An excerpt from my script review for Ready Player One which will be available 04/02/18:
4.) Dialogue and Description
Okay, here’s some good stuff.
The description was practically bang on by sprinkling in the style I’m a fan of without overdoing it.
Page 2:
They are called GUNTERS. That too will be on the quiz.
Notice how subtly stated the importance of that name is, and because we’re going to see a cool race, we won’t waste time now explaining what “gunters” are.
Page 17:
An image of AECH comes up; like the graphics over any sports
broadcast, his avatar moves and poses and winks.
This is a “place holder” image, and by using the “sports broadcast” reference, even a less than enthusiastic sports fan like myself can understand the visual that will appear onscreen easily and efficiently.
Page 35:
It looks similar to SLAVE 1, Boba Fett’s ship from Star
Wars, but not so similar that a lawsuit could be filed.
Probably more of a tongue in cheek joke than actual legal protection, but I laughed.
Page 85:
Cynical dicks can turn the page now, but the song has its
magic and it WORKS. Artemis smiles, clearly into it.
Although I didn’t buy into the love story, this was still a clever way at hinting a cheesy love scene was about to unfold.
Page 86:
… as Wade and Artemis connect on a more physical level.
And by that I mean sex. They have sex with each other. Or
however much people feel comfortable with these days, which
is probably more prudish than it should be, but whatever.
Insert cheesy love scene!
This was interesting to me having watched a video about the recent IT reboot. It was mentioned that an initial draft included the infamous child orgy from the novel. Stephen King, when asked about it, said, “Times were different when I wrote that,” and then a bunch of people defended by arguing we’re prudes now.
I mean, I get it, we’re becoming more protective, but leave the too sexy stuff out of a project like this. This is a video game movie, and don’t trick parents or grandparents like my grandmother who took my cousin and I to see White Men Can’t Jump because she thought it was just a movie about basketball.
(And I’ve not reached that part in the novel yet, but I have a hard time imagining how a child orgy, especially with only one little girl, doesn’t come across as fucking creepy, regardless of when it was written.)
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