Spielberg Returns to the Blockbuster in This Technologically Astounding Video Game Adventure.

Rating: 8/10 (8 April 2018)

The King of the Blockbuster is back! In the decade since reuniting with George Lucas and Harrison Ford for the shamefully underrated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Steven Spielberg has tackled the heavy subjects of World War One, The Emancipation Proclamation, and the Cold War. With the exception of a couple of big budget duds (Tintin and the BFG), the man who practically invented the summer blockbuster had seemed to grow out of crowd-pleasing summer fun. Ready Player One isn't quite a summer movie, but it is in the great tradition of Spielberg Action Extravaganzas. Enormous, assured, and a whole Hell of a lot of fun, RP1 is the type of blockbuster that nobody else in Hollywood is even trying to make. An original script based on an original novel, visualized by a cinematic genius, and played without a constant, prying eye on the sequels, team-ups, and tie-ins... Marvel, eat your heart out.
Ready Player One is based on the novel written by Earnest Cline, in which a young gamer, Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) attempts to complete the quest for the Ultimate Easter Egg. Within the virtual world of the OASIS, late creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) has hidden three keys, which unlock the gate to the Egg, and gives the winner total control over the grandest virtual world ever conceived. Cline's novel had the potential to open itself up to limitless story possibilities. The imagination runs wild thinking of the spectacular challenges that might face Wade's avatar Parzival and his merry team of Egg Hunters (or Gunters), Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Aech, Daito, and Sho. Cline totally squandered all the potential his premise had. Most of the challenges in the book revolve around playing dated video games (with a controller and TV) within the virtual world, and coasting through such fantastic movie worlds as War Games and Monty Python (sarcasm intended). The book is shockingly unimaginative in the way it plays in what is the world's biggest sandbox. A total rip-off!
Thank God for Steven Spielberg. The man has more imagination in his little finger than Cline has in his whole body, and his movie capitalizes on the book's premise as fully as anyone could have hoped for. The first challenge; forget playing an arcade game, how about a sensational race through a virtual New York City? The second challenge; forget playing another arcade game, this time within War Games. How about a rollicking trip through the labyrinth-like Overlook Hotel in The Shining? I won't spoil the final challenge, but take my word for it, like everything in RP1, it is imaginative in ways that Ernie Cline's book never dreamed of.
Spielberg realizes how transporting the OASIS would be, and transport us he does. That first race is one of the best action scenes I've seen in years, so much more effective in visualizing space and movement than every other rockem-sockem, building-crumbling, CGI action-fest in theaters today. It has impact. The action of Ready Player One is as loud and chaotic as most disposable modern special effects pictures, but the difference is that with Spielberg, it makes visual and aural sense. The big battles, races, fights, etc. are almost all completely CGI, and the mayhem is cranked up past maximum, but that is what you would expect action in the OASIS to be. The overblown, CG, motion capture world full of nostalgic references is less Spielberg straining for effect than it is a visualization of how our current culture of hyperactive leeching of the past can take over society.
And on those digital effects from ILM. It's been years since I've seen a movie that I felt pushed moviemaking technology forward. Avatar might be the last time a film has showcased special effects that felt "new". Ready Player One felt new to me. We've all seen so much CGI, motion capture, and the like in movies that the phrase "How did they do that?" just isn't uttered anymore. Everything is CG, and most CG looks good. The sense of discovery is all but gone. However, throughout this picture I wondered to myself "How. Did. They. Do. That?" Spielberg uses the special effects here to liberating effect. Anything you can imagine doing in the OASIS is done. It's creativity run amok, and still, you take it all in stride. Imagining what it would be like to search the James Halliday archives or step inside a decades old movie is enough, but Spielberg and ILM's ability to make that stuff real is not to be taken for granted. This is an amazing piece of special effects work, surely deserving of an Oscar, and despite some good performances, especially from Ben Mendelsohn as the corporate villain Nolan Sorrento, it's the best reason to see Ready Player One.
What a refreshing movie this Ready Player One is. An original story idea is hard to come by, especially when it comes to popcorn munching entertainment. An original story crafted with an expert eye for cinematic detail is rarer yet. Ready Player One has both. It also has problems. Mostly with the few elements of the book that did make their way to the film. For example, the love story is pointless and half-baked, and the ultimate lesson of "spend more time in the real world" comes out of nowhere in the last two minutes. But after suffering through years of mind numbing, forgettable summer blockbusters, it sure feels nice to get something this rich, substantial, and genuinely fun. Technologically forward thinking, but with a foot planted firmly in blockbuster past, RP1 is the perfect antidote for all that is wrong with genre film today. My hope is that with this movie, Steven Spielberg can inspire more of this kind of entertainment in Hollywood. But even if other directors don't follow his lead, The King of the Blockbuster has proved that even in 2018, he is still the rightful ruler of the throne.
86/100