Ready Player One Parent Guide

In the year 2045, the Earth is a disparaging place. So much so that most of the populace would rather live in a virtual world called the OASIS. Once within the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (known as a MMORPG to gamers), a person can go anywhere and be anyone. This escape from reality has become so popular that people everywhere can be seen wearing the game goggles, and the real world’s economic system is now completely entangled in what’s happening in the virtual world.

The intensity of play becomes even greater after the death of its creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance). A posthumous video explains he has hidden an “Easter Egg” within the OASIS. Anyone who can beat the challenges and find three keys, may unlock the treasure, which is Halliday’s fortune and complete control over the game. Needless to say, this motivation sets off a frenzy of activity.

Amongst those vying for the big award is Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a teen who lives in what is best described as a trailer park, stacked six stories high, in the midst of a ghetto-looking Columbus, Ohio. In the game Wade embodies an avatar (computer representation of a real world player) called Parzival. Working with his virtual friends, a feisty female named Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), a hulky mechanical genius (Lena Waithe), and a couple of talented warriors (Win Morisaki and Philip Zhao), the High Five team is convinced they can solve the puzzle and turn their lives around.

Even more eager to get his hands on the prize is Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), head of a large technology firm that has invested heavily into winning control of this huge financial opportunity. Hiring hundreds of employees, his army is scouring the OASIS looking for clues and crippling any perceived competition. His second in command (Hannah John-Kamen) is even willing to hunt down and destroy their enemies in the real world too.

Like the sci-fi novel on which it’s based, Ready Player One is saturated in 1980s pop culture references and offers a hipster geek-fest of visuals and video game glory moments. Much of the plot takes place in the MMORPG, a realm that offers constant opportunities for violent conflict with fantastical weapons that kill and dismember, confrontations with frightening and ghoulish monsters, and reckless races with amazing vehicles. Gambling and sexual diversions are also possible and are briefly depicted in a couple of scenes (one that includes rear nudity), but within the scope of this movie there’s little time for such distractions. There are lots of violent depictions within the film’s real world too, including gun threats, kidnapping and being forced into servitude.

Although the plot never clearly explains how the average citizen earns money to pay for rent and power, or affords the virtual reality equipment and superior internet services needed to play the game, the production does provide a visual overload. Depending on how you feel about this frenetic motion, you will either leave relieved to see the closing credits or happily anticipating watching it on home video where you’ll have more time to identify the countless odes to movies, games, cars and music.

By the time it’s “game over”, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One feels like the master filmmaker is putting his arm around every millennial in the audience and saying, “Let me take you on a history tour of the golden era of digital culture”, while at the same time leaving a parental-like warning about spending too much time in the addictive environment. Some may argue this lesson on the dangers of embracing virtual reality may be too weak. Others, like my younger seatmate at the theater, may feel like this grandpa is a little out of touch with a modern generation.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.