Blockers 7.5/10 Multiple laugh out loud moments, the parents specifically John Cenas character carried the movie and that's not a bad thing The main teens vulgarity felt forced a few times and it threw the movie off. The chef druggie guy was funny without even trying though.
Tarentino had so many good movies since, I kind of forget about this one, especially how it's overshadowed by it's gorier predecessor. The first one was Tarentino's Samurai slasher revenge movie, now the second is his kung fu western. For some reason when I was younger, I missed all the analogies Bill tried to use to ward Beatrix out of wanting to kill him, or at least convince her why he shot her. Bebe killing her fish and learning about death, how in depth the superman reference really is, and just all of the analogies towards Beatrix dying and bill being regretful. Good stuff. I wish I got more of it when I was a young shit, but it was great the 15th time seeing last night.
Tarentino had so many good movies since, I kind of forget about this one, especially how it's overshadowed by it's gorier predecessor. The first one was Tarentino's Samurai slasher revenge movie, now the second is his kung fu western. For some reason when I was younger, I missed all the analogies Bill tried to use to ward Beatrix out of wanting to kill him, or at least convince her why he shot her. Bebe killing her fish and learning about death, how in depth the superman reference really is, and just all of the analogies towards Beatrix dying and bill being regretful. Good stuff. I wish I got more of it when I was a young shit, but it was great the 15th time seeing last night.
I started watching it again this morning. I paused it after Madsen shoots her.
I just watched the first kill bill. I bought these movies and never really watched them as much as his others. Here we have anither movie where the leads are all women, theyre all strong, and believable, within the tarantino limits. Giving them sword skills evens the playing field.
Of course he knew everything that was going on, and he made sure to keep a lid on it because the fanaticism for college football in this country is weird and just out of control.
That piece of shit should have spent his last days in jail, but got the easy way out and just dropped dead.
Of course he knew everything that was going on, and he made sure to keep a lid on it because the fanaticism for college football in this country is weird and just out of control.
That piece of shit should have spent his last days in jail, but got the easy way out and just dropped dead.
ok. So I agree with everything you said. I actually argued with a really hot girl who was trying to defend Paterno. But yea, there were reports of Sandusky's misconduct in the 1970s. I have no doubt that he was preying on kids his entire time at Penn State and his charity. Paterno knew about the showers with 10 year olds. He even told the victim to, "Not say such things".
Agree. Did Sam Raimi have a stroke or something while making Spiderman 3? Or did he just wake up one morning and decide he wants to watch the world burn?
Agree. Did Sam Raimi have a stroke or something while making Spiderman 3? Or did he just wake up one morning and decide he wants to watch the world burn?
I don't wanna start a whole thing, but I think S3 gets an unjustifiably bad rep and is underrated.
Yeah there's too much crammed in, Venom was botched and it was a step down from 5STAR S2, but it still was an enjoyable blockbuster, crammed full of enjoyable content.
It was never boring, the Triangle between Peter-MJ-Harry came to fruition and I thought HobGoblin was really good - they had a really good early fight, and I buzzed when he came back round to the good guys and saved the day at the climax.
But I take your point.
I'm happy just to be one of the minority on this one.
I started watching it again this morning. I paused it after Madsen shoots her.
I just watched the first kill bill. I bought these movies and never really watched them as much as his others. Here we have anither movie where the leads are all women, theyre all strong, and believable, within the tarantino limits. Giving them sword skills evens the playing field.
I watched The deep blue sea(2011) last as the last movie left from a binge of Tom Hiddleston movies. It was also the worst, and by far. How that cliched pile of shit holds a 6.3 IMDB score is beyond me. The plot is cliched and predictable, characters are shallow, cliched, again, and lack motivation. The actors are the only decent part of the movie but then again those are not their best roles.
2.5/10 would not recommend.
Dragonlord’s Review of RAMPAGE Starring Dwayne Johnson (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: One of the better video game movie adaptations, Rampage is a fun, dumb, creature feature that delivers what it advertised.
Loosely based on the 1986 arcade game featuring a giant gorilla, wolf and lizard wrecking havoc in the city, Rampage pretty much faithfully retains the root premise of the video game as an experimental genetic mutation causes three animals (a gorilla, a wolf and crocodile) to grow at an enormous size and go rampaging through the city.
