«Ready Player One»: science fiction that hits the mark

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

The year is 2054. Humanity is facing numerous social, ecological and economic problems. To escape this sad daily life of misery, greyness and overcrowded cities, people take refuge in a virtual world created by billionaire James Halliday. It's a highly-developed game where reality is simulated by a special helmet; a «world where the limits of reality are those of our imagination»: Oasis.

A future already here

The digital beauty of this new Spielberg film provides sensational entertainment, brought to life by photography that, for once, makes wearing 3D glasses worthwhile. However, this sense of wonder is accompanied by a certain unease, and this is to the film's credit: the future it presents to us doesn't seem all that distant, so much so that the human drama of addiction to a game and the transmutation of the real into the virtual is already part of our daily lives.

If, of course, it's not possible to find a virtual reality game as sophisticated and a global phenomenon that goes so far, we have to admit that the same problems can be observed on a smaller, yet significant, scale. Let's just think of Pokemon Go and the delirium that this «in-reality» game generated. But Release was right to note that the very universe of Ready Player One already (almost) existsVRChat allows users to embody fictional characters, with their body movements transcribed.

A mise en abyme of cinema

The feature film currently in theatres has another very interesting quality: under the guise of science fiction, Ready Player One suggests that its object is none other than cinema. Isn't mixing the real and the virtual the very essence of cinema? Isn't the seventh art always, if not science fiction, at least «art fiction»? It certainly is. And perhaps this is the danger of the technological slope we're following: the world mustn't become one big cinema.

This tribute to cinema, skilfully handled if perhaps too rooted in American references, moves forward hand in hand with an obvious ode to pop culture. In this film, superheroes rub shoulders with King Kong, the Simpsons and giant robots. The highly effective soundtrack, with its succession of pop rock hits, takes us into a world that is both fascinating and moving, where suspense, comedy and drama intertwine to our great delight.

«I created the Oasis because I never felt at home in reality.»

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Warner Bros