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Ready Player One a review from a gamer/tech/vr enthusiast angle (might contain minor spoilers)

LZoltowski
Champion
So I came to the theatre with many expectations and a giddy sense of wonder. 

The movie ticked a lot of the right boxes for me, it is 70% CGI animation (think all the best CGI cut scenes from games like Diablo, Overwatch Mini series, Halo, Final Fantasy, GTA etc) and 30% Live action with that Steven Spielberg twist. The movie requires at least two further viewings to spot all the nods to pop and gaming culture.

Some interesting, easy to digest points:
  • Interesting was the use of VR tech that is already in development today, Omni floors for movement, haptic feedback suits, motion chairs etc
  • The movie uses a clever way for facial expressions to be transferred to the VR world with something that is the same tech as the iphone X laser 3d camera and Animoji.. which makes me feel that tech will imitate art on this one pretty soon and we will see this implemented in future HMDs
  • This makes the tech in the movie a bit dated for where it is set 2044. Many of the headsets look like Gear VR or DK1 !!!
  • There are 3 scenes where the VIVE logo is used, I think Oculus really missed a huge opportunity here.
  • The movie has many laugh out loud scenes that will only make sense to gamers, esp RPG and fantasy players.
  • There is an excellent Stanley Kubrick tribute in the middle of the movie which made me smile from ear to ear through the whole thing.
  • The entire thing is a gamers nirvana, with clever nods to the way we play games and how involved we can get in them
  • Entire economies exist because of VR in this movie, with people making money from mods and content creation, I see this happening more and more in VR, people already make money from mods in 2d games, so it's a natural progression.
  • FUCKING GUNDAM FIGHTING MEGA ROBOT GODZILLA SCENE!

I give the movie 8/10 .. its a lot of fun, a  lot of nostalgia feelz and a vision with so much potential! I recommend seeing it on the biggest screen you can in 3d.

When leaving the theatre I overheard a few people say, "I need to get into VR"

Oh and my partner now wants a VR rig ... FML ... there goes the new house fund.
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Be kind to one another 🙂
70 REPLIES 70

Luciferous
Consultant
As mentioned before it is the same way the film industry treated computers when they first came out.

IE War Games, Electric Dreams or Superman 3.

I guess we just have to bite on our knuckles until the general public catch up. Usually punching a wall full power while in super hot underlines the physical realities of it pretty succinctly. 


Zenbane
MVP
MVP
This is not the first movie that is centered on virtual reality though. There have been far more provocative ones in the past. Like Videodrome in 1983.


shadowfrogger
Heroic Explorer
Totally disagree with the comment with using the excuse of changing the story of the book to suit the film.  Certain things have to be changed, but when you change 80% of the characters and story just to make it more appealing to the masses. It's the worst thing in the world, I don't have anything in particular against the film. I just wished they didn't name it after the book.  Now the real story of the book will have to wait a decade for a remake of the film.

Hollywood have done some good book adaptations recently, e.g hunger games, gone girl, girl with a dragon tattoo(u.s version). I was kinda hoping they were over taking a book and converting it to a mass market appealing movie. Bring truthful to the book can still have mass market appeal. They absolutely ruined ghost in the shell.

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Zenbane
MVP
MVP


Totally disagree with the comment with using the excuse of changing the story of the book to suit the film.  Certain things have to be changed, but when you change 80% of the characters and story just to make it more appealing to the masses. It's the worst thing in the world, I don't have anything in particular against the film. I just wished they didn't name it after the book.  Now the real story of the book will have to wait a decade for a remake of the film.

Hollywood have done some good book adaptations recently, e.g hunger games, gone girl, girl with a dragon tattoo(u.s version). I was kinda hoping they were over taking a book and converting it to a mass market appealing movie. Bring truthful to the book can still have mass market appeal. They absolutely ruined ghost in the shell.




I tend to agree, but I also can't help but blame "the general public" for this.

Take a look at the Walking Dead as one example. Every time that the show deviated from the Comic, the show got stronger. Characters that either didn't actually exist in the Comic (Daryl) or died early (Carol) ended up becoming stronger in the show due to the deviation. And what happened when the show stuck to the comics by killing off both Abraham and Glenn? Fans went apeshit.

Glenn's death to Negan's bat was picture perfect with the comic. Next thing you know, fans are publicly announcing that they are no longer going to watch:

The backlash was absurd (I even recall talks of lawsuits against AMC for the Negan violence). It got so bad that AMC changed the rest of the show, and if anyone has ever watched it then you know that things became horrible thereafter in terms of entertainment, plot, and overall character depth:


The fact is that the general public can't handle when the art found in literature truly makes it to the big screen. Writing in itself is an art form, and trying to translate that to the screen is a daunting task. When it happens, the average Derp's mind implodes.

Look at the Avengers: Infinity War as another shining example. In the comic, Thanos murdered half the universe in order to impress Death (a woman) because he was in love with her. There's no way in hell the world would have wanted to see that plot-line at all. Instead we get an epic film based on Thanos' commitment to creating balance in the universe. It works much better for the masses and becomes a box office hit.

I tend to view the general public a bit harshly. I believe that people, in general, are inherently stupid. They don't read. So there is no real benefit to directly translating literary works of art to film.

kojack
MVP
MVP


Electric Dreams



Oh god no, I've been trying to repress all memory of that movie. 😞


Zenbane said:

This is not the first movie that is centered on virtual reality though. There have been far more provocative ones in the past. Like Videodrome in 1983.


Early 3D Head prototype? 🙂

Videodrome was cool.

I like Existenz. Fish gun!
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Luciferous
Consultant
Yeah existenz good movie.see that’s how you do it.

And of of course the 13th floor classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtYdZkPmFoU

LZoltowski
Champion
13th floor is actually fantastic, 

Let's not forget the Lawnmower man! .. 

I guess I enjoyed RPO .. because .. I didn't read the book then I guess, people expect way too much "realism" out of what is sci-fi / fantasy ... (science FICTION). Plus as Zenbane has mentioned ... THE BOOOK AUTHOR co-wrote the screenplay, go and complain to him and not to "Hollywood", clearly he had a different idea for the movie. 

Speaking of "blockbuster" numbers, we have been slightly spoiled when it comes to figures with the complete flood of superheroes, remakes and reboots. 

$582,018,455 mill for a non-franchise, non-sequel book adaptation is a pretty great success, and it will get a sequel.

And before I finish my rant, not a single Stephen King book movie adaptation has been 100% faithful to source material. (well one or two, but there are like 50)

The Shining for example, Kubrick butchered the source material and Stephen King was famously furious with him for it. Almost all supernatural elements were removed by Kubrick. Plus the movie didn't do very well in the cinemas, it made a profit but was not stellar, now it's a "classic".
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Be kind to one another 🙂

Luciferous
Consultant
But as a counter argument RP1 sucks balls

Brainstorm released around the same time a Videodrome, it was the Oculus vs Vive of the time.


I preferred the hardware level geekyness of the Brainstorm system over the lack of control of the Videodrome transmissions. Although Vive had Debbie Harry, I mean Videodrome.


Then there was the Flatliners approach of having near death experiences through technology.... Pimax if you will.

Sterling77
Rising Star
Lawnmower Man was the best interpretation of VR - cool immersive .. God like - I haven't read all this post but I did see RP1 and again it was a gimmick take on many levels, guess we will have to wait for the VR film made in VR and experienced in VR till then.. Im happy in my VR world 🙂 
https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/52965/sterlings-sketchbook