Ready Player One (2018)

Rating: 9/10
Genre: Fantasy/Sci-fi
Related Titles: The BFG, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Gamer 
By Rebecca Mannick

Set in 2045, the world is on the verge of destruction. People have found comfort in OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by eccentric James Halliday. After Halliday passes away his fortune is left to whoever can find the digital Easter Egg hidden in OASIS. Wade Watts joins the search and finds himself in a new reality, full of mystery, exploration and danger. 

Ready Player One was a release I was really looking forward to. The 'futuristic' world is something I love and as this is set in 2045 I was intrigued in this 'fictional' future. Set in Columbus, Ohio, you follow the life of Wade Watts a teenager with no real family, mostly living and spending time in the 'oasis'. The oasis is a virtual reality created by James Halliday, this is where most people send there time. As Wade lives in the stacks (basically mobile homes all stacked on top of each other / not a nice place to live) spending his time in the oasis was the only release from reality. He was able to be who he wants, have friends and have fun. As the creator James Halliday dies, he puts 3 keys within the oasis and whoever finishes the missions will get the shares in the oasis. With a corporation trying to get the keys, Wade and his virtual friends try to stop the power going into the wrong hands. 

Firstly, the storyline was absolutely brilliant. It was so original I feel like nothing has really come close to the execution. It is obviously an adaption from the book with the same title by Ernest Cline who also wrote the screenplay for the movie. So no doubt this is a close match to the novel. And even though this was an original story I loved the nods to other pieces of work which is most noticeable in the first key race. In the race Wade is driving a Delorean from Back to the Future while being chased by King Kong. Then later on in the movie, they are in the set of The Shining. It just ran so smoothly and so enjoyable to watch. 

The transitions from the oasis to reality were so seamless as obviously theres a whole lot of visual effects. From the vision to the end product, everything was just perfectly executed. Personally I don't think I've enjoyed the visual effects in a movie as much as I did in Ready Player One. It was kind of like watching a video game, and I also enjoyed how the avatar characters were friends without knowing who the person in the real world was. Just like a video game but just on a bigger scale. 

The soundtrack was the icing on the cake for me, as the opening credits came up and the year 2045 was presented to the audience with Jump by Van Halen playing I just knew we were in for a treat. With songs from Wham!, Duran Duran, Blondie - oh the list goes on. So many bangers, but I just loved the contrast with the futuristic world but there being constant references to media even before my time. I was truly gripped for the whole running time, Spielberg is an absolute genius and everyone should go and see this movie. 

Rating: 9.5/10
By Leanne Harragan 

Weirdly for such a huge release, I don’t remember seeing a single trailer. Where do I start for Ready Player One…what a wild ride from start to finish. Let’s begin with the all the references, there were SO many, ranging from music to films to old school video games. I loved the references to John Hughes’ Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club. The subtle but iconic John Cusack Say Anything stereo moment, John Hurt’s scene in Alien, there are so many great film references I could go on and on. However the most iconic film to be features is Stanley Kubrick’s terrifying The Shining, I was surprised how scary this scene was for a film with a 12 rating, it was pretty frightening. With mention of Duran Duran and Michael Jackson’s Thriller, appearances from King Kong, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Iron Giant, the list could go on forever, this film was basically a love letter to popular culture and it works so, so well.

My favourite thing about this film was how it looked. Steven Spielberg strikes again as every scene was so perfectly put together. Being set in the future, everything obviously needs to look futuristic but the effects in this film go above and beyond, every transition was flawlessly executed. The videogame characters while obviously part of a videogame had an eerie human look about them. The transition from OASIS to reality was smooth and the contrast between the dismal real world and the incredible virtual OASIS can’t be missed. Everything about the visuals in the film was out of this world; I’ve never seen a film that looks as good as this.

The plot is something that I haven’t seen done on the screen before, being a bit of an amateur gamer (meaning I used to play a LOT of World of Warcraft) I was familiar with the idea but was a bit sceptical about the execution. But like everything else in this film it is flawless. It goes above and beyond to fill out characters, the OASIS, the clues and the quest. I definitely feel that without the level of depth that every part of this film was given, it wouldn’t be so enjoyable to watch.

Another great thing about this film was the soundtrack including top hits like Blondie’s One Way or Another, Van Halen’s Jump and Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It, perfectly used after a inspirational speech to get the good guy’s pumped to take down the villains.

  

Despite the long run-time of 140 minutes, time flies when you’re in this virtual OASIS and I could happily have watched much more.