READY PLAYER ONE (2018)

Studio:       Warner Bros.
Director:    Steven Spielberg
Writer:       Zak Penn, Ernest Cline
Producer:  Donald De Line, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg, Dan Farah
Stars:     Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance

Review Score:

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Summary:

The hunt for an Easter egg inside a pop culture paradise pits players against a powerful corporation for control of the virtual reality world.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Columbus, Ohio – 2045 – Teenager Wade Watts lives in a shipping container tower known as ‘the stacks’ with his Aunt Alice and her abusive boyfriend Rick. Like most common civilians, Wade spends a majority of his time inside a virtual reality world called The OASIS.

At the time of his death in 2040, Gregarious Games cofounder James Halliday unveiled a contest by which a person could gain control over The OASIS by solving riddles and acquiring three keys. Although no one has ever overcome the first challenge, a difficult vehicle race that ends in defeat by King Kong, Wade regularly hunts for Easter eggs inside The OASIS as his avatar Parzival. With his best friend Aech, whom he has never met in real life, Parzival is known as a Gunter.

Megalomaniac CEO Nolan Sorrento, who was once Halliday’s lowly intern, leads Innovative Online Industries in their effort to become the largest corporation in the world by winning the contest. IOI employs a support team of ‘Sixers’ who continually look for contest clues in the popular culture that Halliday was obsessed with.

During a Copper Key Race, Parzival rescues Atr3mis, a Gunter whom he has a crush on, before she can be ‘zeroed’ by King Kong, which would erase all of the coins, items, and weapons acquired through experience in The OASIS. While Aech repairs Art3mis’ virtual motorcycle after the failed race, Parzival learns that Art3mis hates IOI deeply and takes the contest too seriously to permit a personal relationship with Parzival.

Parzival visits Halliday Journals, a massive museum of Jim Halliday’s memories, to look for a Copper Key Race clue. After watching a memory in which Halliday argues with his partner Ogden Morrow, Parzival realizes that the trick to winning the race is to go backwards, which Parzival does during the next event. Parzival uncovers an underground passageway to the finish line where Halliday’s avatar Anorak presents him with the first key.

Parzival receives 100,000 coins and takes first place on the leaderboard. Art3mis, Aech, and two other Gunters, Daito and Sho, eventually finish the race, join Parzival on the scoreboard, and become collectively known as the ‘High Five.’ Sorrento redoubles IOI’s efforts to progress in the contest.

At Halliday Journals, Parzival and Art3mis puzzle over the next clue. From the fact that only one memory exists of her, Parzival and Art3mis reason that Halliday regretted not going further than his one date with Karen Underwood, who later became Ogden’s wife before dying of cancer. Parzival also wins a quarter from the museum’s virtual Curator following an idle bet.

Art3mis agrees to go on a date with Parzival at The Distracted Globe, which Halliday built for Karen’s avatar Kira. Working as a contracted mercenary for Sorrento, OASIS weapons dealer i-R0k secretly stalks the couple and eavesdrops when Parzival tells Art3mis that his real name is Wade. Parzival also tells Art3mis that he is in love with her, even though she warns that he knows nothing about who she really is.

IOI avatars ambush Parzival and Art3mis as they explore the dance floor looking for the second key. Parzival secures their escape by activating a Zemeckis Cube to reverse time. Upset that Parzival lives in OASIS more than the real world, and reminded of how IOI killed her father, Art3mis storms off alone.

i-R0k informs Sorrento that Parzival is Wade Watts. Sorrento summons Wade to IOI HQ as a hologram. Wade refuses Sorrento’s monetary bribe to win the contest as an agent of IOI. Thinking that Wade is at his home because Rick is using his OASIS suit, Sorrento blows up the stacks, killing Wade’s Aunt Alice.

Wade is abducted by a man who turns out to work for Art3mis. Art3mis reveals herself as Samantha Cook in reality as a personal relationship deepens between she and Wade. When the two of them nearly kiss, Samantha realizes that Halliday’s second clue references regret over not kissing Karen when they went to the movies together.

