Speaking of Easter Egg Hunts
The movie Ready Player One hit theaters this Easter weekend. This latest sci-fi adventure will take you on a trip to the future, a very grim future to be precise. The year is 2044 and the entire world has become accustomed to living their lives inside a virtual world called the Oasis. People log in using virtual reality headsets, and other fancy gear, to explore a limitless world of entertainment.
When the creator and sole owner of the Oasis dies, he releases a video claiming that he left a hidden secret, or “Easter Egg” as gamers call it, in the game. The first person to find three keys and unlock the hidden portal will become the new owner of the Oasis. Owning the Oasis is literally the most important thing in the world, as it basically controls the world that people choose to live in.
Welcome to the Oasis
Ready Player One is basically a modern day Willy Wonka story with a few twists. The movie is based on the best selling novel “Ready Player One” written by Ernest Cline. The film varies greatly from the book in many ways, but is just as good in it’s own right. The main character Wade, also known as Parzival in game, finds himself living on the streets with no family and no place to call home. All Wade has left is the Oasis, and so he sets off on a virtual quest to find Halliday’s hidden Easter Egg.
Despite Wade’s vast knowledge of pop culture and things important to Halliday, he finds himself perplexed by the riddles left behind by Halliday. It isn’t until meeting a young girl named Samantha, also known as Art3mis in game, that he is able to solve the first puzzle and gain the first of three keys. The film moves along quickly as Wade and Samantha fall for each other. They work together with a small band of players and become known as the “High Five”.
Their greatest challenge is not the riddles and dangers of the Oasis, but a company called IOI led by a man named Sorrento. Sorrento wants to monetize the Oasis and will stop at nothing to make sure his company has control of it. This leads to an inevitable confrontation that ends up causing real world danger to Wade and his friends.
Ready Player One is a fantastic and imaginative story.
I loved this movie and will definitely be seeing it again. I had been waiting to see this film since the initial trailer release, and was one of those folks who read the book before it became a best seller. The book and the movie were wildly different, but both equally good. I find that I enjoy books and films for what they are, which is different mediums of entertainment.
Ready Player One is a nerds dream come true. The ability to play a never ending video game in virtual reality is a crazy concept. The book and movie are both filled with geek and pop culture references and will have even the geekiest fan failing to catch all of the retro video game nods. The book is a bit more sexually explicit than the film, but the movie is more violent and intense. I would advise that parents give this a watch prior to letting any children view it. For everyone else I give this film my recommendation. It’ll have you smiling the whole way through.
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn
Rated: PG13
Runtime: 2hr 20min
HFR Rating:
