After a pretty impressive-yet-cryptic teaser trailer released in the wake of San Diego Comic-Con, Ready Player One has given us a newer, closer look at the world of Wade Watts and his fight for the Oasis. This latest sizzle reel is so gorgeous we've had to watch it several times in a row, and in those viewings, we've noticed quite a few moments that have buried themselves into our subconscious. With that in mind, here are the 13 most bodaciously badass moments from Ready Player One's new trailer.
We Get The Iconic Cover Image
Right from the beginning, Ready Player One manages to pull the iconic front cover image of The Stacks in Columbus, Ohio in picture perfect details. When it comes to a book like this, it's obviously the moments that are ripped from the pages that really appeal to fans who were already on board for the project. When you nail a moment like this, it makes everything else much smoother.
How New York City Shifts Looks Top Notch
Of course, even if you're trying to adapt a story like Ready Player One, you still want to include some new moments for folks to get excited about. And the virtual representation of the city that never sleeps is one of those segments that shines, as you see the Oasis's copy of New York City shifting and constructing itself into a kick-assed race course. Put that together with the footage from the original teaser which shows a rough and tumble street race with Parzival's Delorean tearing up the city, and you can begin to see why this is such a big deal.
Parzival's Avatar Sticks The Landing
First impressions are everything, and Parzival's avatar was always going to be something that really needed to stick the landing. It's like a living, breathing anime character has stepped into life, as Wade's avatar -- named after a famed knight of the round table -- steps into his Delorean for the first time. Looking almost like Jack Frost from Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians, the icy blue eyes and platinum blonde hair make for a stark contrast between Wade's personal and virtual appearance, something that gets some serious mileage in the story of Ready Player One's more emotional message.
We See The Egg
In some cases, showing off the final prize in a quest like Ready Player One feels like cheating. Here, considering all of the pitfalls, chases, and various keys that are involved in such a quest, it's not a terrible thing to show audience members old and new to see just what's at stake. And at the center of this quest is a great big egg of fire, reminiscent of something from a Harry Potter movie.
We Also See The First Key
The first big victory for Wade's quest of Oasis glory comes from winning the Copper Key, courtesy of a successful playthrough of Dungeons of Daggorath, followed by a role-play through key scenes of WarGames. While we're not sure if the Matthew Broderick classic will appear, or how much of it will appear, the video game portion looks well in tact, with Tye Sheridan's Wade accepting the key from a wizard modeled after Mark Rylance's Halliday.
Introducing Nolan Sorrento
With the first big plot details being laid out for Ready Player One, a glimpse at the film's big bad was bound to happen. And sure enough, Ben Mendelsohn's Nolan Sorrento, CEO of Halliday's rival company, IOI, makes his first appearances throughout this reel. A vicious corporate climber who wants to turn the more utilitarian Oasis into a money-making machine, he's behind all of the world of hurt and panic that Wade Watts and his friends will encounter in Ready Player One. Judging by that scene where he's toting a gun, as well as the next one we're about to discuss, he's clearly not a man to be trifled with.
The Stacks' Destruction Is Intense
A crucial moment in the first act of Ready Player One is the destruction of Wade's childhood home, in the skyscraper-esque trailer park known as "The Stacks". The first sign that Wade's victory in chasing the Copper Key is an appetizer to a much deadlier game, it's another one of those parts of the story that if it doesn't work, a lot of the over-arching framework to the story doesn't work. Sure enough, this violent act looks like it's going to land the punch, putting the audience square behind Wade in his journey to glory.
King Kong Returns
The recreation of New York is an exciting enough addition to Ready Player One's action-packed adventure. However, including King Kong in the proceedings is something that not only speaks to Steven Spielberg's film geek cred, but also speaks to a lot of the IP swaps that make up the film adaptation of Ernest Cline's best-selling novel. With video game characters like Tracer from Overwatch, horror villains like Chucky from Child's Play, and even the Orcs from Lord of the Rings, we may not see the same 80s fixtures that made the book what it was, but we'll see some exciting substitutes that resonate with a more modern audience.
That Bike Jump Though
A central action set piece, as you can see by how many times we've mentioned it in this write up, is the New York race sequence. And just when we thought we couldn't talk it up any more than we have, in comes that moment where Parzival and Art3mis meet in mid-air, after Art3mis does that sweet jump off of her bike and lifts Parzival into the air. The whole key to Ready Player One's spectacle is the fact that the virtual world in the Oasis is so impossibly brilliant, it can make the impossible possible. And if that doesn't sell you, then the next aspect should.
Zero-G Dancing
We've seen zero-G dancing in Ready Player One with the first trailer, but there's a new aspect that really takes this sequence at Ogden Morrow's big birthday party to the next level. Seeing Parzival and Art3mis dancing on their own little disco floors, amidst the chaotic excitement of so many other dancers, tears that scene right out of the book and transfers it to the screen in living color. Also, if you want a really cool DC flavored easter egg in this big Warner Bros tentpole, you've got one with the Joker / Harley duo also seen dancing in mid-air.
The Battle Of Castle Anorak
Making up the big, bad finale of the quest for the Oasis is the scene known as "The Battle of Castle Anorak." With a stark, snowy battleground as the backdrop, we see scores of pop culture-fueled avatars fighting to take the still mysterious castle, thanks to Wade and Parzival's impassioned speech, a Say Anything callback. This is the ultimate showdown of intellectual properties and users of the system versus the system itself, so if the film version lives up to the book battle in Ready Player One, it'll finish as beautifully as it starts.
The Iron Giant Charges Into Battle
Two moments make up the 1,2, punch that is the end of Ready Player One's first full trailer, and the first one is pretty damned heroic. For all of us who have grown to love, or grew up with, Brad Bird's version of The Iron Giant, seeing the titular hero charging into battle is something that brings a tear to our eyes, and a cheer to our throats. If there was ever a symbol for peace and justice that we've wanted to see lead a charge, that hasn't already been brought to the live-action screen, he'd be the one.
A Very Familiar Musical Stinger
As if the the visuals in the Ready Player One trailer weren't enough, there's a beautiful tribute to one of the 80s classics we will see referenced from the Steven Spielberg canon. Seeing as the legendary director isn't shy about using Back to the Future in his film, seeing as he only executive produced the film, the inclusion of the legendary stinger that opens the film is the nostalgic cherry we never knew we needed on this sundae of cinema. Even better is the fact that when credit block comes up, the first name on the pile is that of composer Alan Silvestri, the man who not only created the iconic Back to the Future scores, but also has the scoring duties on Ready Player One. Hope you like the Back to the Future theme, because you'll probably be hearing it quite a bit.
Ready Player One hits theaters on March 30th, 2018.
