Ready Player One: Movie Review
The movie that I've been waiting for more than any Marvel flick, got delayed by two weeks in my town before finally being available to watch in IMAX 3D, this is it - Ready Player One. If you're like me and you never knew about the book it is based on by the same name (written by Ernest Cline), here are two simple incentives - it's about video games and it's directed by Steven Spielberg.
The narrative is set in a semi-dystopian future of 2045 where the world is on the brink of chaos, where instead of living in the depressing reality, people have found hope and salvation in the virtual reality universe called OASIS, made by an eccentric genius of gaming technology James Halliday (Mark Rylance). In the OASIS, the only limit is one's imagination as the universe allows people to create while also harbouring an extensive range of pop culture references. With time, the OASIS grew and evolved to the extent of having real-world implications. The skills and objects in the simulated universe began to gain value and worth in real life as well which meant if you're good in the game, you can have a better life outside it as well. Unlike the Matrix, dying in the OASIS doesn't mean you die in real life, but you lose EVERYTHING your avatar had managed to earn, so it was definitely important not to lose or die and enjoy the social experience of the OASIS.
Our protagonist is a young individual who is living in 'the stacks', a ghetto equivalent in 2045, with his Aunt since his parents died when he was a child. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is also trying to make his life better by doing well in the OASIS with his avatar Parzival. While he is not one to clan up to take on bigger quests, he does have a few friends - Aech (Lena Waithe), Sho (Philip Zhao) and Daito (Win Morisaki). The biggest quest in the game was introduced when the creator, Halliday, died and left an easter egg in the game, one that would allow the winner to have complete control and ownership of the OASIS as well as his half-a-trillion dollar share in the company, a quest that a majority of the players have been chasing for years and are called Easter Egg Hunters or the Gunters.
Among the Gunters, there is a group called the Sixers which are players who represent a corporation called IOI which is in tech company second only to OASIS. Quite simply, if an IOI player wins the quest, they can have complete control of the OASIS virtual reality universe and make more money off of it, irrespective of ruining the gaming experience for millions of others. Heading IOI's attack is the antagonist Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) who will go to any lengths to stop anyone else from winning the quest and is focussed on profits with not much interest in pop culture or gaming. Parzival starts taking the quest a lot more seriously after encountering a well-known player, Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) who makes him realise just how is at stake.
Ready Player One is a visual spectacle of almost every iconic character, car and robot from gaming and pop culture lores which makes it hard for me to review it objectively. But as much as I absolutely loved this film for its epic soundtrack, for putting my favourite gamer characters and anime robots on the big screen in spectacular battles, there are a few weaknesses.
It has a simple message underlying the narrative, about how it is important to stay in touch with reality for real experiences no matter how amazing the virtual world can be. It is a starting step for many who find it hard to interact with people in real life apart from being a means of engaging entertainment, but it cannot substitute that which is real. Food for sure. It also taps into the importance of having a social circle, or clanning up as the OASIS labels it and not isolating oneself. You might find it difficult to find like-minded people, but there are people out there in the world who would understand you, and maybe OASIS can be the means to connect over distances.
The film does not address much about the details that plague the real world in its narrative or how other nations are coping with it, so safe to say the extent of this virtual 'universe' is somehow limited to players located in the USA. In this mostly animated movie, we also get treated to brief appearances from Simon Pegg (as Ogden Morrow, the co-founder of OASIS), the voice of TJ Miller for I-R0K (badass player with tons of resources who helps out IOI for a fee) and Hannah John-Kamen (Lorenzo's colleague and goon).
If you want to enjoy Ready Player One to the most possible, catch it on the big screen in 3D, IMAX if possible, because all said and done, it is still an undeniably fantastic visual spectacle. I'd rate this one 8 out of 10 cans of Red Bull.
The narrative is set in a semi-dystopian future of 2045 where the world is on the brink of chaos, where instead of living in the depressing reality, people have found hope and salvation in the virtual reality universe called OASIS, made by an eccentric genius of gaming technology James Halliday (Mark Rylance). In the OASIS, the only limit is one's imagination as the universe allows people to create while also harbouring an extensive range of pop culture references. With time, the OASIS grew and evolved to the extent of having real-world implications. The skills and objects in the simulated universe began to gain value and worth in real life as well which meant if you're good in the game, you can have a better life outside it as well. Unlike the Matrix, dying in the OASIS doesn't mean you die in real life, but you lose EVERYTHING your avatar had managed to earn, so it was definitely important not to lose or die and enjoy the social experience of the OASIS.
Our protagonist is a young individual who is living in 'the stacks', a ghetto equivalent in 2045, with his Aunt since his parents died when he was a child. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is also trying to make his life better by doing well in the OASIS with his avatar Parzival. While he is not one to clan up to take on bigger quests, he does have a few friends - Aech (Lena Waithe), Sho (Philip Zhao) and Daito (Win Morisaki). The biggest quest in the game was introduced when the creator, Halliday, died and left an easter egg in the game, one that would allow the winner to have complete control and ownership of the OASIS as well as his half-a-trillion dollar share in the company, a quest that a majority of the players have been chasing for years and are called Easter Egg Hunters or the Gunters.
Among the Gunters, there is a group called the Sixers which are players who represent a corporation called IOI which is in tech company second only to OASIS. Quite simply, if an IOI player wins the quest, they can have complete control of the OASIS virtual reality universe and make more money off of it, irrespective of ruining the gaming experience for millions of others. Heading IOI's attack is the antagonist Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) who will go to any lengths to stop anyone else from winning the quest and is focussed on profits with not much interest in pop culture or gaming. Parzival starts taking the quest a lot more seriously after encountering a well-known player, Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) who makes him realise just how is at stake.
Ready Player One is a visual spectacle of almost every iconic character, car and robot from gaming and pop culture lores which makes it hard for me to review it objectively. But as much as I absolutely loved this film for its epic soundtrack, for putting my favourite gamer characters and anime robots on the big screen in spectacular battles, there are a few weaknesses.
It has a simple message underlying the narrative, about how it is important to stay in touch with reality for real experiences no matter how amazing the virtual world can be. It is a starting step for many who find it hard to interact with people in real life apart from being a means of engaging entertainment, but it cannot substitute that which is real. Food for sure. It also taps into the importance of having a social circle, or clanning up as the OASIS labels it and not isolating oneself. You might find it difficult to find like-minded people, but there are people out there in the world who would understand you, and maybe OASIS can be the means to connect over distances.
The film does not address much about the details that plague the real world in its narrative or how other nations are coping with it, so safe to say the extent of this virtual 'universe' is somehow limited to players located in the USA. In this mostly animated movie, we also get treated to brief appearances from Simon Pegg (as Ogden Morrow, the co-founder of OASIS), the voice of TJ Miller for I-R0K (badass player with tons of resources who helps out IOI for a fee) and Hannah John-Kamen (Lorenzo's colleague and goon).
If you want to enjoy Ready Player One to the most possible, catch it on the big screen in 3D, IMAX if possible, because all said and done, it is still an undeniably fantastic visual spectacle. I'd rate this one 8 out of 10 cans of Red Bull.
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