The High Five rush to Halliday Journals in The OASIS. After deducing that Halliday and Karen went to see Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” the five avatars enter a virtual recreation of The Overlook Hotel. Art3mis ultimately recovers the second key by asking Kira to dance in the hotel’s haunted ballroom.

While IOI Sixers continue cracking contest clues, Sorrento tasks IOI operations chief F’Nale Zandor with tracking Wade and the High Five. IOI operatives subsequently raid the Gunter hideout. Samantha allows herself to get captured by Zandor so that Wade can escape. Wade is picked up in an alleyway in a postal service van driven by Aech, who turns out to be Helen Harris in the real world. Wade also meets Daito and Sho, whose real names are Toshiro and Zhou. The four of them flee.

Samantha is incarcerated in an IOI loyalty center where she is forced to work in The OASIS as Art3mis. After solving the third clue, IOI operatives begin attempting to win various Atari 2600 video games to find the third key. Sorrento activates the Orb of Osuvox, a weapon purchased from i-R0k, which erects an impenetrable force field around Anorak’s castle on Planet Doom in The OASIS, where the third key is presumably hidden.

Operating out of Helen’s mobile van in reality, Parzival and Daito hack Sorrento’s virtual reality rig to make him think he is being held at gunpoint in IOI headquarters. Parzival forces Sorrento to reveal where Samantha is being held.

Parzival taps into Art3mis’ audio feed. Art3mis warns that the force field Sorrento erected can only be deactivated from within. Parzival talks Samantha through escaping her IOI rig.

Sorrento realizes he is still in The OASIS and finally exits to reality. Samantha hacks Sorrento’s rig to find the spell needed to deactivate the Orb of Osuvox. Meanwhile, Zandor tracks Helen’s van.

Parzival broadcasts an inspiring message worldwide to recruit OASIS avatars to help take down Sorrento and IOI. Players show up to Planet Doom in droves, including Art3mis as well as Aech, who now uses The Iron Giant as her avatar.

A Sixer deduces that the third key is related to the Atari 2600 game Adventure. An IOI operative begins playing the game.

Art3mis deactivates the force field. Sorrento enters the battle on Planet Doom using Mechagodzilla as his avatar. Daito sacrifices his Gundam avatar to weaken Mechagodzilla. Art3mis then destroys the metal kaiju using a Madball grenade.

Aech uses The Iron Giant as a bridge for Parzival, Art3mis, and Sho to cross a lava pit to the castle. I-R0k shoots at The Iron Giant. Sho uses a ninja star to sever i-R0k’s arm, but The Iron Giant still falls in the lava after the three Gunters cross.

Realizing that Sorrento is about to locate Samantha’s position in the IOI war room, Parzival kills Art3mis so that she cannot continue in THE OASIS. Samantha has no choice but to hide from Sorrento in reality. Parzival takes out remaining IOI avatars using Monty Python’s holy hand grenade.

Parzival and Sho find a Sixer playing Adventure inside Anorak’s castle. The Sixer wins the game, yet his avatar still dies.

Sorrento’s avatar enters the castle with i-R0k to confront Parzival. Following a fight, Sorrento detonates a bomb that destroys every avatar inside The OASIS.

Parzival discovers that the quarter he previously received from the Curator granted him an extra life. His solo quest to find the Crystal Key is automatically broadcast everywhere.

Helen, Toshiro, and Zhou pick up Samantha in their van. The High Five continues evading IOI operatives while Wade uses The OASIS rig in the back of the vehicle.

Parzival explains that Adventure contains the first video game Easter egg as he endeavors to discover it within the game. Parzival finds it. Anorak presents Parzival with the Crystal Key as IOI vehicles begin sideswiping Helen’s van. Zandor boards the van, but Wade and the others fight her off.

Parzival uses all three keys to enter a throne room where Anorak presents him with papers to sign to take over The OASIS. Realizing that Halliday would not want Parzival to repeat the same mistake he did by relinquishing his OASIS stake to his partner Ogden, Parzival throws the pen down. Anorak becomes Halliday and transports Parzival to a recreation of Halliday’s childhood bedroom. Halliday shows Parzival a button that gives him the power to turn off The OASIS forever.

