Based on the popular novel, that mention apart, happens to be one of my favorite books, "Ready Player one" (2018) is the new book adaptation into a motion picture that these days we see happening as a trend, so after becoming a best seller back in 2011, it was meant to be his translation into the big screen, specially after the whole story has so many cinematic references that just not doing it will be such a missed opportunity. It might not b a life changing read or a Pulitzer nominee, but it is such a fun ride, specially for all those with a geek heart that grew up in the 80's and 90's. So what's all this buzz about? Well, the story takes us to the near future, 2045 to be exact, where after globalization and global warming, the planet is suffering an economical recession, leading it's population to a high rate of unemployment, and a drastic separation between low class from the wealthy. In this not so fictional setting we meet Wade, an orphan living with his aunt and her abusive boyfriend. This 17 year old boy in lack of opportunities has been living hiding in a virtual world called the Oasis. For those not familiar with virtual reality, think about this like going online in the internet jut that with the proper gear you'll actually feel like being immersive in this world, so you can create your avatar as whatever your choice is and be a new you, a version of you that always wanted to be. Also not only you can be whatever you want to be or look as your desire but to do whatever you can possible imagine without leaving your room. That's the magic of virtual reality, it can make you feel like being somewhere or do something without actually being there. But also this can be tricky and addictive as a hideout from reality.
And that is exactly what everybody is doing in order to escape their lives and the ugly truth out there. They just log in and build a life in this virtual world that offers more opportunities than the real one. That is until the owner and creator of it dies and leaves a message to all the users, where he left a hidden egg and to be able to find it they will have to go through 3 challenges that will give them three keys to find this egg, and whoever finds it first will heritage all his money and the rights of the Oasis. This starts an east hunt among basically everybody as involve different motives such as the opportunity of become a millionaire and own the biggest company in the world, but for some is just the opportunity to save the place they like the most and make it better for the world. But the challenge is not an easy task and it's been 5 years since the challenge started and no one has even found the first key until the name Parzival, Wade's avatar nickname, shows up on the board leading the score of the race. Unfortunately this will set the bar higher and big corporation with the resources to make things happen will invest everything they have to try to win this but how far can they go until someone stops them Or can a no one be able to win them? The fact that all clues to find and complete the challenge are based in the life of it's creator, a Steve Jobs type of man, and all cover by different hints from pop culture from the 80's, an era where this nerd grew up, making it an immersive experience for anyone else into his world, as if the oasis wouldn't be enough, making it seem like the game is about to get to know and understand it's creator, so who's playing who?
Anyways the real soul of this story relies on the quest of a young boy trying to find love, friendship and himself in a world that seems to have nothing to offer but to hide in an alternative reality where you can actually have a life, like a drug offering you some distraction from your reality. Under the vision of director Steven Spielberg, the movie brings all the magic of his cinematic vision and follows the same story line he got us used to. Bombing the screen with so many references that while in the book seem to be quotes or winks to a golden era, in here feel like a parade trying to prove a point. And this might be the biggest flaw of the movie. While the book became so popular for it's easter egg hunt and all the clues hidden in the pop culture of the 80's, focusing in the search of Parzival to each one of them, in the big screen they changed completely the story to keep the basic story line just adjusting it to make it more as a real race where there is no much time to waste exploring little details but go straight to the action and it bigger, louder, brighter, and not always more means better. We get a visual sugar rush where we prefer to spend more time in the virtual world than knowing what is happening to the real one and it's characters and that is not a good sign. This new adaptation from the original source has made the true fans to reject the movie, by omitting a lot of information that gives the journey of each character a purpose and a real place in this virtual world, rather than just create another collage of the same type of characters looking to appeal to anyone.
While in the book the chase for the hidden egg is longer and full of different challenges that involve a very wide knowledge of pop culture such as movies, tv shows, music, games, books from the 80's, here in the movie, everything seems so simple that we can't but wonder what all the fuzz is about and how come no one figure it out before. In the book, Wide spent most of his life navigating through the Oasis playing video games and watching all movies that by now he knows by memory, giving him that advantage over others, just because sadly he has no other life, no friends, no family to look after him, so he hides in this world to socialize with others and explore different things that at the end will shape him towards the man he will become. And just because the fact that he is a no one and he navigates under water learning all these clues about the life of the creator being able to be unnoticed while everybody else explore out and expose. So when he becomes the first person to find the first key, all eyes will be on him and will become a very popular character, changing his life completely but the race is on and everything is about to change including the fact that he will make new friends and enemies and most important, love. This will come in the shape of his ciber crush, a girls that has been blogging about clues and theories of the location of the hidden egg, and in a world where everyone could be whatever they choose to be, he might be tricked and fall for the wrong person, but deep inside of him, he knows she is a genuine person worth to take the risk and since he has nothing to lose, that makes him stronger.
But hiding and trying to escape reality to live even if it’s a non real scenario fair to compensate whatever is missing? How about real connections? Getting to know someone by hanging with them face to face and be able to see their face expressions and touch them from a hug to a kiss. How can we compensate that? Your feeling towards them will be real but might be based in a fictional, idealistic ground. A big lesson these days where people spend more time online that living out and about. A time where walking down the street looking at your phone and Being more concern about social media than social life. When kids prefer to spend their afternoons playing video games instead of going outside and play sports or ride a bike. A time when dating and meeting new people is all about online sites and apps, where you can pretend to be the person you want but might not be truthful to the reality, leaving us behind of those days where greeting someone at the bar or a party feels so outdated. We have become victims of technology, because it’s easier to escape and pretend than face reality, motivated by our fears we choose the easy way but that doesn’t justify it, there’s nothing as real as reality and the only way to actually embrace life is to be here and Be able to take life as it comes knowing that just as any other reality it will become better we just need to find the right motivation and surround us with the right company to become as strong as any avatar.
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