Ready Player One

READY PLAYER ONE

Director : Steven Spielberg
Year : 2018
Genre : Science Fiction
Rating : **

Despite tremendous advancements in technology and methods by which a story can be told, cinema and the Western media in general has become stuck in something resembling a cultural time warp. Thanks to the roaring success of TV shows like Netflix's Stephen King-esque 'Stranger Things' and mainstream movies such as Marvel's cosmic 'Guardians of the Galaxy' duology and last year's surprise horror hit 'IT', distributors across the breadth of the arts have become obsessed with tapping into that wholesome nostalgic 80's and 90's glow that we are all so partial to. Over the past 12 months alone, we here in the UK have seen revivals of several classic 90's TV shows such as 'Robot Wars', 'Blind Date' and 'The Crystal Maze', although, admittedly, not all to great reviews and many more are on the horizon. Even the video game industry has fallen under the rose-tinted spell, with such varied titles as 'Shovel Knight', 'Super Meat Boy' and 'Hotline Miami' all successfully replicating the same 8 and 16 bit wonder that originally made Nintendo, Sega and Atari household names in the latter part of the 20th century. 

So with all this in mind, 'Ready Player One' should in theory comfortably slip into this now well-established mould. Directed by the (almost) always reliable Steven Spielberg and adapted by Ernest Cline and his partner Zac Penn from his best-selling 2011 book of the same name, the film bombards its audience with more pop culture references than any movie that has come before it and nerds (like myself) will delight in finding every last one of them. However, rather than utilising them to expand the world or advance the story (as Edgar Wright did so brilliantly with his woefully mistreated and equally geeky 2010 gem 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'), Spielberg and his scriptwriters instead use their myriad of 80's and 90's icons as a substitute for narrative - completely misplacing anything resembling character, emotion or even motivation for a veritable smorgasbord of well-known and not-so-well-known figures from the worlds of tv, cinema and video games. At first, these references are funny and entertaining but their effect quickly wears off and what begins as a rather fascinating sci-fi adventure devolves into a tedious game of pop culture Where's Wally? with little to no story to support it. In retrospect, a far more appropriate title for 'Ready Player One' would be 'Spot The Obscure Anime, Games and 80's Movie Icons : The Movie'. 

As has become something of the norm for young adult stories written these days, 'Ready Player One' is set in a dystopian future - a future so disastrously bleak that humanity collectively seeks sanctuary in the comparative haven of The Oasis, a sprawling virtual reality multiverse that allows its players to become any avatar they choose; more often that not a character from the 80's or early 90's. Before his death, it's Steve Jobs-y creator Halliday (played by Spielberg's current muse Mark Rylance) bequeathed the ownership of The Oasis to any one who could find the 3 keys he hid within his creations depths and the movie finds people of all walks of life attempting to get their virtual hands on this most desired of prizes - one of whom is Wade (Tye Sheridan), a down-on-his-luck orphan who originally plans to take the hallowed keys for himself but must learn to work together with his fellow players in order to prevent the Oasis falling into the lap of the nefarious Milan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn).

Whether it be 'Minority Report', 'War of the World's or 'AI : Artificial Intelligence', no one quite builds a science fiction world like Steven Spielberg and in keeping with this tradition, 'Ready Player One' is consistently gorgeous to watch. Utilising state of the art CG graphics, Spielberg and his team of computer wizards continually provide spectacular sights and luscious locations - a car chase involving a Tyrannosaurus Rex is a hair-raising throwback to  the directors own blockbuster  heyday while an extended tribute to the late and very great Stanley Kubrick is one of the most jaw-dropping things ever seen in a Spielberg picture. Personally, I could have done with a few more scenes in the real world to emphasise the plight of Wade and his friends but I enjoyed spending time in the Oasis and clearly Spielberg did too.

This all looks great and deserves to be seen in the biggest screen possible. However, when all is said and done, it's surface at the most basic level and when the admittedly impressive technology is stripped away, we are left with very little else to digest or even enjoy. Like the book on which it is based, 'Ready Player One's predominantly relies on it's wealth of pop culture references to see it home rather than its focal characters and while it may be momentarily fun to see such icons as The Iron Giant, Chucky, Beetlejuice and even MechaGodzilla in the same shot,  it doesn't take long for the novelty to wear off and the barrage of cameos to become increasingly insufferable. This wouldn't be too much of a problem if the central characters were well developed or if the story was engaging enough to hold our interest but this just  simply isn't the case.  The predictable plot blindly follows in the footsteps of numerous better movies - most notably Mel Stuart's 1971 musical classic 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' - while the performances from the cast, despite being perfectly serviceable, fail to elevate the material beyond its blatant nostalgia - pandering roots. 

As someone who loves and more importantly, admires the legacy of Steven Spielberg's work, I must admit I was sorely disappointed by 'Ready Player One'. With my sizeable collections of pop vinyl figures, Nintendo amiibo's, retro games and 80's films, I am clearly the target audience but unfortunately I need more in my movies than simply "here's a thing you may recognise". Maybe the simple novelty of seeing beloved cinema icons on screen together is enough for some people but I need development, I need characters to care about and above all, I need to be invested and sadly, none of these criteria were met. Visually and conceptually, 'Ready Player One' is terrific but emotionally and narratively, it is as hollow as an Easter egg and with it's dated references and it's ear-grating modern vernacular, the movie doesn't stand a chance of being held up great Spielberg blockbusters such as 'E.T', 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' or 'Jaws' in the future.