Among the three giant animals, the wolf was the coolest and had more tricks and abilities than the other two. The gorilla was just like King Kong and the crocodile, which looked awe-inspiring when it was still under the Chicago river and when it fully emerges out of the water, lacked any diversity to retain the wow factor. The wolf even gets a pretty nice monster horror scene when a group of private military contractors (led by Joe Manganiello) are sent to kill it.
Dwayne Johnson stars as David Okoye, a primatologist trying to find a cure for his friend George, a mutated albino silverback gorilla, before he destroys the city. Aside from wanting him to wear a wig because he looks practically the same in every movie he has starred in, Johnson’s charm and star power carries the film on his broad shoulders whenever the creatures are offscreen. The Rock even makes fun of himself as the film gives a wink to the audience when the subject of being shot outside of the vital organs is brought up. Despite the carnage and chaos, the friendship between David and George remains the heart of the film. When he's not going rogue, George is endearing when he displays his personality and sense of humor through sign language.
As for the rest of the main characters, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (still channeling his Negan character from The Walking Dead) plays Harvey Russell, an antagonistic government agent turned ally. Malin Akerman fully embraces the campiness of her role as the ruthless corporate CEO of Energyne. Naomie Harris was likable as Dr. Kate Caldwell, the disgraced scientist who created the genetic experiment.
Overall, Rampage is a fun B-movie monster movie with a big budget and amazing special effects. It’s filled with clichés, a preposterous storyline and some bad dialogue but if you’re looking forward to seeing giant monsters duking it out and demolishing the city, you won’t be disappointed. There’s even a slight Jurassic Park vibe emanating in the first half and then it goes into full-on kaiju disaster porn in the last act. Deduct one to two stars from the rating if you are not a fan of giant monster movies.
Rating:7/10 or 7.5/10
I thought it was convenient that George ate Malin Akerman, who had the serum with her, when the film didn’t really establish that George does that sort of thing. Whenever George got hold of a person, he just smashes them or throws them away.
I found it funny that Jeffrey Dean Morgan had to tell Colonel Blake, the person in charge of the operation, to check out the live footage from the drone to see The Rock and George battling the crocodile. I mean, what the hell was the Colonel doing anyways to make him NOT watch the live broadcast of the monsters he is in charge of destroying.
It was complete dog shit, was hoping that it would at least be so bad it’s good and feature a few decent kill scenes, but it didn’t have either of those things going for it. Just really dumb and dull.
Pretty decent Action movie. A few cornball things in the movie - such as Lara training that UFC (the rear naked choke she got on the dude was hilarious (considering her situation)).
Generally, I am not a fan of the live action remakes of Disney cartoon movies. I think they are a cash grab and lack the charm of the originals. However, this one was a very strong production. I was pretty surprised.
Blockers 7.5/10 Multiple laugh out loud moments, the parents specifically John Cenas character carried the movie and that's not a bad thing The main teens vulgarity felt forced a few times and it threw the movie off. The chef druggie guy was funny without even trying though.
It was damn good. Mann, Barinholtz, and, as you said, Cena killed it. Also, like Apatow movies (which this wasn't but I only say that because it stars his wife), it had a heart to it and a message to go with the raunchiness.
I don't wanna start a whole thing, but I think S3 gets an unjustifiably bad rep and is underrated.
Yeah there's too much crammed in, Venom was botched and it was a step down from 5STAR S2, but it still was an enjoyable blockbuster, crammed full of enjoyable content.
It was never boring, the Triangle between Peter-MJ-Harry came to fruition and I thought HobGoblin was really good - they had a really good early fight, and I buzzed when he came back round to the good guys and saved the day at the climax.
But I take your point.
I'm happy just to be one of the minority on this one.
It's fun to view it as Sam Raimi's way of giving the middle finger to the studio for meddling with his work and forcing Venom in the movie.
'Oh you want Peter to go dark? Here he is with black hair and strutting down the street being a dweeb! Oh you want Venom? Here's the absolute worst casting choice for him AND he's only in 10 minutes of the movie! FUCK YOU!!!'
But seriously, I do enjoy Spider-Man 3. The stuff when Peter is being bad is hilarious and at least the Harry storyline is done well enough, butler ex machina and all
Dragonlord’s Review of Steven Spielberg's READY PLAYER ONE
Bottom Line: A visual spectacle (and an eyesore concurrently) and overloaded with pop culture references, Ready Player One is a fun nostalgic ride but lacks a subversive wit and a stronger narrative to take advantage of its offbeat premise.
