Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

On the scoreboard of life, only one position counts, and with so much at stake you either play to win, or you don’t play at all, so Players – are you ready?

Like everyone else in 2045, Parzival (Ty Sheridan) lives in the OASIS; the ultimate integrated virtual reality system that has become a source of reprieve for the human race. In the OASIS Parzival has money, friends and a purpose. The trouble is – it’s not real.

In reality Parzival is Wade Watts, an orphan – unknown and looking to get away from the poverty line life he has been dealt. His solution lies within the OASIS with the only thing that can transform his life after the goggles come off.

Hidden within the OASIS by creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) are the keys to the castle – ownership and control of the OASIS and its monetary perks. With everyone after them, the keys won’t be easy to find – it will take completing three challenges cloaked in mystery and a lot of heart to reach the finish line and sadly it won’t all be fun and games.

Ready Player One was visually pleasing, from the various Avatars that were a mix of original creations and well known characters, to the sweeping peep of the never ending kaleidoscope that was the OASIS. Coupled with the seamless crossover between reality and its augmented version, both were executed with the limitless mind that a science fiction story deserved.

Though painted as mans ultimate escape, the movie didn’t shy away from the OASIS’s negative sides; that people can forget to live in the real world, you can’t trust who you meet online, and that isolation can be self inflicted. It was subtle but it was there.

By far the best scene in the move was the one dedicated to The Shining. It was weird seeing the layover of CGI with settings from the movie – but a good weird. It had me finally sitting up and paying attention, putting me on edge in all the right ways. It was tastefully done, playing homage and tribute to an iconic movie.

As you can tell I enjoyed watching the movie. But once you remove the visual impact from the equation you’ll find that the movie lacked much heart.

There was nothing special about Wade Watts that made me root for him, sympathise with him, or care one iota whether or not he won Halliday’s competition. He was an unemotional character without a drop of an identifiable trait. His generic I’m a plain looking orphan who gets picked on character profile was lazy and far from unique.

And honestly its a little difficult to fully enjoy a movie when you have no investment in its protagonist.

What really bugged me was the narration aspect interwoven into the story. Sure at the beginning to put the audience on the right footing it makes sense and is pretty common. Here it tended to lead the audience by hand through the story by heavily worded prose that could have been eradicated by a few well placed pieces of dialogue between two characters.

Though the whole arc of ‘solving three clues to win the ultimate prize’ is far from new, it didn’t offend, and Ready Player One hit the nail on the head by artfully creating both the world of 2045 and the world within in it in the OASIS.

It was shiny and exciting and made you hope in twenty-seven years we’ll have reached their level of technology in order to replicate something similar.

Unfortunately for me there was something missing at the center of the movie that left me ultimately unfulfilled and unwilling to play this one again.