READY PLAYER ONE

READY PLAYER ONE

Film Review by FIORE

I don’t like the title, but READY PLAYER ONE is a great, fun film begging for a bucket of Parmesan popcorn and a fine red wine.  I entered the press screening with much trepidation; the film appeared in trailers to be limited in scope and audience to gamers.  While most of the film is like watching a video game

the story and interaction with live components is enthralling enough to make this one of the better Steven Spielberg films in years.

In typical Spielberg fashion, the deck is stacked.   Michael Kahn is editor, Alan Silvestri wrote the score, Janusz Kaminski serves as cinematographer and Roger Guyett is SFX supervisor.  This is an all-star ensemble.  Spielberg utilizes the New England Patriots of crews.  The story is penned by Zak Penn and Earnest Cline, based on Cline’s novel.

The set up on READY PLAYER ONE is quick and the blending of real world action with game action is seamless.  While not entirely plausible, I found myself absorbed in the plight of the protagonists and reveled at the stunning visuals READY PLAYER ONE offers.  It is a visual extravaganza that provides an overwhelming movie experience, even in normal 2D.

The futuristic tale occurs in Columbus, which apparently supplants Cleveland as the Ohio joke.  It is well past the time of President Trump and apparently the progressives are once again running the world, for most of the population lives in poverty and is forced to abide in non-OSHA approved stacks of doublewides.  Rather than resorting to a life of drugs and crime, the unwashed masses resort to a global video game in a virtual reality world known as the Oasis.  Everyone lives there, to escape the corporeality of life.

The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki and Hanna John-Kamen (hyphenated, but still a dreaded three name).  it also stars a plethora of movie and video game characters including:  Batman; Super Mario; the players from Street Fighter; the players from Mortal Kombat; the Iron Giant; the cast of Halo; MechaGodzilla; and a host of others Spielberg and WB had to pay a small fortune to use.  Fear not, though, dear viewer; even I who abandoned video games after Missile Command was still able to recognize the majority of these characters, even though many appear in quick sequences.

Spielberg sold his rebel soul decades ago, so READY PLAYER ONE is filled with Tinseltown’s favorite tunes and agendas.   In typical Hollywood fashion, the antagonists are the evil, greedy business owners who want to control Oasis to make more money.  Making money is evil; this must be a reflection of Spielberg being so destitute.  The conflict occurs on two realms with strikingly similar results.  And there is the favorite underlying Hollywood socialist theme of everyone recognizing their place in society and remaining content within it.  There is also a progressive death count, with the absence of true violence.  READY PLAYER ONE piles up more bodies than THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA, but no one really dies.  Everyone who is laser blasted, dismembered, crushed or beheaded is in the Oasis.  Once dead, they simply leave the game, go to a new pod and try all over again.  This must be orgasmic for those currently seeking to destroy the second amendment.

 

While I poke fun at the absurd political and cultural undertones of the film, READY PLAYER ONE is a lot of fun.  It is one of the most visually stunning films I’ve seen and is paced at break neck speed.  It mixes well known video game and movie segments into the story, and that creativity aides the template aspects of the film.  The sequence from Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING is not to be missed.  READY PLAYER ONE is best viewed on the big screen.  It’s great fun, and I think you’ll enjoy it.  I know I did.