Before he died, Halliday hid three clues in his world for an “Easter egg” that would allow the discoverer complete control of this fabulous spectral kingdom. The game’s creator is the late James Halliday, played by Mark Rylance, an uber-nerd genius who is a cross between Willy Wonka, Steve Jobs and Tim Berners-Lee. (The film hints subliminally at X-rated experiences in motels for those interested.) They can win digital money in various contests but possibly blow it all – “lose their shit”. Here is a limitless fantasyscape of the mind where people can play games and have experiences. His only interest is in strapping on the VR headset and entering the alternative universe of the Oasis, as a mythic avatar named Parzifal. Tye Sheridan is Wade Watts, a lonely teenager living in Columbus, Ohio, which is now a gruesome favela of trailers stacked on top of each other. Cities are massive scuzzy slums and virtual reality is the opium of the masses. The future world is pretty badly beaten up after a series of wittily imagined seismic catastrophes, including the “bandwidth riots”. The film is set in 2045, and though we may yet see a fashion for YA dramas about pre-apocalyptic utopias, Ready Player One isn’t one of them. Where’s the beef? And the movie is left with the tricky and anticlimactic business of negotiating the relationship between virtual reality and the boring old actual sort. It’s a close encounter of the pixelated kind. If it's very different than the book I understand peoples anger, for me however this was fantastic.But as with all VR on film, from Tron in 1982 to the new Jumanji of 2017, I found a weightless, frictionless quality to this inner zone of digitally rendered experience. The movie wrapped up nicely and went in directions I didn't expect, I'm suitably impressed and would love to see more. Combined with the incredible mostly 80's soundtrack it's a sight to behold. From Overwatchs Tracer, Streetfighters Chun-Li & Ryu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Giant, Chucky, Freddy Kreuger, Mortal Kombats Goro, Gundam, Mech-Godzilla, King Kong, and countless more I being a big ol'nerd really appreciated this. The plot if fantastic and very well handled, the movie looks like a billion dollars, the cast did a decent enough job and the pop culture references though thick and fast didn't overwhelm the movie like I feared they would. Set in a near dystopian world where people use a virtual reality world called the Oasis to escape their lives it tells the story of one player and his efforts participating in a competition that with decide the fate of the entire universe (Oasis). Thankfully I couldn't have been anymore wrong, Read Player One has plenty of substance, emotion and charm and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. When the trailer came out I was unimpressed and didn't get onboard with the hype at all, yes I was impressed with all the pop culture references and characters but I figured it would be all flash and no substance. I'm in the latter group and am very thankful for this. There seem to be two camps as far as Ready Player One is concerned, those who have read the books (Who tend to dislike the movie) and those who haven't (Who tend to like the movie).
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