[Note: I have not read Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One novel but due to the pedigree of the filmmaker involved as well as the exciting sci-fi premise, my expectations are naturally (and maybe unfairly) higher and a 8 or 9 star rating is anticipated. This review is a bit unorthodox in the way it is structured like a plot summary but listing down the flaws that drag the score down.]
In the year 2045, most of the population escape the harshness of the dystopian society by plugging into the OASIS, a virtual reality world where you can be anyone and do anything. The late James Halliday, co-creator of the OASIS, has created a quest game inside the virtual world where the winner who gets the Easter Egg will gain sole proprietorship of the OASIS. Players would have to complete three hidden quests to gain three keys that will lead them to the Easter Egg.
The movie opens with our protagonist Wade Watts wading through the Stacks, a slum-like area where a bunch of trailers are stacked on top one another. He then goes in to his hideaway in a junkyard to log in to the OASIS. Before we go the virtual world, let’s talk about the first misstep of the movie and that is the casting of Tye Sheridan as Wade. The young actor’s default facial expression always look like he’s sullen and depressed. (Tye should thank his Hollywood agent for not being typecast in bully or psycho killer roles because he really does look the part.)
Second misstep of the movie is Wade doesn’t really do anything endearing or anything subtly noteworthy in the opening that connects him to the audience. Tye does a pretty decent job throughout the film but imagine if someone peppy and oozing with charisma like Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Tom Holland was the lead. Someone like Tom Holland would have elevated Ready Player One to another level. It’s ironic because my casting proposal is similar to what would have happened to Amblin’s Back to the Future if they didn’t recast Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox.
[FYI to those not familiar with the Back to the Future production, Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly. After two weeks of shooting, they thought Stoltz was wrong for the part and that he gave off a more serious vibe. So they recast the role and gave it to the fun-loving Michael J. Fox.]
The OASIS looks great but there’s an uncanny valley element when it comes to the main avatar characters. It is especially jarringly noticeable when the movie switches constantly from the real world to the OASIS. Not as extreme as revulsion but there’s a subconscious rejection on my part that prevents me from fully immersing with the OASIS and its characters.
In the OASIS, you’ll be immediately bombarded with pop culture references with avatars of famous characters from video games, movies and animation, as well as some of the iconic items or vehicles from those mediums. The Easter eggs and references flash by on screen so fast that if you blink you’ll miss them. It’s fun at first spotting all the well-known avatars but the novelty wears off after a while and it becomes too distracting and you slowly comprehend that these are just avatars and not the real McCoy.
The most disappointing realization about these pop culture characters is that these are just avatars and not the embodiment of the characters themselves. It means that the Freddie Krueger you see is in the OASIS is just some schmuck from the real world using the Nightmare on Elm Street icon as his/her avatar. It’s different from Wreck-It Ralph or The LEGO Movie where Zangief is really the real Russian wrestler from Street Fighter or Batman is really the Dark Knight (sort of).
Wade goes by the avatar Parzival in the OASIS where he and thousands of users like him called Gunters are on a quest to find the Halliday’s Easter Egg. Parzival’s best friend in the OASIS is Aech, a cybernetic Orc who is also a virtual mechanic. Parzival frequently visits the Halliday Archives, a virtual library with 3D recordings of James Halliday’s life and work, in order to search for clues on how to win the game.
Parzival and Aech participate in a virtual street race over New York City filled with shifting cityscapes, traps and monsters and whoever wins gets the first key. Five years upon its discovery, no one has been able to win the race. This street race marks the first major action piece of the movie and it’s a letdown. The race itself was fast and furious (yes I went there) but there’s an overall sense of hollowness to it all. There was no hype or build-up leading up to the race. It’s fun to see the T-Rex and King Kong show up but the actual race felt rushed and lacked any drama. Stuff just blew up and you just watch vehicles zigzagging through the course with a sense of detachment. One thing that could have tremendously helped the race scene is if there was a team of commentators giving a play-by-play of the race.
After losing the race, Parzival goes back to the Halliday Archives and takes note of Halliday muttering about “going backwards really fast.” This Eureka moment would have had more impact if Halliday’s line was introduced earlier in the film and slyly buried under the other information; in this way, the audience would feel a sense of reward to figuring out the clue rather than being a passive passenger and not feeling like the movie is just making up stuff as they go along.