Sorrento’s vehicle disables Helen’s van just outside the stacks. Residents angrily confront Sorrento, but he brandishes a gun to work his way through to Wade.

Halliday presents Parzival with the final Easter egg prize. Parzival realizes that Halliday isn’t an avatar. Although Halliday confirms he is dead, he does not reveal what he actually is. Halliday leaves.

In the real world, police arrest Sorrento outside Helen’s van for Alice and Rick’s murders. Ogden Morrow arrives to present Wade with a contract to assume ownership of The OASIS. Wade takes a moment to kiss Samantha. Wade then proclaims he is forming a clan and decides to split stewardship of The OASIS with the High Five.

Zandor is also arrested. Zandor punches Sorrento in the backseat of their police escort.

Ogden reveals to Wade that the Curator was his avatar. Wade tells Ogden that Halliday’s biggest regret wasn’t losing Karen, but losing his only friend because of their business partnership. After taking over The OASIS, the High Five signs Ogden as a consultant.

In the aftermath, the High Five puts IOI out of business. Wade closes The OASIS on Tuesdays and Thursdays to force people to spend more time in the real world. Wade and Samantha move in together.

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Review:

Twitter user @LyleRath earned a TV cynic’s chef’s kiss with a viral tweet in 2016 captioned “This perfectly encapsulates why I hate ‘The Big Bang Theory’.”  In a quick clip from the unstoppably popular CBS sitcom, Simon Helberg’s character introduces some sort of ping pong showdown with the following proclamation: “So it’s settled.  The fate of Doctor Who’s TARDIS will be decided by a ‘Game of Thrones’ inspired deathmatch on the battlefield of Thundercats versus Transformers.”  From a place of genuine frustration, Rath then chastises the thunderous laugh track by shouting, “where was the joke?  He just f*cking named a bunch of sh*t!  How is this comedy?  Why are you laughing?  WHY?!?”

Rath’s spot-on verbal assault, universally transferable to any piece of puff reliant on empty name-drops, spit apprehension in my ear in anticipation of “Ready Player One.” The dominant criticism of the film both before and after its release accused its bottomless pit of 1980s-1990s multimedia mentions of being a cheap tactic to distract from pedestrian plotting, offering an illusion of entertainment based on overloading viewers with “me too!” moments of energetic eye candy.

This created cause to wonder if “Ready Player One” might inspire cynical sneering.  I appreciate a “Battlestar Galactica” shoutout, even a throwaway one, as much as anybody.  But did the movie have a story?  Did that story have substance?  Would I fall on the side of the audience split that sees the live-action listicle as enjoyably endearing, or the side bothered by purposefully pandering pointlessness?  Both, it turns out.

Partly for the benefit of the one reader who may not know the movie or novel’s basic premise, more so for the posterity of contextualizing this review, let’s summarize the story’s broad strokes.  Although, the film will also oblige with an exposition-thick first 15 minutes where everything below is recounted with wordy narration, a.k.a. a screenwriter’s quickest storytelling shortcut.

It’s 2045. Teenager Wade Watts (Luke Skywalker) lives like most poverty-plagued citizens do, regularly escaping his hopeless existence in a slum-like stack of converted shipping containers (Tatooine) through the virtual reality world of The OASIS.  Anything is possible in The OASIS, yet the limitations of imagination apparently restrict players to assuming avatars based heavily on old Warner Brothers properties.

Upon his death, OASIS creator James Halliday (Obi-Wan Kenobi in Force form) set up a contest whereby anyone who could solve a series of challenges and collect three keys would inherit all-powerful proprietorship of The OASIS.  The challenges have gone unsolved for a full five years but Wade, as his digital alter ego Parzival, embarks on an adventure that will have him knocking over the quest’s dominoes tout suite.

