Get your quarters ready, you’re about to hop in your DeLorean and head back- back to the future of 2045 which is obsessed with 1985 (and beyond). This movie is nerd gamer heaven, if you’re reading this blog you’re the target audience just go out and see the damn thing.
Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is our orphaned protagonist who explains that in 2045 instead of solving our problems, society now just aims to outlive them. They do this in Oasis, the VR world where everyone does everything except for eat and sleep. Wade aka Parzival plays with his crew Aech (Lena Waithe), Daito (Win Morisaki), and Sho (Philip Zao). While some are just content to live and blow stuff up in this VR world, Wade and his friends are hardcore gamers. They are gunters, or players searching for the Easter Egg left behind by Oasis creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance). There are 3 challenges which produce 3 keys. Whoever gets all 3 keys unlocks the big Easter Egg Halliday has left behind and gains ownership and control of Oasis. Unfortunately, there’s also a rival company IOI led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn). They want complete ownership of Oasis so they can basically milk the users dry and make all the moneys.
The film follows Wade aka Parzival and his best bud Aech as they try to unlock the first challenge which quickly unfolds into Parsival becoming aware of a larger struggle thanks to Art3mis (Olivia Cooke). Together, they will try to stop IOI from winning and basically making the world a lot more horrible place.
Wade successfully comes off as the earnest gamer with a heart of gold backed up by his much more savvy best bud Aech. Aech is one of the best things about this movie, and has most of the funny moments in the film, especially when they get to the Shining level. Though quite honestly the cast’s overall chemistry is excellent. They should easily resonate with anyone who has gamed with friends. Mendelsohn gives a brilliant mix of laughs and villainy with Sorrento. His hired gun, I-R0k (T.J. Miller) provides the comedy relief on the villains side and he’s definitely a stand out character. I didn’t expect a ton of humor but it’s definitely one of the strongsuits of this flick.
So of course a movie set in a videogame created by a super genius nerd obsessed with pop culture and games will have tons of visual easter eggs. Half the fun is catching and cheering like a kid when you notice them. Especially for one of the last bigger battles when you realize a Gundam is going to fight MechaGodzilla. The scenes with the characters as their cgi avatars manage to be as emotionally compelling as when they switch to real life. I particularly enjoyed how they explored the life of James Halliday, which had a touch of sadness to it. Overall, I think it has a really touching message about the importance of human connection and getting over the fear of putting yourself out there to make these connections.
Like I said, this film really has everything a gaming nerd could want in it. Go see this now! This is a great movie to see in IMAX and/or 3D. You may even wind up seeing it twice to catch all the visual references you missed the first time around.
Why am I Adulting 