Review of Ready Player One

In 2009 'South Park', the animated tv show (and best current affairs programme on any US TV channel) showcases a three-part arc called 'Imaginationland'. Satirising the American paranoia of terrorist threats and access to too much violent pop culture, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone conjured a fantasy land, accessible via the Stargate portal, containing every pop cultural hero and villain from Zeus to the Terminator and beyond. 'Imaginationland' has since become a genre where books, games, films and TV shows use a panoply of pop culture franchises to populate its roster of settings and characters. The first of its kind was arguably Zach Snyder's 2009 'Sucker Punch' wherein the abused denizens of a strip club escaped into a fantasy land of anime warriors and robots, zombie invasions and superhero worlds in order to thwart an aggressor. 'The Cabin in the Woods' pitted college kids in a log cabin against a veritable vending machine of successive horror archetypes. 'The Lego Movie' arguably copied the 'Imaginationland' plot more, utilising the many franchises licensed to Lego to people it's Universe. The novel 'Ready Player One' was published in 2011 and continues in the 'Imaginationland' trope. This time a poor but good kid (in his mid twenties!) enters the Oasis a virtual reality world to escape his slum life and combat and compete with avatars of every pop cultural character from Beetlejuce to the Iron Giant. He falls for Artemis, a female rebel highly reminiscent of the Lego Movie's "Wildstyle". His band of suitably diverse (think the Lost Boys of Spielberg's 'Hook') friends are racing for the golden ticket style keys to Mark Rylance's autistic Wonka "Halliday"'s kingdom. Control of the Oasis itself. Add Ben Mendelssohn's effective but off the peg corporate bad guy Nolan and the film is set for showdown twixt good and evil. Spielberg has his name on the marquee but as the effects are labelled on, by myriad effects houses, the impact is lessened. It's thrilling initially to see Tron like soldiers chase the Delorean into the arms of King Kong. However the wonder lessens to the same surprise one might have for a pinball feature from a pinball's eye view. The hero, Wade, may drive the Delorean but at least audiences cared about Marty Mcfly.