I saw it today and I had a great time with this movie.
Ready Player One
- Thread starter Starscream2112
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Wait ... this was based on a book? I hadn't planned on seeing this movie, but it was the only interesting title that was playing at the time I went to the theater on Good Friday. A visual feast with dozens of pop culture references, this was mostly a popcorn flick. Since the audience was a mixed demographic, I wonder if anyone else got the Merlin reference, "Annal Nathrach. Oolthvas Bethod. Dochyel Dyenve," which was the only thing that stood out to me.I didn't like what they did with The Shining challenge, most of which was not part of the original movie.
I give it a B-.
Yeah... Lifting the Spell of Making from Excalibur was a laugh out loud moment for me, but I must have been in a theater without many John Boorman fans because I was the only one, I think... Even my wife and son didn't get it... But Danny and I both laughed out loud with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.. I only wished they had counted to three...
As a fan of the book, I'm still perfectly ok with the need to take liberties in various ways - too much of what made the book work would never look decent on film. But I have to say the High Five are by far the biggest disappointment and a change that certainly isn't for the better. In the book, they're a disparate, disconnected group of people who only happen to share a goal and an enemy and then wind up being forced together, becoming comrades and eventually friends. They weren't the absolute center of the story, but that aspect of getting past the avatar to get to know people for real was definitely integral to the themes of the story. In the movie, they just all show up randomly, instantly clump together and then formlessly morph into a friend/family blob with no real definition or heart. By the end of the movie, Daito and Sho still don't even have the barest hints of a personality.
That really was a missed opportunity. All he had to do was count to three quitely before throwing, it would have been absolutely perfect.
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So I just saw the film. I think overall the book is definitely better. I was hoping Spielberg would once again take a strong story idea and transform it into a classic, but like most of his recent work, this was really just a highly enjoyable popcorn movie that isn't going to last well. I think Wade and Samantha worked well enough and Aech was alright as well. The Halliday actor was actually pretty great. A few of the changes made were definitely for the better (especially the IOI infiltration sequence which is far more organic and believable in the movie) and a few were simply necessary (perfect reenactments were never going to work onscreen in any way - using the reenactment as a 'cover' for the real test was brilliant).
I think the movie did do a better job of bringing out the theme of real people and real lives, primarily just by the visual luxury of being able to show us all those people everywhere fighting together against IOI, and even more importantly, talking and interacting together for real after the cataclysm hit. I also definitely liked seeing more of Art3mis as a more lead character. But in every other aspect, the book just told the story better.
The movie has no sense of time, of the hunt being truly difficult or even of the main characters being uniquely qualified to win, which undermines the idea that no one has ever figured any of this out before. We don't even get to see the opening of the first trial, because some nameless dude who's never mentioned onscreen again figured out the first clue years before the movie started.
The movie also has very little sense of character growth or depth - as I said above regarding the high five - but also in regards to Wade's own development. He says all the right things, but he seems to stay pretty much the same from beginning to end. That whole sense that the book had of him actually learning the importance of the real world is also missing, especially because of his total lack of response to his family's death which should've been the driving point (even moreso since his Aunt in the movie is actually much nicer than his Aunt in the book). And the central relationship is massively rushed with Wade and Samantha meeting each other in person before their relationship ever really even gets started and no real closure at all to her fear of him being a distraction from her important work.
And the ending with Sorrento coming to shoot them in person and then just giving up was utterly bizarre, especially when they did the 80s comedy 'villain's comeupance' thing of him getting smacked for a laugh as he's hauled away.
Also, 'tuesdays and thursdays'... I mean, it's probably a solid policy, or at least the start of one, but it doesn't exactly have the catchiness or profundity necessary for its placement in the movie. Spielberg took a gimme rules tweak and tried to present it like it was the key to changing the whole world.
But, overall, I definitely did enjoy it quite a bit. And I was extremely happy to see that the one sequence I wanted to see most - which was also the one sequence I had already convinced myself they would never be able to get the rights to - actually was in the movie, and completely awesome. Not only did Toho let them use Mechagodzilla, they got to use the theme song too! That made me irrationally happy.
I give it a b-. Maybe a c+ in the long run, as I'll probably only watch it once or twice in the future.
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One other difference I forgot to mention before: I went into the movie assuming that if nothing else, Spielberg would obviously do a great job of showing the Oasis in action, live and in your face. After all, it's a hollywood big budget movie from the guy who did the effects of Jurassic Park. But at the end of the day, it's like almost all of the effort in making the oasis went directly into just a handful of locations and a million background avatars, and while the avatars were all very entertaining (after all, who wouldn't want to see a chestburster come out of Goro from Mortal Kombat?) the locations were almost all very generic and uninteresting and there was really nothing that ever tied everything together. Other than the very amusing montage at the beginning of people reacting to their in-game deaths, we got absolutely zero sense of what life inside the Oasis is like, which is problematic considering the whole movie is about preserving that (totally undefined) culture in the face of IOI's corporate greed.
Also the part where they completely skipped over how people move around in the oasis not only robbed us of seeing cool spaceships, it also completely undermined the scene where I-Rok is trying to run away from the cataclysm. If I hadn't read the book before seeing that scene, it would've made no sense at all, especially since the movie repeatedly showed people instantly disappearing whenever they disconnected their gear, which begs the question of why he didn't just do that.
Also the part where they completely skipped over how people move around in the oasis not only robbed us of seeing cool spaceships, it also completely undermined the scene where I-Rok is trying to run away from the cataclysm. If I hadn't read the book before seeing that scene, it would've made no sense at all, especially since the movie repeatedly showed people instantly disappearing whenever they disconnected their gear, which begs the question of why he didn't just do that.
I agree that there being no sense of the passage of time during the main plot hurt the film the most for me. We have Wade's opening narration which explains the backstory. After that everything feels like it happens a day or two.
There should have been a musical montage at some point. There is nothing more 80s movies than that! It would have helped the scope of the story to show the group tracking down clues. We would not have had to see much detail. That would have been a perfect place to have quick pop culture references. It would have also a good way to show the other 3 traveling to meet Wade and Samantha. There is no sense of world wide scope with them just appearing in Columbus.
There should have been a musical montage at some point. There is nothing more 80s movies than that! It would have helped the scope of the story to show the group tracking down clues. We would not have had to see much detail. That would have been a perfect place to have quick pop culture references. It would have also a good way to show the other 3 traveling to meet Wade and Samantha. There is no sense of world wide scope with them just appearing in Columbus.
Just came back from the movies and what a grand bow to nerd and gamerculture of the last 30 years.
From start to finish i had a broad smile in my face when i spent half the movie identifying all the references (the IMDB page has a ton of then listed, biggest reference page i ever saw for a movie), i keeled over multiple times from laughing when a reference was used perfectly ("Hadouken!!!"
) and time just flew by when watching this movie.
I can only recommend anyone to see it and if you are a member of this board then this movie is for you!
From start to finish i had a broad smile in my face when i spent half the movie identifying all the references (the IMDB page has a ton of then listed, biggest reference page i ever saw for a movie), i keeled over multiple times from laughing when a reference was used perfectly ("Hadouken!!!"
) and time just flew by when watching this movie.I can only recommend anyone to see it and if you are a member of this board then this movie is for you!
I just saw the movie. Speaking as someone who never read the novel, I thought it was a pretty good film. I do have a few quibbles. I thought the romance between Wade and Samantha was a bit rushed. And I found the ending, especially Alan Silvestri's score rather schmaltzy. But otherwise, I enjoyed it.
And yes, I recognized Helen Mirren's line from "EXCALIBUR".
And yes, I recognized Helen Mirren's line from "EXCALIBUR".
Saw it today (no knowledge of the book), I did enjoy it, but kinda felt most of that was for the references and seeing this and that. The actual plot and characters of the film itself I wasn't that bothered about or ever really got invested in.
Seeing Serenity quite possibly made me smile more than any film has in a long, long time
As it's still Easter holidays here in the UK there were quite a few kids (7-12) in the audience, I feel like most of them probably won't have have even gotten half of the references. Not that I'm complaining, screw them, just saying. I'm glad it was watered down to stuff kids know.
Seeing Serenity quite possibly made me smile more than any film has in a long, long time
As it's still Easter holidays here in the UK there were quite a few kids (7-12) in the audience, I feel like most of them probably won't have have even gotten half of the references. Not that I'm complaining, screw them, just saying. I'm glad it was watered down to stuff kids know.
