By JASON GUYER
iRate
Another avatar movie? Oh wait, not that “Avatar.” Still have to wait awhile on those sequels, but look out James Cameron, here comes Steven Spielberg with and adapted version of another avatar-style adventure.
The most common type and use of the avatar term is the gaming avatar. “Ready Player One” has been built up for over a year, a film that in essence is supposed to be Spielberg’s return to cinematic glory.
The science fiction action-adventure film “Ready Player One” is based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name. Personally, I have not read the book, so I will concentrate on the film version only.
“Ready Player One,” the film, is set in 2045 with the world near chaos and collapse, and finding salvation in a large-scale virtual reality video game, the OASIS.
The creator of the OASIS is the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday, played by Mark Rylance. Upon Halliday’s death, he leaves his fortune in its entirety to the first person to find a digital Easter egg. The Easter egg is hidden somewhere in the OASIS and requires three keys to acquire it.
As the world is enthralled in this race for gaming glory, an unlikely young hero emerges. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is thrown into a high-octane, virtual reality treasure hunt.
“Ready Player One” is a film that is hard to judge the acting in. The two main characters of Wade Watts and Samantha Cook (Olivia Cooke) are hard to judge because of their avatar counterparts, Watts’ Parzival and Cook’s Art3mis.
Their avatars have the most screen time as “Ready Player One,” for the majority of the film, is a CGI movie. It does jump back and forth from CGI to live action just as the film and in movie game switches from avatar to character.
I would unofficially say somewhere near 70 percent of the film is CGI, and this makes it very hard to judge or critique acting skill.
I will say if you have seen either Sheridan in “X-Men: Apocalypse” or Cooke as Emma Decody on the television show “Bates Motel,” then you have some idea. I never thought the actors or their talent reached beyond what has been seen of them in the past.
The real treat of “Ready Player One” is Spielberg in the directing chair. Now, I would not say “Ready Player One” is Spielberg’s greatest work or biggest cinematic achievement.
I would say his greatest work is “Schindler’s List” and biggest cinematic achievement is “Jurassic Park.”
Spielberg though, has his own Easter eggs hidden around in the fact that he has his hands in many baskets as an executive producer or producer. He has fewer eggs in his directing basket. “Ready Player One” is one in the directing basket, and I found “Ready Player One” to be a wonderful cinema experience —especially with Spielberg at the helm and the fact that “Ready Player One” is nostalgia-laden.
“Ready Player One” feels like an homage from Spielberg to Spielberg. Parzival drives a Delorean. There is the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Even Room 237 and many scenes from “The Shining” make an appearance.
“Ready Player One” is pop culture reference heavy, especially 80s pop culture. Though the book as I understand has many 80s pop culture references, the second they hired Spielberg, it was always going to feel like an homage to himself. I mean, Spielberg completely dominated and owns the 80s.
“Ready Player One” is an incredible experience that mashes every gaming experiences through the years and possibly what the future of gaming holds. It is the perfect family experience for viewers 45 and under to bring their children to.
The film creates a world that will feel familiar to the mmorpg and virtual reality generations, and will have enough nostalgia geared toward the 80s gaming and film generations to keep all parents just as entertained.
“Ready Player One” may contain avatars but it is no “Avatar.” “Ready Player One” is all fun, but to be honest that is all that it is and all it is meant to be.
“Avatar” had a serious message and a serious plot points. “Ready Player One” only has one overarching message: Gaming is for everyone and not to be controlled.
That makes “Ready Player One,” at its core, a gamer’s ode to gaming.
IRATE SCORE: 3/5
Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the Graphics Department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]
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