Review #1,362: 'Ready Player One' (2018)

When I was kid and the Super Nintendo was most people's console of choice, I played Street Fighter II a hell of a lot, often venting my frustration whenever I lost a fight (my blood boils at the very mention of Sagat). My grandmother took the controller to a computer shop in order to buy a replacement and, seeing my teeth marks etched into the control pad, the guy behind the counter asked if we had a dog. It was at this point I realised that I didn't quite have the temperament for gaming, and pretty much stayed away ever since. For this reason, I went into Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One thinking that I wasn't the target audience, but I enjoyed Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, so approached the film with an open mind. It struck me early on that this in fact isn't a movie for gamers, but for fans of pop culture. Barely thirty seconds go by without a recognisable character, vehicle or weapon gracing the screen. You could watch Ready Player One a hundred times and still miss something.

It's 2044 and many of the planet's great cities have turned into slums, with much of the population crammed into small apartments stacked on top of one another. To relieve themselves of this miserable reality, most regularly escape into a virtual reality world called OASIS - created by genius and innovator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) - which allows the player to do pretty much whatever they want, be it climb a mountain with Batman or participate in huge battles without the fear of being hurt or killed. The recent death of Halliday was followed by the announcement that three hidden keys have been hidden somewhere in the game that will lead to an 'Easter Egg'. The one to find it will be handed full ownership of OASIS, and with it unimaginable power and wealth. One participant is Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), an orphaned 17 year-old who lives with his aunt and her bully of a boyfriend in a slum known as The Stacks. Every day he escapes the real world to take part in a seemingly unwinnable race to find the first key.

The sheer volume of pop culture references would normally distract from the story being told, but Spielberg maintains a grip on the action and lays out this new world and its many rules in a coherent manner. The novel by Ernest Cline (which I haven't read) was actually heavily inspired by Spielberg's movies, but aside from the appearance of Jurassic Park's T-Rex, Spielberg mostly avoids referencing himself. He is probably the best man for the job, especially when you consider how Spielberg's fantasy-based movies were so memorable because they kept at least one foot on the ground. Ironically, if there is a big criticism to be thrown at Ready Player One, it's that it struggles to engage when the action is outside of the OASIS, and only really comes to life when within the virtual world. Perhaps this is the point, but when the hero's ultimate quest is to save the real world from falling under the control of an evil corporation named Innovative Online Industries and its slimy CEO Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), it becomes difficult to truly grasp the stakes.

It's irresistible fun to be inside a world without limits, and the special effects department do an exceptional job of envisioning it. Each character can create their own avatar (Wade turns himself into a dashing hipster named Parzival), and purchase weapons and gadgets famous from pop culture. One character is even building an Iron Giant. Wade falls for a manga-eyed rebel named Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) who, as his best friend is keen to point out, could be a fat guy in his mother's basement for all he knows. He frets over what outfit to wear for their date, changing from Michael Jackson to Duran Duran before settling on Buckaroo Banzai. Spielberg has fun playing around with these elements, and it's all scarily believable. But Ready Player One isn't concerned with exploring the psychological and social consequences of such a widespread and immersive gaming experience, and asks that you simply enjoy the ride. And this is perfectly fine, since the ride is thoroughly entertaining. You will likely find yourself urging the movie to go deeper, but by the time Mechagodzilla arrives to battle an army that includes the likes of Bowser, Duke Nukem and Superman, you'll be too busy swimming in Nerd-vana to care.


Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Hannah John-Kamen
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,255: 'The Limehouse Golem' (2016)

The Limehouse Golem, adapted from the novel by Peter Ackroyd, has lingered in development hell for years, being passed between various directors and actors (Alan Rickman pulled out at the last minute due to his failing health), before finally getting the green light in the hands of rookie filmmaker Juan Carlos Medina and screenwriter Jane Goldman. Boasting a terrific cast, a blood-drenched, smog-filled atmosphere, and a murder mystery that is as grisly as it is engaging, the film has sadly struggled to find an audience. With a measly number of ratings just shy of 4,000 on IMDb, its failure is truly unfortunate. The Limehouse Golem is, at its heart, a Sherlock Holmes-esque mystery set in a pre-Jack the Ripper London, complete with a frustrated detective, a handful of red herrings, a small band of colourful suspects. But dig a little deeper, and there's an interesting feminist work at play.

Beginning, as charismatic music hall performer Dan Leno (Douglas Booth) announces, at the end, Medina introduces to this eternally grey world with the death-by-poison of wannabe playwright John Cree (Sam Reid). His wife Lizzie (Olivia Cooke) is distraught, but her conniving maid Aveline (Maria Valverde) - whose role in the story becomes clearer through flashbacks - drops the hint to police that Lizzie is the one to make his nightcaps, and insisted on doing so the night the husband she wasn't very fond of died. The beginning, at we come to learn, is more like the middle, as this opening scene not only sets in motion Lizzie's story (she is arrested and faces the noose is found guilty), but may also hold the key to the identity of a brutal killer who has terrified the community of Limehouse with a series of nasty slayings - The Limehouse Golem.

We learn of the Golem's activities through John Kildare (Bill Nighy), a disliked Scotland Yard investigator brought in as a scapegoat when previous investigations have led to dead ends. Upright and quietly-spoken, Kildare is known as "not the marrying type," and has therefore found himself dumped in menial department ushered away in some dark corner, despite his obvious skills in the field. To help navigate the filthy slums, he procures the help of highly competent copper George Flood (Daniel Mays). Yet Kildare's hunt for the killer is made even more desperate by the ticking-clock that is Lizzie's trial, and saving her from the gallows becomes as equally important as preventing another murder victim. Man's urge to rescue a 'woman in need' is a prime focus of Medina's film, and Lizzie seems to find one at every turn. A victim of childhood abuse, she is also doted over by Cree, a nice guy on the face of it, but one driven by the need to sweep a girl away from nothing and into his handsome, middle-class arms.

Kildare quickly learns that Lizzie doesn't need to be, or even want to be, saved. Nighy may have received top billing, but this is very much Cooke's film. She has the most screen time, and handles Lizzie's development from a strong-willed working-class girl, into a star of the music hall, and eventually into a possible murderer, astonishingly well. As Leno, Booth plays the role like a big-toothed and less annoying version of Russell Brand, and shows remarkable restraint and skill in avoiding stumbling into caricature. But much praise must also be lavished on Medina and Goldman, who both manage to juggle the thrills and intrigue of a Victorian whodunit with a character piece that reveals far more layers than you would expect. When it does delve deeper into the mystery, Medina relishes the squalor, employing different characters to monologue the killer's diary as Kildare lines up the suspects, and delivering some surprisingly gory moments. Surely a film destined to enjoy cult success later in life, The Limehouse Golem is a truly unexpected delight.


Directed by: Juan Carlos Medina
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth, Daniel Mays, María Valverde, Eddie Marsan, Sam Reid
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie