Colin Firth in Kingsman often repeats that manners define man: if we could transpose this concept to the work of Steven Spielberg in Ready Player One, you would have the most concise judgment in the world.
The film adaptation of the 2010 novel of the same name by Ernest Cline (also screenwriter together with Zak Penn) has more than one burden: Spielberg must maintain his fame, and the film must satisfy fans of the novel, which is made up of several gamers.
The story is set in 2045: Wade (Tye Sheridan) is a boy who lives in a world that aims only to survive, made up of crowded houses, poverty and misery. The only refuge is OASIS, a virtual world created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance), almost a substitute for everyday life. When Halliday, after his death, will leave challenges to be completed with the whole game world at stake, Wade will try in every way to complete them, but finding himself in front of the terrible Nolan Sorrento and his IOI, a company that wants to make the world of I play a place to earn more money. They also appear in the cast Simon Pegg (Ogden Morrow), Olivia Cooke (Samantha Cook) e T.J. Miller (i-R0k)
With 2 hours and 20 minutes, Ready Player One will overwhelm you in a journey full of nuances: love, hate and anger are just some of the colors of the emotional spectrum that Spielberg's film shoots on the screen. The story finds an almost anachronistic composition, basing everything on a treasure hunt with unexpected implications: on the other hand we could also talk about an adventure of some boys, but the themes it touches, between an action scene and a ready joke to break the tension, they are serious and profound. In short, as only Steven Spielberg would have been able to do and as Ernest Cline was able to tell in his pages, Ready Player One finds the space for action, adventure, feelings and morals, launching a very important message, probably to be metabolized according to the experiences lived by the viewer, but certainly of high impact.
The magic of this film finds its essence precisely in its anachronism: Ready Player One it is not a film inspired by the 80s: although the film is dotted with scattered citations, from recent video games to cult of the last 30 years, it is difficult to stop and watch, mainly because they will not catalyze the attention, but above all because the plot will lead you to be interested only in the story of Wade and his companions. It is here that the extras, fright and delirium of those who with the trailer already shouted the famous two words commercial move, become instead a means of communication, a means to be used that carries important messages such as the importance of life and relationships: many times, to reach a treasure island, the destination is not as important as the journey and what it teaches, e Ready Player One stands as a manifesto of this concept. No director could have transformed a book so impressive into an equally important film, which will become fixed in the film library that he must have seen at least once in his life.
Technically speaking, the stark detachment that is created between the two worlds is superlative: a dirty, miserable and colorless real world contrasts with a colorful, fun and spectacular virtual world. But as the real world hides real values to discover, the virtual world can have more problems than expected. Problems that instead regarding the CGI do not manifest themselves at all, especially in the replication of the various characters known to the videogame world. Collects the baton of John Williams, engaged with The Post, Alan Silvestri of Back to the Future, Avengers and Cast Away: its soundtrack, combined with the tracks chosen to tell the various scenes (especially action), will glue your ears to the screen, involving you in a deeper and more immersive way.
Overwatch, Halo, The Iron Giant, the DeLorean of back to the future, King Kong, Atari, Space Invaders: in short, the film may seem at first glance an encyclopedia of quotes. Yet neither Ernest Cline when he quoted Blade Runner in the Anorak Almanac, nor Spielberg when he throws a hundred famous characters in the videogame landscape on the screen, are swallowed up by this weight: on the contrary they resist the blow, showing how the awareness of what you want. tell and the intelligence of knowing how to manage it have the better of the rest. So no, it is not a commercial film, nor a conglomerate of citation: it is a film faithful to its author, its original concept, and the world it tells.
A small excursus must be made for the video game speech: Ready Player One it is the best modern film to pay homage to the much loved videogames: it makes it a boast, however, setting the bar between reality and fantasy well. The real world today is made up of excesses, and Spielberg constantly emphasizes this, reminding people which are the values to keep alive in their being, whether they are lived in the real world or in the virtual world.
