NOSTALGIA: Steven Spielberg’s magic returns to the big screen.
By Maxen Olvera, Staff Writer
Ready Player One is a movie adaptation of a book by Ernest Cline, directed by Steven Spielberg starring Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts/ Parzival, Lena Waithe as Aech/ Helen, Olivia Cooke as Art3mis/ Samantha, and Mark Rylance as James Halliday. The film’s plot takes place in the near future, where the world has become so unbearable that everyone escapes into a virtual world called the OASIS. In the OASIS you can be anybody you want. If you want to be thin, better looking, or a different race you can be that in the OASIS. The story starts when James Halliday ( co-creator of the OASIS) dies and leaves a series of 3 quests with keys that lead to the finding of an “easter egg”. Whoever finds the “easter egg” will earn Halliday’s multi-billion dollar fortune and gain complete control of the OASIS. Wade Watts finds the first key as his avatar Parzival. Then all his friends, Aech, Art3mis, Shoto, and Daito find the key doing the same quest. However, the friends’ lives are threatened when a man named Nolan Sorrento, the head of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) , decides to do whatever it takes to get the egg, even if it means killing the teenagers.
Steven Spielberg is the perfect choice to direct this film, as it is a love letter to the 1980s. He is credited for defining the 1980s as an imaginative time. With this film he brings back his imaginative view of the world and creates an amazing virtual world where anything is possible.
Watching this film is a captivating theater experience. The fun is found in the “easter eggs” in a movie about an “easter egg”. For example, there are continuous references to 1980’s pop culture that make the audience nostalgic, allowing fans in that era to see things that they only dreamed of. At one point, the main character Parzival drives the Back To The Future Delorean with K.I.T.T from Knight Rider inside the car. There are appearances from notable video game characters, TV characters, and movie characters such as Batman and The Iron Giant. This makes seeing the movie a different experience each time because you spot something new every time.
Ready Player One is a highly recommended sci-fi movie for fans of pop culture and geeks everywhere. The movie’s central message is if you’re passionate about something in pop culture be proud of it. I predict the movie will become a classic because it is a true underdog story that is about dreamers. Ready Player One explores what you’re capable of and what you can accomplish with your imagination.