Parzival tests his theory and drives backwards in the next race which opens up a secret underground tunnel that safely leads all the way to the finish line. Parzival wins the first key and is given a clue to the next quest. Parzival’s victory isn’t as satisfying or rewarding as his path to the finish line was without any struggles or obstacles. It would have been cooler if Parzival drove his car in reverse in the actual race course and go through all the extreme challenges and won.
Parzival and his newfound friend Art3mis go dancing in a virtual club. The actual dancing was awkwardly executed. Afterwards Parzival declares his love to Art3mis in a cringey and rushed scene but Art3mis spurns him (and rightfully so). In the outside world, Wade meets the real Art3mis named Samantha Cook. Samantha feels she's ugly due to her port-wine stain birthmark on her right eye. The whole thing is just silly because 1.) she is actually a very pretty girl and 2.) her birthmark seems to be stylishly placed over her eye that it fits with the cyberpunk culture.
Later on Parzival forms a clan alongside Aech, Art3mis, Sho and Daito and call themselves the “High Five.” Ar3temis figures out the location of the second quest based on the clue and eventually get the second key. Again there is something disengaging about how they were able to solve the mystery and feels they’re just making up stuff as they go along. It is especially glaring if it’s the first time you watched Ready Player One but suspect that you’ll learn to accept it better on repeat viewings.
The second quest leads them to revisit Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, complete with a fantastic recreational of the Overlook Hotel. It’s a pretty cool quest but the horror aspect isn’t as effective due to the CGI representation of the characters which leads me to conclude that the movie would have been better if they got real actors to portray some of the avatars in the OASIS.
The third quest leads them to Planet Doom in the OASIS where IOI Corporate CEO Nolan Sorrento and his army of Sixers have blocked the castle from anyone entering. What was supposed to be a rousing and inspirational speech, Parzival gives a tepid rallying call to arms to all the OASIS denizens. The deliverance of the lines could have been written better, not to mention less corny.
The massive battle in Castle Anorak was enjoyable and the immense amount of lightning-quick appearances by pop culture characters made it fun and an eyesore simultaneously. Seeing the Iron Giant and Mechagodzilla in battle was very cool but the biggest wow moment in the entire movie for me was witnessing the Gundam mobile suit in action. With this and Pacific Rim, this is proof-positive that a live-action Gundam movie (or Robotech/Macross, Voltron) can be done and Hollywood needs to get right on this.
In order to get the third key, they have to play the correct Atari 2600 game. They eventually figure out that the correct game is Adventure and that they have to find the Easter Egg within the Atari game in order to win. Unlike the way they solved the first two quests, this one feels more clever because it is based on actual real-life events.
Anorak, Halliday’s avatar, appears and awards Parzival the third key. Parzival uses all three keys to enter a room where a contract awaits to be signed. Parzival thinks it’s another test and refuses to sign the contract. Anorak acknowledges that Parzival has passed the final test. The whole thing about winning the game by not signing the contract feels a bit disingenuous on Halliday’s part. It would have been more reasonable if the movie set it up so that Wade has to sacrifice something in exchange for signing the contract. Plus the final test is pointless since whoever failed the test the first time, will either just try to restart the quest again or tell other people how to win the final test.
Back in the real world, Wade is being chased by IOI’s goons. So Wade’s team drives to the Stacks hoping the rough neighborhood would have his back. Nolan goes in the slum alone and then gets swarmed by a hundred angry people who knew that Nolan was responsible for blowing up a Stack structure that killed several of their own. Nolan whips up a gun and the hundreds of Stack people just move out of his way. Nolan reaches Wade’s van and is about to shoot him. The whole thing just stinks of incompetency. The Stacks are a bunch of pussies! NO ONE even tried to overpower the corporate suit even though they outnumbered him 100 to 1. Worst of all, NO ONE tried to save Wade’s life when Nolan was about to murder him.
In the end, Parzival/Wade receives the coveted Halliday Easter Egg and gains ownership of the OASIS but he chooses to share control of the virtual world with the rest of the High Five. Wade learns the lessons Halliday imparts on him like the importance of forming friendship and connecting with real people in the real world. With all the socio-economical problems this dystopian world faces, Wade’s new ruling to shut down the OASIS two days a week seems futile and ineffectual, akin to putting band-aid on a person suffering a heart attack.
Director Steven Spielberg has done a fabulous job with the film visually but fails to deliver in other areas. Just like his last big budget fantasy outing (The BFG), Ready Player One feels a bit safe. Not only do some of the action beats feel a bit empty, the film lacks an edgy energy and a sharp subversive humor. Sadly Spielberg isn’t hip enough for this material and another filmmaker with a fresher take would have been better suited for Ready Player One.