Standing in Wade’s way is oppressive corporation IOI (The Empire), whose simultaneously sniveling and sneering CEO Nolan Sorrento (Grand Moff Tarkin) aims to overtake The OASIS so that IOI’s boot can crush the commoner’s neck further. Meanwhile, resistors are rising up against the regime with Art3mis (Princess Leia), rogue rebel and object of Parzival/Wade’s affection, leading the charge.  Parzival also earns assistance from his brutish buddy and ace mechanic Aech (Chewbacca), and two other inconsequential pals only cursorily acknowledged.

Essentially, “Ready Player One” puts standard Joseph Campbell formula in a 21stcentury frame.  Additional beats include infiltrating the enemy base to conduct a rescue (stormtrooper disguises), a mistaken identity murder providing motivation (Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru), and climactic difficulty inserting objects into a device that will be evil’s undoing (Death Star trench run).

Snarkiness aside, formulas are formulas because they are proven to work successfully, and “Ready Player One” is Exhibit A.  Themes of finding friendship and love to overcome adversity provide feel good emotional basics while nonstop digital spectacle satiates appetites for action.  How much harder “Ready Player One” hits comes down to whether its wrapping works to keep you from caring about how routine it really is.

“Ready Player One” concurrently chokes on and pukes up more retro references than a Texas Instruments calculator can count.  It would take the Micro Machines motormouth to call out every cameo on a commentary track, and even he couldn’t keep current with the onscreen hurricane of hullabaloo.

A fanboy’s dream and a licensing lawyer’s nightmare, the movie’s omissions are as noticeable as its inclusions.  There’s Marvin the Martian, Chun-Li, He-Man, Batgirl, Jason Voorhees, and Perseus’ “Clash of the Titans” shield.  Where’s Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, and Spider-Man?  The greatest nemesis to The OASIS’ virtual fantasy isn’t IOI; it’s the fourth wall reality of third party payments and contractual obligations.

Despite the digs, “Ready Player One” isn’t all pop culture pomp and circumstance. Poking at more traditional talking points, several standout performances add oomph that isn’t based on childhood commercial consumption.  Ben Mendehlson chews on a Scott Glenn speech pattern in the skin of a Wall Street scumbag to create a villain equal in stature to “Rogue One’s” Krennic, yet distinctly different in swagger.  As Halliday, Mark Rylance continues his unbroken streak of being the MVP in every movie that casts him.  Both actors benefit from predominantly appearing as their human selves. Everyone else spends more time in their computer-generated incarnations, and their audio-only portions don’t provide the same characterization connections.

Assuming I understood the callbacks, I probably would get more out of the movie if I were 12, or if “Ready Player One” compelled me to take that mindset for two hours. That’s not a knock on those who can connect to the film’s mass-market charm.  On the contrary, I envy anyone with the ability to embrace an inner child and temporarily disengage adult analytics.  I also can’t help but laugh at the imaginary scenario of showing my senior citizen father this film just so I can hear him exasperatingly wonder aloud, “what is all this sh*t?”

“Ready Player One” is the entertainment equivalent of cotton candy: a light, fluffy, brightly colored treat of sugary sweetness consumed more for the nostalgic flavor of fondly remembered carnival midways than for its actual taste or nutritional value. It’s certainly fun in the moment. However, a regretful mind might realize five cents of content was stuffed in a $6 bag and wish for a caramel-covered apple instead.

Review scores and personal opinions are largely arbitrary anyway.  “Ready Player One” is a Steven Spielberg blockbuster, i.e. its appeal is unassailable.  It also contains metric tons of heroes, villains, and “I recognize that!” references that put smiles on faces.  Why be critical of that?  Nevertheless, I’ll open my calibration at a tick over three stars out of five.

I’d simply caution that whatever the movie’s half-life is, I’ll confidently wager any rating assigned will only degrade over time.  Imagine how quaint a contemporary black-and-white counterpart with numerous 1958 nods, like a Bobby Darin and Little Richard soundtrack accompanying appearances by Perry Mason and Beaver Cleaver, would seem to us. Now imagine a 2048 audience watching “Ready Player One’s” CGI maelstrom of bygone bit heroes and four-color champions.  No doubt their collectively confused reaction would echo my annoyed father’s with, “what is all this sh*t?”

Review Score:  65

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