Ready Player One, slightly longer thoughts

[madbaker]

Capsule version: despite what the credits say, it is "inspired by" rather than a film of the novel. The overall plot is the same but it's not the same story. They nuked the video games and other '80s references in the name of marketing accessibility, although on the upside the plot was significantly tightened and the support characters improved so that the protagonist isn't doing everything.

Slightly expanded version: I was underwhelmed by the opening car race. I suspect that was done to both widen the appeal from video games and D&D, as well as give an opening action sequence. Mark Rylance made a good awkward (perhaps borderline Asperger) programmer geek.

Moderately fun, not a must-see. It kind of felt like Spielberg walked through it, which I'm sure is unfair but there it is. "One f-bomb for ratings purposes, check. Time to give side character something to do, check. Mandatory 'd'awww' moment, check."

Unfortunately the two Japanese supporting characters were still minor supporting characters. At least Aitch and Art3mis got more to do.

Comments

[aimeric]

I'm told licensing caused some issues, from most of the video game exclusions to the loss of the film sync sequences. Not to mention what sounds like a horrific choice to replace Ultraman with. They ranged into the 90's and beyond, too, I'm told. Still, I'm curious how they do with the overall tone and themes of the book (plus avoiding Cline's sometimes clunky prose in favor of Spielberg's visuals sounds like a win...)

I'll still probably go see it, I'll just be going in with low expectations.