All of the main cast members are satisfactory with the exception of Olivia Cooke (Art3mis/Samantha Cook) and Ben Mendelsohn (Nolan Sorrento) who were better and stood out more than the rest. As mentioned earlier, Tye Sheridan was adequate but casting someone with more charisma for the lead like Tom Holland would have been the best. It’s too bad they couldn’t plump out Sho and Daito’s characters more since they were an integral part of the High Five.
A big part of the fun is spotting the countless iconic weapons like the Aliens' plasma rifle or the flying glaive from Krull or seeing the seminal vehicles like the bike from Akira or the Serenity spaceship from Firefly or the DeLorean from Back to the Future. If you love the 1980s, you'll be in heaven as you will be bombarded with songs and synth music from that era. Composer Alan Silvestri mashes a lot of memorable movie scores, most noticeably from Back to the Future and Jurassic Park to name a few, to compete the trip down to memory lane.
When it comes to book adaptations, studios sometimes get greedy and unnecessarily split a book into two parts (The Hunger Games 3 & 4, Twilight 4 & 5, Divergent: Allegiant) or in the case of Peter Jackson, too ambitious and create a trilogy of Hobbit films based on one book. Ready Player One is one of the rare instances where Warner Bros. should have been greedier or ambitious and broken it down to three films. The material is rich enough to sustain a trilogy with each movie centering on one of the three quests. [Read more details on proposed Ready Player One trilogy] This would have also provided ample opportunities to flesh out the other High Five members as well as to improve the dynamics between the High Five.
Despite the criticisms and suggestions, Ready Player One is an entertaining nostalgic ride but feels rushed, hollow and could have been a great, epic movie with a few tweaks. Looking forward to a second viewing where a more favorable reception is a possibility since expectations have already been tempered with reality. But for now, I’m going to have to go with my first impression.
Dragonlord’s Review of Steven Spielberg's READY PLAYER ONE
Bottom Line: A visual spectacle (and an eyesore concurrently) and overloaded with pop culture references, Ready Player One is a fun nostalgic ride but lacks a subversive wit and a stronger narrative to take advantage of its offbeat premise.
[Note: I have not read Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One novel but due to the pedigree of the filmmaker involved as well as the exciting sci-fi premise, my expectations are naturally (and maybe unfairly) higher and a 8 or 9 star rating is anticipated. This review is a bit unorthodox in the way it is structured like a plot summary but listing down the flaws that drag the score down.]
In the year 2045, most of the population escape the harshness of the dystopian society by plugging into the OASIS, a virtual reality world where you can be anyone and do anything. The late James Halliday, co-creator of the OASIS, has created a quest game inside the virtual world where the winner who gets the Easter Egg will gain sole proprietorship of the OASIS. Players would have to complete three hidden quests to gain three keys that will lead them to the Easter Egg.
The movie opens with our protagonist Wade Watts wading through the Stacks, a slum-like area where a bunch of trailers are stacked on top one another. He then goes in to his hideaway in a junkyard to log in to the OASIS. Before we go the virtual world, let’s talk about the first misstep of the movie and that is the casting of Tye Sheridan as Wade. The young actor’s default facial expression always look like he’s sullen and depressed. (Tye should thank his Hollywood agent for not being typecast in bully or psycho killer roles because he really does look the part.)
Second misstep of the movie is Wade doesn’t really do anything endearing or anything subtly noteworthy in the opening that connects him to the audience. Tye does a pretty decent job throughout the film but imagine if someone peppy and oozing with charisma like Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Tom Holland was the lead. Someone like Tom Holland would have elevated Ready Player One to another level. It’s ironic because my casting proposal is similar to what would have happened to Amblin’s Back to the Future if they didn’t recast Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox.
[FYI to those not familiar with the Back to the Future production, Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly. After two weeks of shooting, they thought Stoltz was wrong for the part and that he gave off a more serious vibe. So they recast the role and gave it to the fun-loving Michael J. Fox.]
The OASIS looks great but there’s an uncanny valley element when it comes to the main avatar characters. It is especially jarringly noticeable when the movie switches constantly from the real world to the OASIS. Not as extreme as revulsion but there’s a subconscious rejection on my part that prevents me from fully immersing with the OASIS and its characters.
