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Was the Film Adaptation of READY PLAYER ONE Better Than the Book?

Alysia Stevenson

Staff Writer

Alysia Stevenson is a 26 year old born and bred New Yorker with a passion for Shakespeare, British and African-American Literature. She holds a Master's Degree in Literature and Creative Writing. When she's not spending time with her family, boyfriend and two dogs named Eleni and Dixon, you can find her working on her debut novel and watching YouTube. She currently lives in Tampa.

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One of my first articles for BookRiot was me basically talking about my disdain for Ernest Cline’s debut novel Ready Player One. My prediction was basically that since my boyfriend enjoyed the book, he would not like the movie, and vice versa for me. Last night, I finally got to watch the cinematic adaptation. And guess what? My prediction was correct.

The movie exceeded my expectations and then some, which I had a feeling it would; while my boyfriend complained about why they changed so much in the film. As an avid reader, I knew that changes were coming, I just wasn’t expecting so many. Spielberg was able to take a disaster of a book, and make the movie interesting and exciting (just like he did with Minority Report). Practically every bit of Cline’s over descriptiveness is gone, which surprised me, considering he wrote the screenplay as well.

One of the best parts of the movie was the character development of Nolan Sorrento, head of IOI and main antagonist. To me, in the novel, Sorrento was just there, yeah he was the bad guy; but Cline did nothing to develop him. Spielberg did more than just make him the bad guy, he gave him a small backstory, in which we find out his plans of what he would do if he controlled the Oasis.

I also found Wade to me a more likable, less annoying character, which surprised me the most. He’s still a fanboy, but, Spielberg cut out the part in the novel where Wade becomes obsessed with getting Art3mis back after she tells him to leave him alone. Because, as everyone knows, persistence doesn’t work. I’d like to think that someone explained to Cline that behavior like that is incredibly problematic, but that’s a conversation for a different day.

If you want my word of advice, skip the book all together (unless you like torturing yourself) and watch the movie. I also got word that Cline plans on writing a sequel to Ready Player One. I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe his writing as an author improves. But if not, he has one hell of a career as a screenwriter.