[yasr_overall_rating]
When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.
For the longest time, I have felt that “Schindler’s List” killed Steven Spielberg’s inner child, the same child that gave the world “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T.,” “Jurassic Park” and so much more. Since his Oscar-winning achievement in 1994, his popcorn movies have not been the same. While the likes of “Minority Report” and “War of the Worlds” weren’t bad, the less we say about “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “The BFG,” the better. Because of the subject matter of “Schindler’s List,” and the fact that he is Jewish and did extensive research for the film and lost many relatives in the Holocaust, I feel like the experience forced his inner child to grow up and not until “Ready Player One,” did it come back. And thank God for that because maybe now, moving forward, the director will be able to infuse his movies with the magic and wonderment he once had.
“Ready Player One” takes place in the year 2045 and centers on Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a young man who lives in Columbus, Ohio and because of overpopulation, most of the world now live in slum-like conditions. To escape real life and all of its woes, the majority of people, both young and old, disappear into a virtual reality world called the OASIS, where they can use avatars to hide their true identities and do absolutely anything they want, play games, challenge each other to a race, dance the night away in a virtual nightclub, use it for educational purposes, it is a universe that is only limited by one’s own imagination. The creator of the OASIS, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), before he passed away, informed the world that he left in the OASIS, three secret keys and that the person who managed to collect all of them, would be given full ownership of OASIS and unlimited wealth. In the years since his passing, not one person has found any of the keys but every day, there is a race that begins at the Statue of Liberty and whoever makes it to the finish line, Central Park, will collect the first key.
Naturally, Wade, whose avatar’s name is Parzival, partakes in the race every day along with his online buddies Art3mis, Aech, Sho, and Daito, but nobody ever makes it across the finish line, thanks to an ever-shifting treacherous cityscape and a larger-than-life representation of King Kong, who always manages to smash the winner to pieces. To help those interested in trying to win, Halliday left behind a virtual library including all of his memories and everything about him. When not participating in the race, Wade spends most of his time there and while looking back over a conversation Halliday had with his then-partner, Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), something Halliday says stands out and with this newfound information, he takes it into the race with him the next day and it culminates with him winning the first key.
Now that he has passed the first stage, his avatar name, along with his friends, light up a huge scoreboard situated throughout the OASIS and in the process, as they try to figure out the location of the second key, inadvertently attract the attention of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a large corporation that wants more than anything, all three keys so they can raise the prices of everything in the OASIS once they own it. Headed by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), a ruthless and unrelenting businessman who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, Wade and his friends must battle him and his army of players, as they try to stop their every move, both in the OASIS and in the real world.
The OASIS is filled with avatars and video game characters referencing everything from the 1980s and early ’90s. The car that Wade drives once he’s inside the virtual reality world, is none other than the modified DeLorean that Michael J. Fox used in the “Back to the Future” trilogy, and while our heroes progress throughout the film, if you’re quick enough, you can spot Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees early on, and there is a hilarious scene including Chucky, as he attacks other players. The T-Rex from “Jurassic Park” also makes an appearance as does the aforementioned King Kong as well as the Iron Giant. In real life, Spielberg admired and respected fellow filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and when our heroes are trying to obtain the second key, an entire sequence is dedicated to Kubrick’s “The Shining,” with Wade and his friends having to make their way through the Overlook Hotel, entering the dreaded Room 237. It is played for laughs and if you are a fan of the movie, you’ll enjoy the homage.
The fact that the movie, as a whole, is a throwback to the 1980s moreso than the ’90s, is probably why it works. Spielberg was at his ultimate height throughout the ’80s and in order to place so many easter eggs from so many of his films throughout, could very well have been the reason why this is the first of his movies in over 25 years, that has that old Spielberg touch. It is the kind of film that you would need to own on Blu-ray so you could freeze frame the big action sequences and look around to see what other surprises await. The fact that the majority of the movie takes place in a virtual reality works because we know from the beginning that this is not another “Avatar,” with CGI characters, it is VR, so the characters aren’t supposed to look exactly like humans, they have larger heads, dramatically bigger eyes, they’re supposed to look like graphical representations of the user, not actually like them. Some of the big action scenes come fast and furious which means a second or third viewing might be in order to catch everything. Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for the “Back to the Future” trilogy, steps in to take over from John Williams, Spielberg’s longtime collaborator and friend as he was busy working on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”
In the end, “Ready Player One” offers much enjoyment for the casual viewer, but for those who are big into virtual reality and video games in general, they will enjoy the many ’80s themed-references to the Atari 2600 and its selection of games including ‘Asteroids,’ ‘Defender,’ ‘Donkey Kong,’ and ‘Adventure,’ and some references to more recent additions to the gaming world, including HALO and MINECRAFT. This feels like the Spielberg of old, the underdog who dares to take on the world and along the way, discovers much about himself and those near and dear to him. In many ways, it almost feels like a 21st-century iteration of “The Goonies,” as our heroes set off in search of the biggest prize on the planet, having to maneuver their way around hidden danger and computerized booby traps. 1980s Spielberg would be proud.
Now available on Digital HD and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD July 24th
