Ready Player One is based on a book of the same name by Ernest Cline. Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tye Sheridan, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg, Ben Mendelsohn, and Olivia Cooke, the adaptation, as my husband tells me, differs a lot from the book. And now, I can’t wait to go home and start reading it. [Yes, I’m sitting in a café and writing this review. 😛 ]
It’s the year 2045. The world is in complete chaos and on the brink of collapse. But there is one thing that is giving hope to everyone: a game called OASIS. The winner of the game, Oasis, will inherit the company, this was put in motion by genius extraordinaire and trillionaire, James Halliday, just before he died. And now, vicious businessman Nolan Sorrento wants to win this game and pocket everything on offer. It is up to Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), and Samantha Cook (Olivia Cooke), and their friends to save the game by assuming their avatars.
The Ready Player One screenplay has been written by Ernest Cline and Zak Penn. This is probably the reason why the crispness translates on screen and gives us an experience of a lifetime. There are inside jokes and references to a number of books and movies that any movie buff and/or bookworm will fall in love with.
The CGI action sequences got quite a number of loud hoots from a particularly enthusiastic audience in the theater. I was surprised, thinking that there were so many people who read the book and were watching the movie. But then again, it could have been that they were enjoying what was transpiring on screen. I surely was. And I haven’t read the book. Yet!
In addition to the action, Ready Player One is humorous to the point of no fault. Yes, it is a thriller, but it reels you in and sets you in motion like a spinning totem until the very end. You have the opportunity to connect the dots. But this fast-paced movie does it all for you without taking away the entertainment factor. In no aspect is it lacking. Well, what else can you expect from a Steven Spielberg movie?
In addition to the entertainment, Ready Player One gives you heavy doses of truth cloaked in the humor that we talked about earlier. The emotions of the characters are so raw, so real, that you cannot help but identify with them when they explain their beliefs. Of course, it’s not the intensity, but the lightness with which they treat it that you watch on in awe and wish that you could be like them. But I laughed the most when 11-year-old Xo is irritated when people are surprised he’s 11 years old and plays the big, badass game of OASIS.
The acting in the movie was awesome, except for Ben Mendelsohn as Sorrento. Out of five levels, with fifth being the highest, if everyone else was on the fifth level, I thought Mendelsohn was somewhere between the third and fifth. He tries too hard to look evil, I felt. Though, I must say, at his last expressions in the movie, I sort of melted and brought him up from third to somewhere between third and fourth.
All in all, Ready Player One is a brilliantly entertaining thriller, with drama and humor thrown in for good measure. It keeps you on the edge of your seat till the very end. And that is a compliment not many movies today can boast of doing.
Go watch it! As soon as possible!
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Until next time, keep reading, keep watching, and add melodrama to your life. 🙂
The Melodramatic Bookworm 