REVIEWBRUARY SEASON 2 [DAY 18]: READY PLAYER ONE – 7.5/10. [B+]

SYNOPSIS

Set in 2045, Ready Player One is the latest blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg, based on the book of the same name. We follow a boy named Wade Watts, as he introduces us to the OASIS, a virtual world where you can be anything you want. The creator of the OASIS; James Halliday hid three keys inside the OASIS after he died, whoever finds “The Ultimate Easter Egg” will win Halliday’s fortune and control the OASIS. Wade Watts (or H as he goes inside the OASIS) is a gunter (egg hunter); he teams up with his friends inside the OASIS to stop the evil corporation from winning the price and ruining the OASIS for everyone.

REVIEW

Ready Player One is a hard film to review; not because it is based on a book but rather because I don’t know how to feel about it. I liked the film I really did but there were certain elements that just didn’t work for me as well as they should have. Back to why I don’t know how to feel about it; I am not a fan of books or games, and I feel like that is where a lot of hate cane from. Add on top the onslaught of hatred many people have given it due to it’s attempt to correct society and how in the end of the film they explain that people should spend less times on their phones and more in the real world – it left me a little uneasy. But honestly I couldn’t care less about its attempts, and I understand that it wanted to stand for something. I personally loved all the easter eggs and the film’s story, both things because I never expected them.

I give Ready Player One a 7.5 out of 10 or a B+, it may not be vintage or be appreciated that much but I liked it, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Nevertheless enough of what I should feel like and onto how I did feel and my problems with the film. The main problem with the film is the real life part; there are no real stakes, even in the end when it finally seems as though there would be some real stakes he doesn’t shoot? Quite frankly, killing of his family so early on just made me care less about his real life because he had nothing to lose, then he meets “Mrs Hideous” (she literally only has a birth mark) and then forms a team I don’t really care for either. Any time we leave the OASIS – I’m not really intrigued; I’m not sure whether that is because of the villain or how Wade was set up to not really have anything to lose but to ‘save the OASIS’; another thing I never really cared about, and then whilst the villain and the team that Wade forms in real life grow on me; they never feel like anything special, and I would much rather see the team in the OASIS. And then when it comes to the villain, he is not bad; and I understand why he didn’t shoot, because he is in ore and he is actually a fan but if he had shot in the end, I think it would have made his villain so much better.

But, enough of what I didn’t like and onto what I did, I loved the OASIS and that pretty much takes up most of the film, I love the hunt for the eggs and I loved all the characters and the world that we get to see. As I said, I liked his team that he forms and I loved them in the OASIS; with that “The Shining” scene being fantastic. Which leads me nicely onto what I just didn’t get. I didn’t care about the love triangle between Halloway and his best friend and his wife. However, I did love how they pulled the doomsday bomb that wiped out the OASIS and that he still had a second live.

People hate it for different reasons to mine; they hate what it stands for but I’m willing to forgive it and enjoy it. I think it is a film that could have been better, but I definetly liked it as I went into it expecting nothing. 7.5/10 – B+