Ready Player One--Movie Review--Lot's of fun--just not like the book.

I admit it.  Ready Player One is one of my favorite books I have read over the last few years.  It was just pure unadulterated sugar and joy,  When I read it I knew it was going to be a movie eventually, but I wasn’t sure if it could successfully brought to the screen.  Learning that it was going to be directed by Spielberg made me excited about the possibility that it could be done well.

I can’t help it.  I come into this movie with the book in my head. I loved this book.  It brings an ear to ear grin on my face.  

(The cover of the great book.)

The creator of the Oasis, James Halliday, has passed away.  Before he passed he created an Easter Egg and hid it in the Oasis.  It can only be found with clues that are given out with various contests.  And the Easter Egg is complete control of the Oasis and half of the shares of company that created it, worth half a trillion dollars.

So, this is a world wide Easter Egg hunt.

But after five years no one has found the first clue, so interest is waning.  And this is where the movie begins.

The novel focused on the main character Wade Watts and his love of all things pop-culture from the 1970s and 80s and his love for games.  The movie goes straight to the point that this is happening in a dystopian future, people in live in houses that are stacked one on top of each other, and then there is the Oasis.  The global virtual reality set-up.  The movie focus’s on the VR aspect of the world.  The pop-culture references come in as an aside.  It’s never explained why Wade, who goes by the name Parzival in the world of the Oasis, drives the Delorean from Back to the Future.  I mean not that we need an explanation, but there is the Delorean and no mention of it.

Not focusing on the pop-culture aspect is a minor nit-pik, but it is not as emphasized as much as it is in the book.  And for die hard book fans that is going to be noticed.

Lots of things to look at, but no time to enjoy them...

The movie is a lot of fun. Seventy-five percent of the movie occurs in the Oasis, so most of the movie is pure CGI.  And it looks cartoonish, but I think that is the idea behind the Oasis, it’s VIRTUAL reality, not actual reality.

Wade doesn’t have actual friends in the real world, so he has to make them in the virtual one.  Aech is a mechanic.  How does a mechanic work in a virtual world? I mean it’s virtual?  Why isn’t everyone a mechanic. I have no idea.  Just go with it. But the work he does do in the virtual world is top notch.  During race across a New York landscape he saves a well-known player Art3mis from zeroing out of the game.  Zeroing out mean losing all the money and assests a person has spent their life acquiring.  About as close to dying as you can really get in the game.

Because the reward is pretty much unlimited money, a video game conglomerate Innovative Online Industries (IOI) has amassed an army of Gunters whose sole purpose is performing in the tasks to find the Easter Egg.  IOI is led by Nolan Sorrento, a one-time intern of James Halliday and business partner Ogden Morrow.  Sorrento is played to perfect sliminess by Ben Mendelssohn, who was Orson Krennic in Rogue One.

The movie moves faster than the novel, and that’s good for action.  And there is a lot of it.  What is missing is the enjoyment of the world. 

There is a wonderful scene that lives in the world of The Shining, this does not occur in the book because they could not secure the rights to Blade Runner, which does play a big role in the novel.  I don’t want to give too much away, but when the characters enter the world of The Shining, the virtual reality feel disappears.  Spielberg brings the look and feel of Kubrik’s famous film to life.  I’m not giving anything away, but this maybe the most satisfying scene in the movie.

Final Thoughts

I recommend this movie.  It doesn’t reach the top of the pantheon of other Spielberg movies, but it is fun and energetic.  If you’re a fan of the book and 80s pop culture, check the movie out now in the theater.