fascinating subtext, this eye-popping epic is also just one of Spielberg's most purely entertaining movies. The plot is fairly simple- it's 2045, and the world has gone to hell. As society crumbles, most of Earth's citizens spend time in the OASIS, a virtual reality wonderland created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance), a reclusive and socially awkward genius. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives in the Stacks in Columbus, Ohio, which is the fastest-growing city in the world. Wade spends his days roaming around the OASIS, but with a particular goal in mind- he's desperate to solve Halliday's challenge. In 2040, Halliday died and announced that he had hidden an "Easter Egg" somewhere in the game. Whoever was able to solve Halliday's elaborate riddle and acquire three keys would not only win the Egg, but they would take full control of the OASIS.
As the world's greatest economic resource, the hunt for Halliday's keys quickly became a global quest. Five years later, nobody has even found a single key. Tech company IOI, led by the despicable Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), is at the forefront of the hunt, using their vast resources to study Halliday's beloved 1980s pop culture icons and piece together the clues. Wade, using the moniker of Parzival, has also devoted endless time to studying Halliday's past, hoping to unlock the secrets of the OASIS' creator. When he solves the first challenge and finds the first key, Wade ends up in sudden danger. With IOI on his tail, the young gamer teams up with Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) to form the High Five, a group that will stop at nothing to find the Egg and prevent Sorrento from destroying the OASIS.
On a conceptual level, Ready Player One is a fascinating blend of the past, the present, and the future. When it was announced, this film was billed as a major stride forward in visual effects technology, as the creation of the OASIS would force the filmmakers to craft some of the most eye-popping innovations since Avatar. And for the most part, Spielberg and company deliver the goods. I don't know if we'll ever be able to replicate the feeling of a virtual reality universe on the big screen, at least not until we actually have VR theatrical experiences. For now, it just feels like a shiny animated movie housed inside a "real" story. But Spielberg does an astonishing job of making the OASIS feel properly limitless- a world where, as Wade Watts says, the limits of reality are your own imagination. The digital wizardry of the OASIS allows Ready Player One to have a genuinely epic sense of scope and scale- in a way, it lets Spielberg conjure up the setpieces of his dreams.
The results are spectacular. The film's first major action scene, a car chase challenge inside the OASIS, is revved-up craziness of the highest order, cutting down on the wonderful musical score (more on that later) and letting the roar of the engines and the sound of metal clashing immerse the audience in the world of the OASIS. Another sequence (SPOILER?) takes place inside the world of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, replicating the look and feel of the classic Overlook Hotel to perfection, and it's so downright staggering that I couldn't stop laughing with glee. And of course, there's the final battle, a rollicking war between the players of the OASIS and Sorrento's goons. Spielberg has long been a technological trailblazer, but I had no idea he could still make something with so much raw, unfiltered energy, so much stunning cinematic ambition on a pure visual level. He proved me wrong and then some.
But while the visual effects are a look at where cinema could be going in the next several years, the storytelling relies on the kind of old-fashioned narrative mechanics that I thought had all but disappeared from modern Hollywood. That classic Spielberg magic that defines so many of his masterpieces? It's on display here in a truly wonderful way. While the constant references in Ready Player One seem to indicate a sense of nostalgia for the days of 1980s pop culture, I think what Spielberg and screenwriters Zak Penn and Ernest Cline (who wrote the book) miss the most is the way this kind of old-school movie could make you feel. Everything about the execution of this film feels like the product of another era. Alan Silvestri's gorgeous and energetic score underlies every moment of awe and wonder, as Spielberg's camera breathlessly captures each and every thrilling second, whether it's set in the OASIS or in the wasteland of Columbus. Put simply, this movie is retro fun of the highest order.
And herein lies the fundamental conundrum of Ready Player One. Have you heard people complain that this movie has thin characters? A somewhat simplistic narrative? Well, those criticisms are more than fair. Wade is merely a functional protagonist, Sam is a rather one-note love interest, the rest of the High Five have little to no definition, and Nolan Sorrento is hindered by a lack of intrinsic motivation. Spielberg is playing in purely archetypal territory here, and great actors like Ben Mendelsohn, Tye Sheridan, and Olivia Cooke are left with little to do. There was a little voice in the back of my head throughout Ready Player One telling me that the characters were too flat, that there was just too much happening, that the narrative and logical holes were too omnipresent to ignore. The critical side of my brain was trying to get in on the fight here, trying to prove to me that I shouldn't be enjoying this all so much.
And for those who have never been fully content with the real world, Spielberg identifies with that struggle. Whether it's by creating escapist art or creating characters who want to escape (Roy Neary of Close Encounters comes to mind), Spielberg and his contemporaries have always found pleasure in far-out worlds and trips to the past. But in Ready Player One, there's a careful, profound acknowledgement that the escape we take cannot be permanent. Because the real world, as Halliday says, is the only place we can get a decent meal. The heart of the movie is Mark Rylance, bringing pathos and an awkward sense of humanity to the genius inventor. Halliday's story is marred by tragedy and heartbreak, and for him, it's almost a cautionary tale. The escape became permanent for him, and I think Spielberg fears something like the OASIS becoming a reality as much as he adores its possibilities. Rylance breaks up the non-stop action at some crucial junctures, and he slows the movie to a halt in the best way possible.
If anything, Ready Player One serves once and for all as Spielberg's testament to the power of the cinematic experience, its ability to sweep you off your feet, to take you to another world and blow your mind for a few hours. There's genuine joy in every frame of this film, and it does what only the best blockbusters can do. But the cinematic experience can't last forever. It can't replace real life. We can't live in the world of Star Wars or the OASIS, even if we think it might be better than the real world. As the temptation to escape takes on different forms, Spielberg is calling for us to open our eyes and remember to connect. If that seems preachy, it really isn't. There's a brilliant trick on display here, as Spielberg subtly uses top-notch cinematic escapism to remind us of just how important human connection and social capital will always be.
No matter the ultimate message, one thing remains true throughout all of this- Ready Player One is the most fun I've had in a theater so far this year. It's easy to feel cynical about the world of big-budget cinema, but movies like this remind me just how fun they can be when done properly. Are there nitpicks and flaws? Sure, I can't deny that. Did I care? Not in the slightest. This is a tremendous adventure- a wondrous fantasy tale and a visual feast with just the right amount of Spielbergian wonder. Stuffed with enough unfiltered joy to last a lifetime, Ready Player One finds one of our most beloved directors tapping into a world of magic and madness. It's thoughtful and complex, no doubt about that. But for those 140 minutes, I was utterly transported. Exhausting, thrilling, wildly entertaining, and infinitely rewarding- no matter which superlative you throw at it, Ready Player One is simply a blast.
THE FINAL GRADE: A (9.1/10)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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