In 2045, the world’s most valuable economic resource is the OASIS, a massive virtual reality universe where people can escape the overpopulated, polluted slum the world has become.
Upon the death of its creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), the full ownership of the OASIS is up for grabs for whoever can complete Halliday’s last will and testament: a challenge to collect three keys hidden across the virtual world.
When Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an 18-year-old guy who goes by the tag, Parzival, finds the first key in several years, he becomes entangled in a dangerous quest to collect the remaining keys before the OASIS falls into the hands of Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), a businessman set on dictatorially reaping profits from the virtual world.
You wouldn’t be at fault if the premise of “Ready Player One” sounds simultaneously exciting and confusing to you. Steven Spielberg is excitingly back at the helm of a true blockbuster after seven years of exclusively prestige filmmaking (and “The BFG,” but that’s another story altogether). There’s likely no project suited better for his return to the genre than “Ready Player One,” a film based on a book built from the ground up on the classic 80s nostalgia Spielberg himself largely created.
Unfortunately with muddled storytelling and strange execution, “Ready Player One” is no return to blockbuster form for Spielberg.
The film slaps you with a torrent of exposition of the OASIS’ rules for a good chunk of the first act, all delivered inelegantly through Wade’s awkward, much-too-frequent voiceovers. Even then I was left somewhat confused on some of the finer details of the real-world setting in Columbus, Ohio, a place where everyone and everything conveniently resides.
There’s a certain cynicism addressed toward the gamer culture that “Ready Player One” gleefully inhabits. People litter the dystopian streets of Columbus wearing virtual reality goggles in disturbing imagery of a society out of touch with reality. Men and women of all ages throw tantrums after “zeroing out,” the equivalent of dying in the OASIS, causing people to lose all of their avatars’ collected assets. Wade himself, our hero, falls in love with a girl he meets online after one or two encounters with her despite not knowing anything about her real-life identity.
If the film was choosing to address these toxic problems in our society, it cops out too much before ever taking a stance. There’s too much cynicism for a film claiming to celebrate “gamers,” but there’s also too little to make a provocative point. Amidst the huge action set pieces set to another fantastic John Williams and Alan Silvestri score and the hundreds upon hundreds of pop culture references hidden in every frame of the film, these jaundiced elements stand out awkwardly and take away from the bombastic referential extravaganzas the film consistently offers.
Olivia Cooke thrives in these moments as Art3mis, the newest member of Wade’s quest party and his love interest. The impressive polar opposite of her also excellent role in “Thoroughbreds,” Cooke is easily the best member of the okay cast. She is effortlessly charming in her delightful delivery and quirky ticks. Thanks to Cooke, Art3mis is a truly living, breathing person inside and outside the OASIS. It’s just a little shameful how unearned her affections for Wade develop.
In this vein the substance of “Ready Player One” amounts to little more than wish fulfillment for teenage boys. Wade uses his pop culture expertise to win competitions, beat an out-of-touch older villain and get the girl of his dreams. Though Sheridan plays him well enough, Wade’s development begins and ends with his passion for the 80s. Ironically, Wade is more of an avatar for his audience’s probably unrealized fantasies than a character of his own — and such applies to the film’s value as a whole.
“Ready Player One” is a fun ride into the past with references and nostalgia galore, but little else. With an enormous array of pop culture references packing every inch of space on screen, it’s sure to please anyone with a heart. The film is harmless entertainment, and it should at least be applauded for that.
Grade: C+
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Hector Valverde is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He primarily writes movie reviews. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @hpvalverde.
