READY PLAYER ONE REVIEW: Playing games with my heart

I read the Ready Player One book on a whim, mostly because I couldn't find anything else to read. It turned out to be 90% 80s references and 10% plot, with a couple flashes of character and social commentary thrown in between. Although the book isn't good, I actually ended up enjoying it. Which made it all the worse when I watched the movie, where I was disappointed overall, but impressed by the amount of filler they managed to add. CONTAINS SPOILERS

THE PROS

1. ANIMATION

Probably the most necessary part of this movie is good visuals and animations. And most of the time its pretty great. The most memorable part for me was the race near the start of the movie. It showcases the visuals in the most spectacular and fast-paced way possible. Race cars crash into monster trucks and into oncoming trains, wrecking balls swing out of nowhere while a T-rex tramples traffic and King Kong leaps building to building chasing the leading racers. The whole thing is shot excellently. Even though this is a change to the book, I’m completely okay with it because it’s so exciting. The visuals are fine for the rest of the movie like during the final battle, but this is where it peaks.

2. BOOK REVAMPS

Like I said, the book Ready Player One is mostly a compilation of 80s references with some character and plot shoved into what was left. It was important that the movie changed some of these things because they wouldn't work very well at all in a movie medium and it would’ve been a snooze-fest (more so than it already was). The race I talked about before was one example. Another was the jade key. In the book, the jade key is obtained by reciting movie “War Games” line by line, while in the movie, it’s a recreation of the “The Shining”, which is at least a little more interesting.

THE CONS

1. DAITO AND SHOTO

In the book, Daito and Shoto are actual characters who have some background and character of their own. In the movie, any trace of that is sucked out. They’re these boring, useless characters that just feel like tacked on to Wade’s team. They could be easily be taken out and the movie would be the exact same. Now, you might be thinking, “Doesn’t Daito make a sacrifice at the end?”. Yes, but because he doesn’t have any backstory or anything, the viewer doesn’t get attached to him, and the sacrifice doesn’t have any emotional impact.

"Haha I can't believe we got paid to do nothing in this movie"

2. THE REBELLION

The whole rebellion part of this movie was lame. It commits the cardinal sin of moviemaking: telling instead of showing. We’re told that the The Rebellion is fighting IOI and stuff but we’re never actually shown it. I don’t believe they’re actually rebelling since the only thing I see is them getting groceries.

The Rebellion in action

3. IOI

The deadly company IOI wasn’t nearly as intimidating in the movie as in the book. Numerous times throughout the book, the company is shown to be completely ruthless and to do whatever it takes to secure their victory. Remember Deito? In the book, IOI finds out his identity, breaks into his apartment, and throws him off his balcony. It’s a cold-blooded and sobering reminder of the power this company holds. It also doesn’t help the movie that IOI's hitman for hire, I-ROK, is voiced by T.J Miller making bad jokes, minimizing any terror felt.

IOI's fearsome hitman

4. WORLD BUILDING

I’m not going to pretend like the book created some rich, Harry-Potter level world because it didn’t, but it had a chapter and a couple moments throughout talking about how the world became such a horrible place. I was hoping the movie might expand on this. After all, the movie medium makes it much simpler to convey, since information like this can be shown instead of talked about. They could’ve built a world where the viewer truly understood why the entire world chose to escape to the Oasis rather than stay in the real world. Instead, all we really get is a few passing shots of homeless people using a simulation rig. A missed opportunity for creating a more interesting setting.

5. BAD IOI SUBPLOTS

For some reason we’re supposed to care about really insignificant stuff that takes up much more screen time than it’s worth. Exhibit A: anytime the executives at IOI are talking. I get the first scene where it’s shown that they’re evil, but after that Serrento and the other executive F’nale (what the hell, I know; now that I find out she has a name, it’s this?), start talking and the whole thing devolves into petty workplace squabbles. Exhibit B: the researchers at IOI trying to find to figure out the right game to win the third key. Pretty boring stuff. This is the climax of the movie. Don’t waste time with things that barely matter. Show us more scenes similar to the rest of the climax, some of which was really electrifying.

Very important plot points

Ready Player One wasn't as bad as it could've been. There are some good moments and good animation, but there many points while watching where I wished the movie could just consist of those parts, instead of spending time focusing on uninteresting parts of the story that ultimately hurt the viewing experience

THE VERDICT