I know I’m late to the party but, guys, I *loved* this movie

I know what you’re thinking. Jads, this is your first film review in *months*, and you give us one on Ready Player One, a movie that is nearly a year old?! I know. Guilty.

But… In my defence, most of my movie reviews happen in a little more ad hoc basis now over on The Team Newplex Podcast (subscribe today!) and so there hasn’t really been a need for me to repeat myself here. But I do appreciate that there’s a place for a more considered written review, something aside from my innuendo-laden mental vomits on our fortnightly shows, and I do miss putting pen to paper.

A more considered review is not what we’re doing here today, by the way. Just to lower your expectations. I just want to fawn about how much I loved this film for a minute.

So why Ready Player One, and why now? Well last weekend, I attended Cineworld’s annual IMAX festival, where for the more-than-reasonable cost of just £3, you can go and experience one of the three more popular films of the last 12 months in shiny IMAX.

Usually, IMAX’s exuberant cost at my local multiplex would make it prohibitively expensive (you won’t get much change out of £20 for one adult ticket), so I tend not to bother. Indeed I generally find the adoration of IMAX kinda overblown – the 3D glasses absolutely dull the colours (despite their claims otherwise), and the default aspect ratio is anything but cinematic (watching Dunkirk in 2D in flat aspect was really disappointing). But for £3, one really can’t complain.

The latecomer

Then there’s the movie. The promotional material for Ready Player One really didn’t capture my imagination at the time – probably something to do with the anatomically incorrect leg of Tye Sheridan in the first poster. Also, a film about video games? Meh. Pixels (Adam Sandler **shudder**) was still on the brain, and even though this was Steven Spielberg so not even going to be close to that abomination, I still didn’t really feel it.

Well I was a bloody fool. Ready Player One was the movie the video game fan in me didn’t know he needed. I just completely loved it.

The performances were fantastic across the board, with a special mention for Mark Rylance as introverted genius game designer Mark Halliday, who made what could have easily been a comedic loser in the wrong hands a deeply sympathetic and tragic hero.

The story in short: The Oasis is a massive online VR simulation game where folk can do pretty much anything, which is great because most of their real lives are kinda bleak (most of all for main character Wade aka Parzival). James Halliday, the creator of Oasis, has died and left clues to three keys hidden in the game. Whoever can obtain all three keys wins his shares in Oasis’ corporate owner and thus control of Oasis itself. It’s been five years since his death, and so far nobody has even come close (miraculously).

Meanwhile, “corporate asshole” Nolan Sorrento is throwing money into his organisation’s desperate efforts to find the keys and take over the Oasis. He plans to monetize the platform more than he already has (with third party hardware and the a weird human bitcoin mining operation), and basically take over both the real and virtual worlds. He’s just an all-round wrongun’.

The film is littered with video game references from pretty much the dawn of home gaming all the way up today – including appearances from Master Chief and his pals and even the Arkham Knight.

But what I especially enjoyed was all the 80s pop culture woven into every bit of the film. In the story, Halliday – a child of the 80s – loved to incorporate references from that period into his games. While I tragically missed out on living the 80s first hand, I’ve always enjoyed the pop culture of what seems to be the most culturally influential decade since WWII. Watching Wade/Parzival charge into battle in a DeLorean complete with flux capacitor and Knight Rider KITT scanny light things was a particularity cool moment.

Also, the £3 price of admission would be worth it just to see the Iron Giant (a film which I just do not have the strength to watch anymore) take on Mechagodzilla.

More than nostalgia

Make no mistake though, Ready Player One isn’t just a vehicle for some neon-lit 80s fun, this film has a hell of a lot of heart.

Yes, it reminds us what we love about pop culture, video games, and movies and demonstrates how these things aren’t just silly low-brow pastimes, but a huge source of joy, comfort, and warmth in people’s lives.

But Halliday is a deeply sad character, and his realisation that the virtual world isn’t a fulfilling replacement for the real one – no matter how painful it is to navigate – comes tragically too late.

While the High Five (our gang of heroes) each have great qualities and some interesting character points, it’s Halliday I find the most intriguing. His desire for escapism is something we can all relate to – it’s what brought us to the cinema in the first place – but that question of when that goes too far is one that gives pause for thought.

Though as the editor of a pop culture website I should probably tell you that it can never go too far and you should do nothing but consume Newplex-branded media all day every day…

For a movie that I thought would be a campy 80s nostalgia trip, Spielberg reminds me why he is one of the greatest directors of our time. I immediately went out and bought the Blu Ray after watching this film on Saturday, and I can’t wait to watch it again (and again).