Ready Player One

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2018)

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I was fascinated by the amount of pop culture characters and references I could spot, reading more into it, it looked and sounded like something right up my street, so I went to the cinema with high expectations, directed by Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, The BFG). Basically in the year 2045, much of Earth has become slum-like cities, so most of the population escape the desolation, entering the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), where they can be and do whatever they want, engaging in numerous activities for work, education and entertainment. The brilliant and eccentric creator of the OASIS, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), passed away a year ago, before his death he left his immense fortune and total control of the OASIS hidden within the immersive realm. There is a worldwide contest called Anorak's Quest, that Halliday designed to find a worthy heir, the first to find the Easter Egg, finding the three keys and following the clues, will inherit the wealth, and gain full ownership of the OASIS, among other gifts. This has garnered thousands to play the game, including "Gunters" ("egg hunters"), and video game conglomerate and virtual reality manufacturer Innovative Online Industries (IOI), its CEO Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) has a mass army of players known as Sixers (due to their six-digit identification) seeking to claim the prize. However, to date, no one has managed to finish the first quest, a vehicle race across an ever-shifting version of New York City, because when you are killed in the game world, you will lose everything you have earned in your character progression. In the slums of Columbus, Ohio, living with his aunt, is an orphaned Gunter, 18-year-old Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), in the OASIS his avatar is Parzival, his best friend is male avatar Aech (Lena Waithe), who serves as a virtual mechanic, he later befriends well-known player Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), he saves her from being "zeroed out" by King Kong. Wade decides to study the virtual OASIS library and archives to learn about Halliday's personal life, hoping to find a hint to finish the race, he watches footage of Halliday regretfully accepting the resignation of his partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), Wade notices Halliday saying to "go backwards really fast, as fast as you can". So at the next race, Wade reverses from the start line, finding a hidden, safe path beneath the race track, going under all the obstructions, including Kong, he reaches the finish line and gains the first key from Anorak, Halliday's avatar, and a clue to the next quest, Aech and Art3mis, as well as players Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) also follow the path to finishing, and the appear atop the global scoreboards, becoming known as the "High Five". IOI takes interest in them, desiring to learn their real-life identities, then bounty hunter i-R0k (T.J. Miller) overhears Wade tell Art3mis his real name, so Sorrento approaches Wade and attempts to convince him to join IOI to solve Anorak's Quest, but Wade refuses. Sorrento retaliates and has his assistant F'Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) attack Wade's slum, killing Wade's aunt Alice (Susan Lynch) and her boyfriend Rick (Ralph Ineson), while Wade is rescued by Art3mis' real-life friends and taken to a Gunter hideout, where he meets Art3mis' player, Samantha Cook. Working together, Wade and Samantha look at more archive footage of Halliday, they discover that Halliday and Morrow fell out because Halliday once dated Kira (Perdita Weeks), who later became Morrow's wife, then in the OASIS, Wade wins a bet with The Curator, Morrow's avatar, and gains access to Kira's memories, leading to the second quest, as well as a special reward. Using the clue of a creator who hated his own work, they work out that they have to enter the world of The Shining, the Stanley Kubrick movie, hated by the creator of the original book, Stephen King, surviving this horror realm, the High Five each earn the second key and the clue to the final quest, which is located in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom. Zandor discovers the Gunter hideout and kidnaps Samantha, while Wade is rescued by the real-life players of Aech aka Helen, Daito and Sho, back in the OASIS they learn that IOI has erected a gigantic forcefield blocking access to the castle. Wade sends a message to all OASIS players about the activities of IOI, convincing many to join them to fight against IOI and the Sixers. Aech, Daito, and Sho lead the army of players, while Samantha is able to cause a distraction and shut down the field, allowing Wade to access inside Castle Anorak, where he sees that Sixers have found the Atari room. Sixers are trying to determine which Atari 2600 game was Halliday's favourite, choosing and completing the wrong one leads to one being zeroed out, Sorrento and Wade recognise the right game is Adventure, but Sixers who successfully complete the game are still zeroed out. Sorrento activates the Cataclyst, which zeroes out all players on Planet Doom, but the Curator's reward is revealed to be an extra life, allowing Wade's avatar to survive and continue the quest. Wade deduces that the goal is not to win Adventure, but to find its own Easter Egg, upon doing so, he is given the last key, Wade uses the three keys to open a gate in the castle. When it opens he is congratulated by Anorak, who presents Wade with a contract to sign, but Wade recognises it as the one Morrow signed on his termination, he turns it down, the avatar of Anorak transforms into a projection of Halliday, who reveals that this was a final test, one that centred on his biggest regret in life. Halliday shows Wade the Big Red Button, which will wipe out the OASIS, if he feels that is for the best, and awards him with the Easter Egg, transferring control of the OASIS to Wade, he questions if the projection of Halliday is actually him and is he is really dead. In the end, Sorrento and Zandor are arrested, IOI is heavily restructured, Wade opts to share the OASIS fortune with the other members of the High Five, Morrow offers his consultation for a small fee, the High Five decide to have the OASIS shut down for two days in a week, to coax people to spend more time in the real world, while Wade and Samantha start a romantic relationship and move in together. Also starring Clare Higgins as Mrs. Gilmore and Black Panther's Letitia Wright as Reb (Safe House). Pop culture references featured and mentioned that I recognised and spotted included: Spider-Man, King Kong, Freddy Krueger, The Iron Giant, the DeLorean time machine from Back from the Future, KITT from Knight Rider, The A-Team, Batman, the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park, King Kong, TRON, Last Action Hero, Stars Wars, Alien, Beetlejuice, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Superman, Star Trek, Michael Jackson: Thriller, The Shining, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, Chucky the killer doll, RoboCop, Godzilla, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but there are plenty more. The performances are all good, especially Sheridan as the young hero, and Mendelsohn relishes being the corporate villain, for many this could be considered "nerd porn", something for all the geeks who love to spot all the recognisable things in the worlds of movies, television, music and games, but at the heart of it, there are also fantastic characters you actually care about, a terrific engaging story, and brilliant special effects to bring the chases, battles and action sequences to life, it only has slight predictability, there is something for everyone, a fabulously vibrant, fun and enjoyable science-fiction adventure. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects. Good!