It’s not the fault of “Ready Player One” that its marketing raised expectations to astronomical levels.
Unfortunately, if you build up expectations, there are bound to be disappointed fans. That’s just a fact of life. As much as I wanted to stay away from all the articles, trailers and ads for “Ready Player One”, I couldn’t. After all, I am ostensibly the target audience for the film – of course I’d be subject to their marketing efforts.
I liked many of the references in “Ready Player One”. I mean, how often do you get so many pop culture homages in one film? But, at the expense of sounding like someone from a whiny fandom – I didn’t get enough of the references I wanted to see. The thing about cramming so much geekiness into the film is that it doesn’t truly satisfy any one fandom. With the promise of non-stop geekery in the film, somehow I expected it to be the exact sort of geekery I would like. Which it wasn’t, well, not most of it.
And therein lies the problem.
The film focuses far too much on trying to show how geeky and nerdy it is and that “hey we’re a geek just like you”, which makes it sound like just the villain, Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn). And because it spends most of its time on delivering these nerd nuggets, it doesn’t have a tremendously compelling story or characters.
In order to give the hero, Parzival/Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), sufficient motivation to want to find the sacred treasure, disaster must befall him. Unfortunately, the disasters seem a little manufactured. It’s like they happen right on cue, just so that the story can proceed the way it does. Instead of characters moving the plot forward, it’s the plot that shoves the characters into the places it wants. As a result, there’s a slightly artificial taste to Parzival’s determination.
Also, what happened to the insecurities of Samantha Cook/Art3mis (Olivia Cooke)? She makes a huge deal out of unattractive she is in real life, but that plot point is conveniently forgotten as the film proceeds. The same applies for Helen/Aech (Lena Waithe), who seems to have some sort of rivalry with Art3mis – but that’s quickly forgotten too.
The problem is not that the characters aren’t complex – it’s that the films forget about the uniqueness of each character. Even the villains fall victim to this, becoming cartoony caricatures at the end. Their comeuppance feels like a Disney movie ending too, which is a little strange given the tone of the rest of the movie.
When it comes to themes, “Ready Player One” does manage to weave in many pertinent ideas that are very relevant to today’s society. If anything, it manages to capture the zeitgeist of our era by presenting it in an eerily possible version of our future.
So, should you get ready for “Ready Player One”? That depends on what you prize – a good story or plentiful geek references. I would have appreciated a stronger plot and fewer references, but “Ready Player One” is still a fairly groundbreaking film in its own right. Then again, you can’t please everyone no matter how much pop culture bits you put into the film. I happen to be one of those cantankerous fans, sadly.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? If you really like all sorts of pop culture, yes.
Score: 3.2/5
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 140 minutes (~2.25 hours)
“Ready Player One” is a science fiction adventure film that’s based on the book of the same name.
In a dystopian future, everyone plays an MMORPG – some for money, some for passion, and some for fun – and their online personas are just as important and valid as their real life ones. But when it’s revealed that the creator of OASIS (the said MMORPG) has left behind a great (but virtual) treasure for players to find, a mad dash ensues.
“Ready Player One” is directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. It stars Tye Sheridan (Wade Watts/Parzival), Olivia Coke (Samantha Cook/Art3mis), Ben Mendelsohn (Nolan Sorrento), Lena Waithe (Helen/Aech), T.J. Miller (i-R0k), Simon Pegg (Ogden Morrow), Mark Rylance (James Halliday/Anorak), Philip Zhao (Zhou/Sho), and Win Moriasaki (Toshiro/Daito). It is rated PG-13 for violence and coarse language.
“Ready Player One” opens in cinemas:
– 29 March, 2018 (Singapore)
– 29 March, 2018 (Malaysia)
– 31 March, 2018 (Philippines)
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com
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I’m a Singapore television scriptwriter who’s written for Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
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