In the OASIS, you’ll be immediately bombarded with pop culture references with avatars of famous characters from video games, movies and animation, as well as some of the iconic items or vehicles from those mediums. The Easter eggs and references flash by on screen so fast that if you blink you’ll miss them. It’s fun at first spotting all the well-known avatars but the novelty wears off after a while and it becomes too distracting and you slowly comprehend that these are just avatars and not the real McCoy.
The most disappointing realization about these pop culture characters is that these are just avatars and not the embodiment of the characters themselves. It means that the Freddie Krueger you see is in the OASIS is just some schmuck from the real world using the Nightmare on Elm Street icon as his/her avatar. It’s different from Wreck-It Ralph or The LEGO Movie where Zangief is really the real Russian wrestler from Street Fighter or Batman is really the Dark Knight (sort of).
Wade goes by the avatar Parzival in the OASIS where he and thousands of users like him called Gunters are on a quest to find the Halliday’s Easter Egg. Parzival’s best friend in the OASIS is Aech, a cybernetic Orc who is also a virtual mechanic. Parzival frequently visits the Halliday Archives, a virtual library with 3D recordings of James Halliday’s life and work, in order to search for clues on how to win the game.
Parzival and Aech participate in a virtual street race over New York City filled with shifting cityscapes, traps and monsters and whoever wins gets the first key. Five years upon its discovery, no one has been able to win the race. This street race marks the first major action piece of the movie and it’s a letdown. The race itself was fast and furious (yes I went there) but there’s an overall sense of hollowness to it all. There was no hype or build-up leading up to the race. It’s fun to see the T-Rex and King Kong show up but the actual race felt rushed and lacked any drama. Stuff just blew up and you just watch vehicles zigzagging through the course with a sense of detachment. One thing that could have tremendously helped the race scene is if there was a team of commentators giving a play-by-play of the race.
After losing the race, Parzival goes back to the Halliday Archives and takes note of Halliday muttering about “going backwards really fast.” This Eureka moment would have had more impact if Halliday’s line was introduced earlier in the film and slyly buried under the other information; in this way, the audience would feel a sense of reward to figuring out the clue rather than being a passive passenger and not feeling like the movie is just making up stuff as they go along.
Parzival tests his theory and drives backwards in the next race which opens up a secret underground tunnel that safely leads all the way to the finish line. Parzival wins the first key and is given a clue to the next quest. Parzival’s victory isn’t as satisfying or rewarding as his path to the finish line was without any struggles or obstacles. It would have been cooler if Parzival drove his car in reverse in the actual race course and go through all the extreme challenges and won.
Parzival and his newfound friend Art3mis go dancing in a virtual club. The actual dancing was awkwardly executed. Afterwards Parzival declares his love to Art3mis in a cringey and rushed scene but Art3mis spurns him (and rightfully so). In the outside world, Wade meets the real Art3mis named Samantha Cook. Samantha feels she's ugly due to her port-wine stain birthmark on her right eye. The whole thing is just silly because 1.) she is actually a very pretty girl and 2.) her birthmark seems to be stylishly placed over her eye that it fits with the cyberpunk culture.
Later on Parzival forms a clan alongside Aech, Art3mis, Sho and Daito and call themselves the “High Five.” Ar3temis figures out the location of the second quest based on the clue and eventually get the second key. Again there is something disengaging about how they were able to solve the mystery and feels they’re just making up stuff as they go along. It is especially glaring if it’s the first time you watched Ready Player One but suspect that you’ll learn to accept it better on repeat viewings.
The second quest leads them to revisit Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, complete with a fantastic recreational of the Overlook Hotel. It’s a pretty cool quest but the horror aspect isn’t as effective due to the CGI representation of the characters which leads me to conclude that the movie would have been better if they got real actors to portray some of the avatars in the OASIS.
The third quest leads them to Planet Doom in the OASIS where IOI Corporate CEO Nolan Sorrento and his army of Sixers have blocked the castle from anyone entering. What was supposed to be a rousing and inspirational speech, Parzival gives a tepid rallying call to arms to all the OASIS denizens. The deliverance of the lines could have been written better, not to mention less corny.
The massive battle in Castle Anorak was enjoyable and the immense amount of lightning-quick appearances by pop culture characters made it fun and an eyesore simultaneously. Seeing the Iron Giant and Mechagodzilla in battle was very cool but the biggest wow moment in the entire movie for me was witnessing the Gundam mobile suit in action. With this and Pacific Rim, this is proof-positive that a live-action Gundam movie (or Robotech/Macross, Voltron) can be done and Hollywood needs to get right on this.
