Break Free

This review spoils some of the film's pop culture references. 

Ready Player One is directed by Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park). It is based on the best-selling book written by Ernest Cline (Fanboys) and has been adapted to screen by Cline and Zak Penn (Avengers Assemble). The film stars Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse), Olivia Cooke (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl), Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One), T.J. Miller (Deadpool), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) and Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies). "When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune". Intended to be a valentine to pop culture; will the countless references get in the way of a coherent plot?

The story is quite simple: Halliday (Rylance) has left three keys inside 'The Oasis' and players must find all three to win his supreme easter egg. This straight-forward plot is successfully stretched into a 140-minute film. The film certainly did not feel this long as I was completely absorbed into the film's world. The first two-thirds are cinematic magic; the story constantly unfolds with surprises around every corner. Everything is set up and explained well. It would have been easy for the viewer to feel lost and confused but thankfully, in the hands of Spielberg, Cline and Penn, Ready Player One is very easy to follow. It was fun to watch the characters work out the clues; the answers/methods were smart and made sense. 

The endless amount of easter eggs are what make the first two-thirds of Ready Player One so exciting, and they never interfere with the plot. The narrative is always moving in a clear direction, the surprise Easter eggs along the way are just bonuses. That being said, Ready Player One would be nowhere near as enjoyable without the pop culture references, in fact, the story would not work without them. I felt a burst of excitement when King Kong appears on the screen hanging off of the side of the Empire State Building. Kong then becomes a major part of the first challenge. This was the first reference that really got me feeling nostalgic and full of joy. It worked so well because Kong was not just inserted into the film, he played an actual part in helping the story move along; if Parzival (Sheridan), Art3mis (Cooke) and the other racers wanted to win the challenge, they had to get past the giant gorilla. I also enjoyed seeing Harley Quinn, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" outfit and many other staples of pop culture appear on-screen. The Rubix Cube was cleverly referenced as the Zemeckis Cube - two references in one! - once again, this was not just a one-dimensional callback, the Cube is actually used as a weapon that turns back time 60 seconds. It was a genius idea to include The Shining; for a few minutes, the film turned into a horror and it was clever and fascinating to see the visuals of 2018's Ready Player One and 1980's The Shining come together. I was waiting for the "Here's Johnny" moment but unfortunately, it did not happen. The soundtrack is also great. There is a vast range of Easter eggs, anyone of any age from any background will see something that excites them during this film. It takes an intelligent mind to use pop culture references as the basis of a feature-length story but Ernest Cline pulls it off spectacularly, with the aid of Steven Spielberg of course. 

The film falters slightly in the third act. The final battle is exhilarating and entertaining but the segment towards the beginning of the act is the only time when the film feels dull. It is like the film started to run out of steam; jumping from a surprising and terrific sequence involving The Shining to rather clunky and dialogue-heavy scenes was not the greatest idea. The best way to describe it is going to a restaurant and being amazed by the starter and main course but find out that vanilla ice cream is the only dessert option. Vanilla ice cream is nice, it is just a little bland and not to the standard of what came before it. Luckily, the final action sequence is entertaining enough to redeem the start of the third act. It would be expected that a 140-minute film would feature well-developed characters. Oddly, the characters in Ready Player One do not get much development at all. We get to find out about Parzival's family but not much more. However, this would make sense in 'The Oasis' where nobody really knows each other, only the appearance of their avatar and characteristics they want people to know. It is easy to let Ready Player One off for thinly written characters and a brief dull period because the rest of the film is just so enjoyable. It is the best Easter egg hunt to ever grace the silver screen. 

Ready Player One might just be the most visually ambitious film I have ever seen. Ready Player One is not just visually 'ambitious' though, it reaches and surpasses those ambitions; if this film does not win Best Visual Effects at the next Academy Awards then there must be some even more imaginative and impressive visual effects on the way (which is hard to believe). My favourite sequence visually was the racing challenge; there were so many different dimensions and layers, it all looked fantastic! The visual effects team did a splendid job realising 'The Oasis', it never looked too animated. Ready Player One is a visual treat.

This is the best work I have seen from Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke. In their previous films, neither actor has made a big impression on me but in Ready Player One, in live-action and voice-over, they both give strong performances. Especially Tye Sheridan who has gone from the pretty awful Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse to a great leading performance in this film. I do not know where Sheridan's career can go next - he has a superhero role, he has a leading role in a blockbuster....maybe he will turn to smaller indie flicks for awards attention? Olivia Cooke has moved away from those indie films and has transitioned nicely into the bigger leagues. Cooke and Sheridan have good chemistry. Ben Mendelsohn finds himself in another villainous role, but he offers something different in this film than he did in Rogue One. I enjoyed his performance. If his face was not so familiar, I would say that Simon Pegg is unrecognisable in this film; he gives a very non-Simon Pegg performance but does it well. Spielberg clearly loves Mark Rylance as this is yet another collaboration between the pair. Rylance's performance embodied the wacky yet imaginative mind of Halliday. T.J Miller gave the only performance I was not so keen on. Miller's light-hearted, comedic approach did not match with the visual realisation of his character (I know this was intentional for humour) and Miller was never as funny as he needed to be to pull this off (maybe they should have given Taika Waititi a call?). Despite being a list of smaller names, this cast of underdogs deliver; they can easily compete with the casts of blockbusters that are compiled with Hollywood's biggest stars.

Ready Player One is a film with notable flaws; it lacks character development and the third act has problems. However, it is also a rare case where such flaws can be easily looked over because the film is so enjoyable. Some may argue that the abundance of Easter eggs have successfully manipulated me into loving this film much more, but I think this is a genius idea. Cline has created a completely original story with new characters...by featuring endless pop culture references (why has nobody thought of this until now?!). Tye Sheridan leads a cast of underdogs proving that Hollywood should take more risks when it comes to casting as bigger stars do not necessarily lead to the best results. I urge anyone who is into movies, games, music or pop culture in general to see Ready Player One. Spielberg has produced a real treat. SO. MUCH. FUN.