Ready Player One: Ignorance is Bliss

So I saw Ready Player One in theaters today, and I wasn't overwhelmed. I wasn't underwhelmed. I'd say that I was whelmed, but not really in the way I expected to be whelmed. I was side-whelmed.

If you're approaching this review completely in-the-dark, Ready Player One is a movie based off the titular book by Ernest Cline. It's about a group of young geeks trying to win a contest for a jaw-dropping amount of money, and control of the newest incarnation of the Internet iself: the OASIS, which is fully-interactive virtual reality, where nearly everything is a game, movie, or other pop culture reference. Their competition for this is a monolithic, soulless corporation called IOI, who could make the Galactic Empire look like the National Guard. Normally, this would already be big news, but the kicker is this: the world has gone all to hell. Multiple nukes have been flung, the environment has been wrecked, overpopulation and hunger are nooses around everybody's necks; the OASIS is such a big deal because it's the only place people can get away from the real blisters of life.

The story follows young Wade Watts, AKA Parzival, who starts out as a level three newbie with no cash, no style, and no luck. He fancies himself a Gunter, short for Egg Hunter, as the OASIS' designer James Halliday (a cultural mashup of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and a digital Gary Gygax) has started the contest for the fate of the 'net as part of his will. The money and the power are all wrapped up inside what gamers call an 'Easter Egg', an in-game secret that generally has nothing to do with beating the game, programmers just put them in for laughs, or to see who finds them, or in the case of the very first one, for recognition. The contest bobs and weaves through all the 80's pop culture references that Halliday loved: movies, TV, music, comics, and of course video games. Parzival and company have to navigate this virtual obstacle course before IOI does, and his competition is more than willing to play outside the rules.

Now, I don't mean to spoil too much, as I want you to either see the movie, or read the book it's based on for yourself. I recommend them both. I also recommend watching the movie first, and then reading the book, in that order, for very good reasons. The movie is a fairly enjoyable flick, big on CG spectacle, with solid action, and stuffed full of more nods and shout-outs than I could possibly begin to list. It's also far more enjoyable if you haven't read the book, because the traditional Spielberg sanitizing and moral promotion is definitely in tact. While this is irksome and sours the experience a bit if you've read the book first, it ironically comes around with a bit of fridge logic, making the end of the show feel like the end of every 80s kids movie ever made, often directed by none other than Spielberg.

The book, on the other hand, is an absolute gold mine of geek culture, putting the 80s references on a colossal pillar. It is darker, grittier, raunchier, and surprisingly enough, deeper as well. The characters are more real, the world is more real, the journey is more real. The challenges for Halliday's almighty Easter Egg are ten times better thought-out (and totally different from the movie, so it won't spoil the fun there), which doesn't surprise a whole lot, because it doesn't need to be condensed into a two-hour shotglass.

The movie is a prettier, more kid-friendly picture, but in the end, it's just as superficial as one. It's still a solid seven or eight out of ten if you haven't read the books. If you've got the scratch for both, see the movie first, because if you even remotely enjoy it, you're in for a real treat when you crack open the novel later. If you're short on funds, pick up the book and skip the movie. It's a deeper, more authentic experience that this geek thinks is worth keeping near and dear to his eight bit little heart.