Ready Player One (Part 1 of 2)

Ready Player One (Part 1 of 2) 

Ready Player One (RPO) is enjoyable if flawed, movie.  It has some really good visuals that are a sight to behold.  The weaker aspect of the movie is the story.  The movie has nostalgia written all over it and has a bit of that Roger Rabbit feel.  RPO has a lot of problems, but in the end, it works overall given our Internet world.   

I liked, not loved, the movie but it put a smile on my face.  The movie has a lot of charm and it certainly gives me that warm feeling.  While the story is flawed, the nostalgia is strong.  Steven Spielberg does a great job bringing numerous homage to various pop culture IPs.   

Spielberg has two worlds to convey in this movie.  The real world is gritty and filled with junk upon junk.  It is a nice touch that Steven shows how crummy the real world.  The fantasy world is bright and rich with different cultures.  This is a nice touch because many of us outcasts view the outside world as being dark and dangerous and the fantasy our outlet.  We love, if criticize, the pop culture world and the movie loves the cultural world too.   

The other positive aspect of the movie is the designs and visuals of the worlds.  It is a mixture of different character designs and worlds that work and mesh well together.  The CGI models are really, really breath-taking.  They’ve really improved the computer work.   ILM worked their butts off with the visuals.  

I like the group of heroes both in the real and fantasy world.  While Wade is a little bland lead character, but he has that Final Fantasy type charm.  Art3mis / Samantha is really the interesting character that I really dig.  She has her own thing going on and crosses paths with Wade’s character.  The two characters have good chemistry. While I generally don’t like romantic subplots, the budding love story here works here.   

You can tell Steven really dug the romantic storyline.  I just wanted to see a real catfish moment where Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook being overweight.  That would have been more realistic.   

The corporation vs the real folks is a real battle that is happening right now.  The Innovative Online Industries company is a cross between Apple, Microsoft and a bunch of illegal gold farmers.  It is everything wrong with giant companies on the Internet.   

James Halliday and Ogden Morrow’s relationship as the founders of the OASIS is another interesting thing.  The movie really doesn’t dig that deep into this side history that much until the final act.  I feel there is another cut of the movie with their relationship fleshed out a bit more.