READY PLAYER ONE – Rated PG-13 – 2 hrs. 20 mins.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Zak Penn & Ernest Cline
Based on the Novel by Ernest Cline
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, Simon Pegg, TJ Miller, Mark Rylance, Philip Zhao and Win Morisaki
Set in the futuristic world of 2045, we meet gamer Parzival, leaving his real world as Wade, and venturing into the virtual reality world of the Oasis as often as he can to escape the harsh reality of his real life. Lucky for Parzival, he’s met some pretty cool dudes along the way in this alternate universe – like his friend Aech (Lena Waithe), and Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) too.
When the creator of the OASIS, Halliday (Academy Award Winner Mark Rylance) unexpectedly passes away, he opens up a game war amongst all his followers ~ and the prize??? An Easter Egg that will give its owner total power over Halliday’s virtual reality universe, and make them keeper of the inspirational finding that Halliday has uncovered over his years of research. But with new gamer Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) now entering the game, and all of Sorrento’s (Ben Mendelsohn) minions converging into this virtual war too…the race is now really on, like Donkey Kong, to see who can crack the codes, to become master of this virtual world…
I give READY PLAYER ONE a rating of MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN ~ Spielberg managed to bring together the nostalgic feel of the 80’s, and meshed it into the virtual reality world of today, in a fascinating, exciting, and very heartwarming way! Sheridan is superb as Wade/Parzival…finding that the real world may end up being way better than he ever thought possible. Cooke, Rylance and Mendelsohn are also perfectly cast, bringing their own vibrant and realistic presence to their roles. I’m not sure if it was my love of the entirely reminiscent soundtrack, or if it was the overwhelming feeling that Spielberg’s storytelling was coming full circle ~ as portions of this film seemed reminiscent of how I felt watching ET, A.I. and Jurassic Park, right down to the epic music sequences throughout. I truly think you are going to have to watch this film more than once to catch all the incredible goodness that is strewn throughout. It was also enjoyable to experience the positive message intertwined throughout the frames of READY PLAYER ONE purposefully placed there for viewers to take away, just like every other Spielberg film we’ve come to love over the years. I mean, if your children love video games, and you, like me, grew up loving the 80’s, then rally the troops and head out to catch READY PLAYER ONE this holiday weekend ~ you’ll be totally excited that you did 🙂
Kathy Kaiser
This humble opinion is brought you to by T. K. Edwards
READY PLAYER ONE
Director by: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg, T.J. Miller
In the not so distant future, a group of gamers hunt for an easter egg inside a virtual reality program that will give them instant fame and fortune, but an evil corporation is after the same egg and will stop at nothing to find it.
BELOW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS…CONTINUE READING AT OWN RISK
Ready Player One was fantastic! Steven Spielberg is by far one of my favorite storytellers/directors of all time. Talk about someone who has morphed their craft with the changing of the times. He is not scared to try things that are new in the world of major motion picture film making, while still holding on to his usual style and tone that audiences have now grown to love. Ready Player One does an amazing job of combining pop culture, realistic special effects, and live action. Spielberg’s camera angle choices always stop my heart because they are always incredible and come out of nowhere. You can tell he was having a ball making this film and the evidence is up there on the screen as proof. As far as the pop culture icon references (i.e. King Kong, Back to the Future, Tears for Fears, Terminator 2, etc.) he didn’t add them just to add them. He placed all of them very casually and without focusing too much on one or the other. It felt like while I was watching Ready Player One, I was on my own easter egg hunt for all of my favorite icons. I can’t wait to own this movie because I’m going to search through each frame to find something new every time I watch it.
Now, on to our players…
Tye Sheridan was great. The first time I saw him was in the movie Mud and I knew that wasn’t going to be the last time I saw him. Same goes for Olivia Cooke. I saw her in Bates Motel and knew she was going to be a name to look out for. Both of them have a Spielberg casting quality to them. You see them in Ready Player One and truly believe you could place them in any other Spielberg film. This was a hard movie to do and both Tye and Olivia brought everything they had to their roles and NAILED them home. Ben Mendelsohn is another brilliant casting choice for this film. He’s been hiding as a bit of a supporting actor in his films, but Ready Player One is going to change all of that. He does a fantastic job as the movies antagonist and proves, once again, his range as an actor has no limit. In conclusion (if you haven’t guessed already…LOL), my suggestion is to GO TO THE THEATER and see this one on the big screen. Go see it twice because I guarantee you will not see EVERYTHING the first time you watch it. Annnnd…I also suggest you buy this one when it comes out on blu-ray (not dvd…this one deserves to be seen only on blu-ray or better). Until next time, thanks for reading.
MATINEE CHAT with Kathy Kaiser 