C
I saw it tonight and don't have any specific familiarity with the book. Visually there's a lot of cool stuff and some of the jokes in the movie are good (along with some missed opportunities, like the Holy Hand Grenade's dialogue gag). There are other elements that didn't work so well, and I'm not sure if the book addresses them. I get that the Oasis is a very complex system and Halliday was very skilled at making puzzles, but at the same time it seems a little odd to me that nobody figured out the race clue in the time frame given in the movie, when one could theoretically do things in a virtual world that wouldn't work in reality. And IOI certainly wouldn't be above trying to hack elements of the system if they could. The same is possibly true for the final clue (specifically, that the secret is in the first Atari game to ever have a digital Easter egg, and that fact being fairly common today even if you're not huge into gaming).
I think some of the criticisms regarding the movie's pace and characterizations are valid, along with the full scope of why the Oasis is valuable in the context given in the book (that it's not purely escapism, but a newer platform for society to function with advantages not possible in the real world. Hence why making it a strictly for-profit system isn't good).
I saw it tonight and don't have any specific familiarity with the book. Visually there's a lot of cool stuff and some of the jokes in the movie are good (along with some missed opportunities, like the Holy Hand Grenade's dialogue gag). There are other elements that didn't work so well, and I'm not sure if the book addresses them. I get that the Oasis is a very complex system and Halliday was very skilled at making puzzles, but at the same time it seems a little odd to me that nobody figured out the race clue in the time frame given in the movie, when one could theoretically do things in a virtual world that wouldn't work in reality. And IOI certainly wouldn't be above trying to hack elements of the system if they could. The same is possibly true for the final clue (specifically, that the secret is in the first Atari game to ever have a digital Easter egg, and that fact being fairly common today even if you're not huge into gaming).
I think some of the criticisms regarding the movie's pace and characterizations are valid, along with the full scope of why the Oasis is valuable in the context given in the book (that it's not purely escapism, but a newer platform for society to function with advantages not possible in the real world. Hence why making it a strictly for-profit system isn't good).
My Review:
A film directed by Stephen Spielberg and based on the book by Earnest Cline. It is a very interesting, and topical story, with all the references to the 1980's (and other eras) being icing on the cake. The main character, 'Parcival' aka Wade Watts, is a relateable protagonist (although his grief for his aunt not being depicted probably negates this a little) who is an effective introduction to this world. The virtual world, that is the OASIS, is the best depicted part of the film, with the challenges set up by Halliday being well designed (although, like Aech, I haven't seen The Shining).
The antagonist and his megacorporation are also interesting. They certainly don't want control of the OASIS for altruistic purposes! Nolan Sorrento stops at nothing in the attempt at getting what he wants Subjecting Wade and his friends to a witch hunt, is just the start! The main part of the story is that Halliday had placed a quest inside the OASIS such that if someone found a golden egg they would inherit control over that virtual world. Each of these challenges were rather well designed (although I'm not sure how accurate the scenes in The Shining are, see above).
The twists regarding each challenge were well played. Win a race by going backwards. An everlasting regret. Find the original 'easter egg'. All rather good. The final twist, how Wade is able to get the egg, was also rather good. All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone. 8.75/10.
The antagonist and his megacorporation are also interesting. They certainly don't want control of the OASIS for altruistic purposes! Nolan Sorrento stops at nothing in the attempt at getting what he wants Subjecting Wade and his friends to a witch hunt, is just the start! The main part of the story is that Halliday had placed a quest inside the OASIS such that if someone found a golden egg they would inherit control over that virtual world. Each of these challenges were rather well designed (although I'm not sure how accurate the scenes in The Shining are, see above).
The twists regarding each challenge were well played. Win a race by going backwards. An everlasting regret. Find the original 'easter egg'. All rather good. The final twist, how Wade is able to get the egg, was also rather good. All in all, I would recommend this film to anyone. 8.75/10.
This film had me giggling a lot, not just for the references to other films and media but the sheer madness and fun of it. It's a bit cheesy in a way that was clearly intentional, definitely my type of movie. My only complaint was that my brain was over loaded and I would have liked a little more time to examine everything that flew by the camera.
This looks like one of those movies that prides itself in having cgi and shaky-cam action scenes smeared all over the screen for 2 straight hours. Those kinds of movies give me headaches. Someone tell me that is just the trailers...cuz I want to check this out, but I hate (HATE) over-busy cgi crapfests.
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