But beyond the pleasures it brings, deep inside the game is an "easter egg" hidden by Halliday before he died. Whoever finds it will have full ownership of the game and roughly half a trillion dollars. Though no one has ever come close in finding it. Not even the large corporation run by the greedy businessman Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn). But that will not discourage young Wade and his fellow "gunters" (egg hunters) from trying.
Directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg and currently available for streaming on Netflix. "Ready Player One" is a sweet nostalgic movie that's also a call to celebrate reality.
Based on a book by Ernest Cline, adapting the book's narrative would require a visionary filmmaker to translate the love of everything pop culture effectively. Yet there seems to be no other filmmaker more qualified than Steven Spielberg.
We all know who Spielberg is. His name is roughly the definition of today's cinema. His movies such as Jaws (1975), E.T. (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993) are still loved by many because it all left us dumbfounded with its realism. We love his films because it defines child-like wonder and amusement. The formula that "Ready Player One" needs to work.
Spielberg did not disappoint though. His vision of what the future is is simply mesmerizing. "Ready Player One" is a masterclass on world-building and conversation-less storytelling. From the opening scene of stacked trailers to the rich universe that is the OASIS, Spielberg was able to communicate distress and hope through comprehensive landscapes and masterful use of camera framing.
Even more so, the narrative of "Ready Player One" is a fitting message in today's digital age. This movie invites us to celebrate the reality we lived in. It wants to tell us that there are emotions that cannot transcend through simulations, such as love and happiness. All the more, this movie wants us to see through the superficial rewards we get from technology and carefully assess our connection and dependence on it.
"Ready Player One", however, is not complete without its share of imperfection. To simply put it, this movie is a casualty of its strength. Spielberg's love for spectacles inadvertently hinders the message to get across fluidly. The grand landscapes and exciting game-like action sequences are too magnificent to a fault that it has become a perfect cover-up to the important message it carries.
Needless to say, this movie is a solid fan service and homage to everything pop culture. However, it is too appealing for its own good that it starts to contradict itself. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching "Ready Player One" even if it's a sumptuous irony.
3/5
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