In order to get the third key, they have to play the correct Atari 2600 game. They eventually figure out that the correct game is Adventure and that they have to find the Easter Egg within the Atari game in order to win. Unlike the way they solved the first two quests, this one feels more clever because it is based on actual real-life events.
Anorak, Halliday’s avatar, appears and awards Parzival the third key. Parzival uses all three keys to enter a room where a contract awaits to be signed. Parzival thinks it’s another test and refuses to sign the contract. Anorak acknowledges that Parzival has passed the final test. The whole thing about winning the game by not signing the contract feels a bit disingenuous on Halliday’s part. It would have been more reasonable if the movie set it up so that Wade has to sacrifice something in exchange for signing the contract. Plus the final test is pointless since whoever failed the test the first time, will either just try to restart the quest again or tell other people how to win the final test.
Back in the real world, Wade is being chased by IOI’s goons. So Wade’s team drives to the Stacks hoping the rough neighborhood would have his back. Nolan goes in the slum alone and then gets swarmed by a hundred angry people who knew that Nolan was responsible for blowing up a Stack structure that killed several of their own. Nolan whips up a gun and the hundreds of Stack people just move out of his way. Nolan reaches Wade’s van and is about to shoot him. The whole thing just stinks of incompetency. The Stacks are a bunch of pussies! NO ONE even tried to overpower the corporate suit even though they outnumbered him 100 to 1. Worst of all, NO ONE tried to save Wade’s life when Nolan was about to murder him.
In the end, Parzival/Wade receives the coveted Halliday Easter Egg and gains ownership of the OASIS but he chooses to share control of the virtual world with the rest of the High Five. Wade learns the lessons Halliday imparts on him like the importance of forming friendship and connecting with real people in the real world. With all the socio-economical problems this dystopian world faces, Wade’s new ruling to shut down the OASIS two days a week seems futile and ineffectual, akin to putting band-aid on a person suffering a heart attack.
Director Steven Spielberg has done a fabulous job with the film visually but fails to deliver in other areas. Just like his last big budget fantasy outing (The BFG), Ready Player One feels a bit safe. Not only do some of the action beats feel a bit empty, the film lacks an edgy energy and a sharp subversive humor. Sadly Spielberg isn’t hip enough for this material and another filmmaker with a fresher take would have been better suited for Ready Player One.
All of the main cast members are satisfactory with the exception of Olivia Cooke (Art3mis/Samantha Cook) and Ben Mendelsohn (Nolan Sorrento) who were better and stood out more than the rest. As mentioned earlier, Tye Sheridan was adequate but casting someone with more charisma for the lead like Tom Holland would have been the best. It’s too bad they couldn’t plump out Sho and Daito’s characters more since they were an integral part of the High Five.
A big part of the fun is spotting the countless iconic weapons like the Aliens' plasma rifle or the flying glaive from Krull or seeing the seminal vehicles like the bike from Akira or the Serenity spaceship from Firefly or the DeLorean from Back to the Future. If you love the 1980s, you'll be in heaven as you will be bombarded with songs and synth music from that era. Composer Alan Silvestri mashes a lot of memorable movie scores, most noticeably from Back to the Future and Jurassic Park to name a few, to compete the trip down to memory lane.
When it comes to book adaptations, studios sometimes get greedy and unnecessarily split a book into two parts (The Hunger Games 3 & 4, Twilight 4 & 5, Divergent: Allegiant) or in the case of Peter Jackson, too ambitious and create a trilogy of Hobbit films based on one book. Ready Player One is one of the rare instances where Warner Bros. should have been greedier or ambitious and broken it down to three films. The material is rich enough to sustain a trilogy with each movie centering on one of the three quests. [Read more details on proposed Ready Player One trilogy] This would have also provided ample opportunities to flesh out the other High Five members as well as to improve the dynamics between the High Five.
Despite the criticisms and suggestions, Ready Player One is an entertaining nostalgic ride but feels rushed, hollow and could have been a great, epic movie with a few tweaks. Looking forward to a second viewing where a more favorable reception is a possibility since expectations have already been tempered with reality. But for now, I’m going to have to go with my first impression.
this movie has finally convinced me that i am now officially a "get off my lawn" guy. not only do i have no interest in seeing this, but i have even less interest in reading your review of it (no offense). fucking gamers are just intolerable.
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