“Ready Player Two” – Ernest Cline

Once upon a time, back in 2011, I read a book that changed my life.

It was a story about me, or, at least, I saw a lot of me in the main character. A lovable high school loser who loved video games and movies of a bygone era. He related and compared his life to that of the characters in the game and movies he loved so much. Then, throw in there the most savage scavenger hunt ever conceived for the ultimate prize. “‘Willy Wonka’ meets ‘The Matrix'” as so flawlessly described by USA Today.

Nine years later and after an abysmal film adaptation, the sequel to the NYT bestseller brought about an older Wade “Parzival” Watts living the life of a recluse billionaire; hidden away (though not ignorant) from all the major issues of the world that seem to be worse than ever. Along with the older Wade comes a different OASIS experience known as ONI that gives the user a seamless experience that gratifies the senses so intensely, it fools the user’s brain into thinking it’s real.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK YET!!

“Ready Player One” – The Movie

This feels like an end of an era… or certainly a long time coming. If you’ve read pretty much anything I’ve written-especially in the last three years-you’d know that I’ve dedicated a tremendous amount of time writing about “Ready Player One” the book and how I’ve been anticipating, speculating, and rumor-trafficking how the movie would be adapted from the 2011 novel. Now that I have had a proper amount of time to digest the 2 hour and 20 minute adaptation, I have a few choice words for it. This review will be more of a comparative analysis of book-to-movie and chock-full of spoilers and maybe an Easter Egg or two. Hey… it is Easter Sunday after all. 

New “Ready Player One” Trailer

The feels…

“Ready Player One” Trailer Reaction

Back in July, during Comic-Con, the first trailer for “Ready Player One” dropped. It was a magical sight to behold flooded with pop-culture references from the 80’s and 90’s. Too many to count. I have been obsessing over this book for over six years and this was truly one of the first times I’ve ever followed so closely the transformation and adaptation from a book I loved so much into a film that has now become one of the most highly-anticipated movies of my lifetime.

Rumors had been circulating this past week about a new trailer dropping during “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” But luckily, the seemingly ever-growing fans of this universe created by Ernest Cline didn’t have to wait an extra week (for the trailer.) As fans now dissect the trailer frame-by-frame looking for all the Easter eggs, I take a more big picture approach. As painful as it is for me, I don’t do that because I don’t want to stumble across any spoilers.

But wait, you might say to yourself, “How can there be spoilers? You’ve already read the book.” Well, I’ve already noticed a few glaring differences between the book and the film adaptation. This is ALWAYS the case. But I’m not worried. Not one bit. I also like the idea of the movie serving as a giant Easter egg in and of itself for me. I’ve already noticed from watching the trailer at regular speed just twice references to the following movies and video games: King Kong (or Donkey Kong), Gunadm, Chocobo from Final Fantasy, DeLorean’s from “Back to the Future,” “The Iron Giant,” and “Star Wars.”

But you gotta look really careful.

The new trailer is stunning; much darker and ominous than the first. We see exactly how Wade’s (Parzival’s) avatar looks in the OASIS and just how visually spectacular this is going to be. Opening March 30, 2018. As of this posting that’s three months and twenty days.

BRING IT!!

“Ready Player One” Main Theme

Listen to this thing of beauty. You all can hear the striking similarities to “Pure Imagination” (the “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory”) right? Also, the color scheme of the new poster is nearly exact to “E.T.” The new trailer drops in about three hours. Who’s ready?

My Reaction to “Ready Player One” Trailer

The wait is over. (Sort of.) Yesterday at ComicCon, a “Ready Player One” panel consisting of Ernest Cline, Zak Penn, Steven Spielberg, Tye Sheridan, and more proudly premiered the first trailer for a movie I have been waiting nearly three years to see from a book that I’ve been writing about for six.

The trailer alone was more than I could ever hope for. I haven’t been this excited from seeing a movie trailer since the first time I saw the full trailer for “The Dark Knight.” Without trying to reveal any spoilers (from the book) I saw many similarities true to the book and quite a lot of differences. But these differences certainly still feel as if it stays completely dedicated to the soul of the story. As it says in the trailer, “Ernest Cline’s Holy Grail of Pop Culture.” That is exactly what I saw and more.

I saw lots of cinematic similarities to “Minority Report.” But I also saw characters and cinematic properties Robert Zemeckis (“Back to The Future”) and Brad Bird (“The Iron Giant.”) Not to mention characters from Marvel, DC, and Freddy Krueger. Did you also hear the song “Come With Me” from “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory?”

I’m writing in a hurry and not quite sure how to formulate thoughts in any rational way on this one. But I was prepared for this. For the first time, I filmed myself watching the trailer for the first time to truly get a sense of what I was feeling. Go on and laugh at my awkward self as I try to contain my elation.

“Ready Player One” premiers March 30, 2018.

 

First Official Image of “Ready Player One”

Here is the first official image of “Ready Player One” set for a March 30, 2018 release. The photo shows the protagonist Wade Watts (played by Tye Sheridan) wearing his OASIS visor and haptic gloves likely inside his van hideout as it is written in the book. Rumor has it on strong authority that the first trailer will drop at Comic Con in San Diego next week. If the trailer does premiere at Comic Con, (or whenever it does) I will be guest spotting on GTTGP Podcast. Stay tuned for updates as they happen.

SO PSYCHED!!

A Tweet From Ernest Cline (and Listen to GTTGP Podcast!)

This morning I was on my way to work and listening to GTTGP Podcast, which you should totally check out.

Wait…

I haven’t mentioned GTTGP podcast yet, haven’t I? So GTTGP stands for “Get To The Good Part” and it’s a podcast dedicated entirely to a chapter-by-chapter break down of “Ready Player One.” YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HEAR THEM! They’re insightful and go off on just the right amount of tangents to entertain my ADD-riddled brain. I’ve been in contact with one of the hosts as I write this post and hopefully will be able to workout a time to be a guest on one of their upcoming episodes. I’ll keep you all posted.

Maybe if I’m really good, they’ll have me back on for after the movie comes out. (March 30, 2018 release date.)

There is also a spectacular RPO subreddit page that has an amazing community where the GTTGP hosts are avid contributors and interact beautifully with their fans and fellow gunters.

 

So on to my original thought…

It donned on me that principal photography for the “Ready Player One” movie has been done by now. And damn it the RPO community wants to see something good! A trailer perhaps? So I tweeted @erniecline himself and asked. You can see what he had to say… 

“Ready Player One” Primary Cast Announced!!

Last month I shared with you all the news that “Ready Player One” was going to be delayed until March 30, 2018. I just learned that three of the main characters have already been cast. So let’s get to it!

“Ready Player One” Delayed Until 2018

Really quick update. Some unfortunate but understandable news. “Ready Player One” has been pushed all the way back to March 30, 2018 (from the December 15, 2017 original planned release date.) This is due to it not having to compete with the release of “Star Wars: Episode VIII.” “Ready Player One” was originally scheduled to release the same day. You can read the full article here, but I just summed it all up for you.

It’s unfortunate that I have to wait over two years to see the adaptation of my favorite book ever, but considering what it’s going up against, I can’t blame Warner Bros. for making this decision. It’s still possible that filming will still go as scheduled, but not likely. There was rumor a few months back that Spielberg was trying to coax Gene Wilder out of retirement to play the role of James Halliday. If that is true, I really hope that Spielberg can at least get those scenes filmed before Wilder changes his mind or worse.