“The first player to get ready”: from geeks, about geeks, for geeks

Steven Spielberg rarely makes movies lately. But it seems as if the project” the First player to prepare ” (Ready Player One) was created for him. It is an action-adventure, steeped in nostalgia for the end of the twentieth century-the time when the adventure genre was ruled by Spielberg films.

The basis of the film adaptation was the novel of the same name by Ernest Kline, and Kline also worked on the script of the film. The story tells how in 2045 the world, which has hardly survived fuel, economic and other social crises, hides from the harsh reality in the virtual reality. This fake world called OASIS was created by James Holliday (mark Rylance, “Spy bridge”, “Dunkirk”), who is compared to Steve jobs in terms of influence on humanity.But, like jobs, Holliday is not eternal-however, he, unlike the prototype from Apple, had no heirs and left a special will: somewhere in the OASIS hid the “Easter egg” (a secret left by the developers, usually not related to the main concept of the game). Whoever found him would have a controlling interest in the company that owned OASIS and all of Halliday’s money.

To get the Easter egg, you need to find three keys — and it is for them hunts the main character, Wade watts nicknamed Parsifal (Ty Sheridan, “Tree of life”, “X-Men: Apocalypse”). Writing such chosen specifically-old aliases with more familiar options already were are busy, and this, modicum and met in literature, mentioned rarely. In addition to Wade, his friends and millions of other users of OASIS for Easter hunting evil Corporation IOI, which wants to take over this virtual world, and with it — and the real world.Childhood and youth of James Holliday fell on the 80-90-ies, and therefore the hunters for the Easter egg (the so-called “paskhanter”) began to dive as deeply as possible into the culture surrounding their idol, trying to get at least some clues. Hence all references to that era. Each frame can be paused and viewed in ultra-resolution: in any pixel there is a character from an old arcade, a house from a comic book, a transport from a cult animated series.

Both the book and the film are full of these quotes, but in the film Spielberg concentrated on the visual component, trying to demonstrate as much detail as possible in the frame. He seemed to be competing with himself, in each subsequent scene collecting references to more franchises than in the previous one. And surprisingly, there is almost no mention of Spielberg’s works — the Director himself so wanted. From the abundance of quotations dazzles in the eyes, but dazzles in a good way-I want to know what will be quoted in the next scene. Therefore, even the timing of the film in more than two hours is not a problem: as long as you remember where the quote comes from, time flies by.I will return to the main social idea of the film. Oasis virtual world gives people freedom. Those who in real life lives in slums from trailers and weighs under couple of quintals, can become darlings fairies any gender and possess any virtual home — only would in-game currency facilitated. If you want-climb Everest in the company of Batman or arrange a slalom on the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Money is earned online, and you can spend it on purchases in real life — for example, on a new treadmill that allows you to move in any direction while standing still, or on costumes that convey movements, touches and blows.

The contrast between reality and virtuality in the film is striking, and it is immediately clear why people are looking for salvation on the Internet. The dull, flat, faded real world is nothing compared to the riot of colors and shapes in OASIS. However, Spielberg diligently translates the idea that you still need to live in the real world, no matter how good the virtual one is. In the end, no, even the best suit with motion capture will not be able to reliably convey the feeling of a live embrace with your girlfriend.

However, it becomes sad, because in the end it turns out that the ability to touch living people is the only plus of existence in the real world compared to the virtual. There is devastation, hunger, dirt, evil Corporation, using child labor, tracking their enemies with drones and can not hesitate to kill anyone. And there, in OASIS, there is its “Delorian”, powerful artifacts, the most different worlds and planet, which can be to visit, can be, in late all, color hair to change slightly whether not every five minutes. And Yes, this world provides access to almost all the media content of the late twentieth century and probably even the entire twenty-first. Who wouldn’t live there? Spielberg wanted to show the advantages of the real world over the virtual, but how much he did it-each viewer decides for himself.

Still I will add that the film in comparison with the book considerably simplified. If in the novel of Ernest Kline ignorance of games or movies prevented fully disclose the plot, then in the film geek’s Outlook rather fills additional points on the scale of pleasure, the label on which already fluctuates quite high. The film adaptation itself looks like a wonderful entertainment movie-bright, dynamic, high-quality. And, as befits an entertaining movie, understandable to a mere mortal.

For example, for this purpose rejuvenated quotes — in the film adaptation more games and movies of this century, instead of the last are mentioned. The social and political issues detailed in the book are almost completely omitted, with more focus on the action and romantic line. In this genre, no one wants to ponder the philosophy of escapism: it is much more interesting to look at the familiar from childhood “Delorian”, the crumbling towers of king Kong, a huge Tyrannosaurus, and all this-under the tracks stuck in the subcortex. And there was the main Hollywood geek Simon Pegg (“a Zombie named Sean”, “Like cool cops”, “Armageddon”, “Star trek”), and the music was written by Alan Silvestri (“Back to the future”, “Forrest Gump”).
It’s an entertaining movie at its best, and no one else but Spielberg could have made it that way. This film combines the breathtaking spectacle and saturation with the simplicity of the plot, it pays homage to all the franchises, thanks to which it was born, it is quite contradictory to try to convey to the viewer a banal thought, accompanied by delightfully contrasting pictures. This movie is a roller coaster. Not because there’s the rise, decline, and because it is concentrated, unrestrained, daring and fun.