The story is set in the near-future (no less than 25 years from now... Go figure) in which a Steve Jobs-type gamer named Halliday (the ever-talented Mark Rylance) has developed a virtual reality world called "The OASIS" in which regular people can escape the burden of slum-living and explore a world with very few limitations. This fares well for Wade Watts AKA Parzival (Tye Sheridan), a poor kid living in Columbus, Ohio with her drudging aunt and live-in boyfriend. The story begins with Halliday's death and his revelation that hidden in the game are three keys to be discovered. The first person to find all three will claim ownership of the OASIS corporation and all it's worth: somewhere in the neighborhood of half a trillion dollars. This becomes the goal of large gaming companies (the villains) who hope to win the prize and begin charging fees for OASIS gamers.
It's been five years and no gamer has yet to find a single key. Parzival, our hero, goes through Halliday memory vaults (a kind of mind museum) endlessly, and combs through clues and hints to try and discover more about Halliday, the man, and where he might have hidden those "easter eggs." The movie sets up the real world in a brief but tactile sequence in which we would understand why everyday people from young children to elder parents would seek solace in the game. Gamers can acquire currency, weapons, power, and fame, but like all games if they die they lose everything they have worked for. Think of it like the Matrix without the real consequences of death and injury.
The world of the OASIS is remarkable in the way its entirely digital. Everyone down to the characters (Parzival looks like some sort of Final Fantasy creation) is a visual effect, and at times it's hard not to make Avatar comparisons in the way this film so fully immerses you in the world. One of the first set pieces is a car chase through some downtown setting in which racers are attacked by no less than a T-Rex and King Kong. Oh, and Percival rides around in a vintage DeLorean. Later in the game, we get a glimpse of the Iron Giant, the Cyclops from the "7th Voyage of Sinbad," the Millennium Falcon, and a complete recreation of the hotel from "The Shining" (a scene so well-made that my audience cheered when we first saw a glimpse of the Overlook Hotel). The more the film goes, the more we realize this is a fan-service extravaganza. References to 1980's pop culture runs rampant, and it became clear that this is a film aimed more to please geeks than anything else. In reality - why would a futuristic world be so heavily engrossed in such a specific, retro period of time?
For all I was wowed by the film's look, in the end, we are given flat characters that made me want to do anything but root for them. Tye Sheridan, who has been very good in other films, is a standard kid who has to be one of Spielberg's most forgettable heroes I can remember. Throw in a love interest and a couple gamer friends who band together to save the day (how curious they all live within miles of each other, by the way?) and we can see the classic sentimentality of Spielberg with less heart than we might come to expect. In no way is this a 'bad' film. In fact I think last year's The Post likely suffered as a result of time spent on this more ambitious project. READY PLAYER ONE is where we see the director's real chops come into play. In the end? It's sad to say this might be more of a forgettable movie than I was led to believe. If you don't care about the characters, than no amount of special effects and pop culture references could ever save even the simplest story. As big as this movie aims to be, how funny that it ultimately collapses under its own weight?
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