80's References: The Movie - Ready Player One - Film Review
Plot
When James Halliday (Mark Rylance), the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.
Review
You saw the title, didn't you? Well, it is very, very accurate. But it's not just 80's references, there's references to everything, like the DeLorean from Back to the Future, the poster has the Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop, one of my favorite animes, on the poster, Beetlejuice makes a cameo, Traycer from Overwatch makes a cameo, Master Chief from Halo is in it, the 1960's Batmobile is in it, Mechagodzilla, The Iron Giant, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees (fitting since I'm reviewing the first eight Friday the 13th films at the moment), Ryu from Street Fighter, I saw a He-Man lunchbox, I saw Harley Quinn and the Joker at a nightclub, I saw Marvin the Martian from Looney Tunes, I saw Hello Kitty, there's a whole scene set in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, several Atari 2600 games, and there are so many others that I couldn't catch them all. I'm sure I'll be watching this a few more times on Blu-ray to catch as much things as I can.
80's nostalgia has been a big thing in media lately, with Stranger Things, the It remake, and now this.
What did I think about the movie? Well, I thought it was awesome and I am looking forward to seeing the Blu-ray when that comes out. What do I think of the book? I've not read too much of it, but I am currently reading it. I'm only two chapters in.
The special effects look great here, if you are going to see this, make sure you see it on the biggest screen you can. Also, you don't have to complain about fake looking CGI because most of it is set inside of a video game.
As usual, Steven Spielberg is great at directing, that's not a surprise. He said that this was the third hardest of his movies he had to make because of all the special effects. He says that Jaws was the hardest because of that shark and Saving Private Ryan was brutal because he was recreating D-Day. I don't know if I'd say it's as good as Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones, (I've only seen half of Jaws and I haven't seen Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan), but this was pretty awesome.
Would we really want a virtual reality world? Because right now, all that's in virtual reality are crappy Knuckles memes.
Let's talk about the characters. Tye Sheridan is good as Wade/Parzeval in this. He finds the Easter eggs and gets complete control of the OASIS. He lives in a crappy trailer stacked on some other trailers in the stacks and his secret hideout is an old van that's trapped under a giant pile of cars. At first he starts out as some poor nerd and ends up one the owner of the most popular MMO game in the world.
Olivia Cooke isn't bad as Samantha/Art3mus. She starts a rebellion against IOI, a corporation trying to find the Easter egg led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the villain who wants complete control of the OASIS. She is being held captive by IOI and is forced to work for them but eventually escapes and helps the rebellion.
Ben Mendelsohn is good as Nolan Sorrento, he's the evil business that wants to have control of the OASIS and wants that half a trillion dollars to put ads in the OASIS. For some reason, at the end when Wade finds the egg, he puts his gun down and gets arrested. He doesn't just have a change of heart either, as earlier in the movie he blows up Wade's aunt and her boyfriend, who Wade doesn't care about, and a few minutes later Wade is just having fun in the OASIS with Art3mus.
Simon Pegg is good as Ogden Morrow/The Curator, who is the co-creator of the OASIS and marries the woman that Halliday went on one date with. After Wade finds the egg, he helps them out for a 25 cent salary.
Mark Rylance is good as James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS. Wade actually meets a simulation of him at the end in the OASIS and asks him if Halliday really is dead, he says yes and Wade asks him another question which he doesn't answer.
And the other cast is ok too.
Overall, if you are a nerd like I am and love nerdy references, you will love this thing. Although I didn't get around to seeing it until a while after it came out, you probably have seen it already. But if you haven't seen it, check it out.
Ready Player One gets a 9/10.
Come back tonight for a review of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning.
Previous review - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Next review - Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning
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