Ready Player One

Bit of a disclaimer to start with – I haven’t read the book that this movie is based on. I’m just putting it out there, because I’m willing to bet my last Nuka-Cola bottle cap, that there is a veritable cult of fan-peeps that have listed every reference, every (possibly) intended similarity, and every potential connotation and denotation Ernest Cline’s novel has to offer. This is a straight-up review of the film. This is not for you. Run back to reddit.

Not that there aren’t enough references, nods, homages, parodies, etc, to fill a loot box with just in the movie alone. There are. For example, where else can you see a race between the Plymouth Fury from Christine, the motorbike from Akira, the DeLorean from Back to the Future, and Bigfoot (the monster truck, not the actual Sasquatch – this isn’t Japan World Cup, ffs), all whilst being attacked by the Jurassic Park T-Rex and King Kong? And that’s just what I spotted from one viewing. I also… I’ve literally just been informed whilst writing this, that Lara Croft was driving Christine. And this is what I’m talking about. Actually, what am I talking about? Let me explain.

Ready Player centres on Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a teenage kid from the stacks (a futuristic cross between a trailer park and a high-rise council estate) who escapes from his life in the same manner that everyone does in the near future (regardless of wealth or status) by plugging himself into the OASIS. The OASIS is an online world where people can appear as they want, and interact how they want, which covers everything from virtual reality clubbing, to intergalactic war. Think Second Life meets the Matrix. The OASIS was designed by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) who’s kind of the Willy Wonka of computer games, because following his death his online avatar reveals that there are three keys hidden in the OASIS which, when found, will grant the discoverer complete control and ownership of the OASIS.

Skip to five years later, and as you can imagine, this has caused quite the stir. Evil corporations and lone dreamers alike are all hunting for these Easter Eggs, but so far none have been found. Obviously, no one wants this VR utopia to fall into the hands of the type of company that will instantly transform it into a pay-to-play platform (online players who fall into debt are already forced to work in labour camps known as “loyalty centers”), but also true to form, most online players are pretty “meh” about teaming up in large groups, and are more bothered about obscure anime costume references. Will Wade manage to unite the players, or end up as just another Leeroy Jenkins? You’ll have to watch it to see.

In fairness, this film is less about the (broadly predictable) story and more about the dazzling array of characters, costumes, cars, and creatures, and Spielberg knows this. There’s even objects (like the Zemeckis Cube, which looks like a Rubix Cube but when activated turns back time), which aren’t directly lifted from something else, but are more of an amalgam of references which come together nicely. And that’s this movie all over. Even the film score is made up of familiar sounds and incidental pieces from some of the movies referenced within. So, if you and your mates delight in one-upmanship whilst listing the types of gun preferred by your favourite action stars, or who drove which car in which chase sequence, then you can’t afford to not see this movie.

7/10