It feels like the Russo Brothers are the only filmmakers toactively benefit from the Marvel Studios system, andThe Electric Statedefinitively proves that.Theiroutrageously overpricedclunker is a real low point in their post-MCU career, as it misguidedly tries to convince the audience that an algorithmic approach to storytelling works. What makes it so disastrous is that a movie with a similar premise (a sci-fi spectacle about technology rooted in nostalgia) has worked before, asReady Player Oneproved, directed by the guy the Russos are clearly so inspired by,Steven Spielberg. While far from his best work,Ready Player Oneis worth going back to for no other reason thanit proves that Spielberg is still the undisputed master of the blockbuster form.
What Is Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ About?
In 2045, after unexplored society-changing events,people spend most of their time in ramshackle homes, plugged into an online matrix game called the Oasis. In this world, people can envision themselves as whoever they want to be, completely submerged in a reality dominated by pop culture ephemera and strict video game logic. Superfan Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) knows all the ins-and-outs of the game and its legendary creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), which will come in handy for the ultimate quest. Before he died, Halliday pulleda Willy Wonkaand left clues to three keys throughout Oasis, andwhoever finds all three keys gets full ownership of Oasis and Halliday’s empire.
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The iconic director gave it a good, solid 6 months.
With the help of his best friend, Aech (Lena Waithe), and the infamous badass Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Wade must unlock the secrets to Halliday’s legacy before Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), head of the fascistic IOI corporation, gets to it first. Based on a novel that people took too long to realize was horribly dated when you looked past its charming geekiness,Ready Player Oneis stuck with a fairly mediocre plot that prevents it from being anywhere nearSpielberg’s upper echelon. However, in theHoward Hawkstradition of a film being “three good scenes and no bad ones,“it has so many finely calibrated highsthat the sugar rush blasts you through the dry spots.
‘Ready Player One’s Setpieces Are Extremely Impressive
Needless to say, for a film that works hard to become the embodiment of “popcorn,” it’s in the huge setpieces that take place in the Oasis where Spielberg’s magic roars to life. A series of firework displays are sprinkled throughout the runtime thatsing with the symphonic command of cinema’s immediacy that has long been his special X factor. The sequence where thegang re-experiencesThe Shiningis a staggering recreation of theStanley Kubrickclassic, nailing the exact details of the film grain and proving whySpielberg should try horror more often. There’s a dance sequence in a nightclub that goes fullSaturday Night Feverin zero gravity with an ever-circling and swooping camera that has a real sensuality and heat to it, despite being an entirely CGI scene.
While the climactic fight is explosive fun and loaded with nerd icons likethe Iron GiantandChucky, it’s the first big car race that’s the real pièce de résistance, serving as a breathtaking roller coaster that’s a glossy monument to how muchSpielberg still outclasses both his contemporaries and the generation that he inspired. In this one sequence alone, we get the best possible versions of the fully-CGI fantasia ofGeorge Lucas, the experimental motion capture people ofRobert Zemeckis, the controlled chaos ofMichael Bay, and the kinetic freeflying ofJ.J. Abrams,all done with a precision and clarity that nobody else (besides maybeJames Cameron) can pull off so effectively.
‘Ready Player One’ Is Further Proof That Steven Spielberg Is One of the Greats
Despite the relatively competent standard of the source material and subsequent script, Spielberg still manages to bring some kind of heart out of it. Past his pyrotechnics,his greatest storytelling ability has always been his ability to find humanityin all his characters, no matter how cliché they may be. Even if the romance between Wade and Art3mis is undercooked, and even if Nolan is the mostmustache-twirling bad guypossible, Spielberg builds such chemistry between the actors and gives the characters little moments of grace that make them more than they were on the page. If any one quality separates the Russo Brothers from him, it’s that skill at finding home-grown humanity. They have frequently shown that, unless they’re working with alreadylong-established characters with pre-built-in appeal, they can’t create their own unique narratives.
All the Russo brothers’non-MCU moviesfall so flat, not because they try to be spectacular or are based on older ideas, but because they all feel so hollow and unimaginative in their storytelling. Steven Spielberg continues to prove he’s the greatest at Hollywood blockbuster storytelling as he fuses the concepts of numerous older films and fictions with his innate touch for humankind and his eye for the awe-inspiring, something that the Russos still struggle with. Even middle-of-the-pack Spielberg can be more impressive than the very best of the Russo Brothers.
Ready Player One
When the creator of a virtual reality called the OASIS dies, he makes a posthumous challenge to all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune and control of his world.
