Filmtracks: Ready Player One (Alan Silvestri)

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Written 4/22/18

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Buy it... if you have long awaited Alan Silvestri's return to the adventurous styling of Back to the Future, Judge Dredd, and Van Helsing, with a touch of Forrest Gump and Contact sensitivity on the side.

Avoid it... if you expect Silvestri's themes to assign themselves as well as they could to story concepts, or if you demand truly precise and extensive references to a wealth of other film scores beyond just four or five nostalgic highlights.

Silvestri

Ready Player One: (Alan Silvestri) It had been ten years since director Steven Spielberg unleashed a true blockbuster fantasy film on audiences, and while there will always likely remain some grumbling about the plot and execution of Ready Player One, the 2018 film nevertheless represents an important return to fiscal success for the director. Your tolerance for supercharged nostalgia from the period of 1975 to 1995 will be tested to the extreme by this adaptation of Ernest Cline's novel, the project lovingly targeting audiences familiar with that era's pop culture through its monumental and potentially tiresome saturation of references that require extensive lists to summarize. The story retains themes typical to Spielberg films, including parental abandonment (Seriously, can the man make a movie about a normal family ever again?) and depictions of dystopia commenting heavily on society's preference for an imaginary life over a real one. The premise of Ready Player One suggests that by 2045, a massively popular worldwide virtual reality called "the Oasis" will be the place where everyday people in a filthy, downtrodden world escape to mingle and live their fantasies. One of the creators of this game, upon his death, informs the world of three hidden keys in this realm that, if obtained by any one or group of players, will lead to ownership over the Oasis and the inheriting of the founder's mind-boggling fortune. Five people in America's heartland team up to tackle this quest while facing corporate interference and, of course, learn about all the things that are important in real life rather than any particular lesson to be gleamed from virtual reality. Spielberg, while incredibly reverent towards movies, television, and video games of primarily the 1980's, makes it clear that these glitzy representations of nostalgia are actually unhealthy if not appreciated in moderation. The visuals of Ready Player One are so overwhelmingly futuristic in the Oasis that the director sought for a combination of vintage pop songs and traditional symphonic fantasy score to bring additional familiarity to this universe.

The songs of Ready Player One are a vital component of the overall soundtrack, occupying all the most obvious placements in the story, including a significant portion of the movie's first third. Because these songs sometimes address action scenes, the score material is confined more frequently to conversational scenes. Regular Spielberg collaborator John Williams was long attached to this picture, but given the complexity of the assignment and his schedule, he deferred to another 1980's film score icon, Alan Silvestri, with whom Spielberg had worked as a producer several times. Silvestri was well qualified to plunder significant references to relevant film music of the era, having written a number of the most famous scores of the 1980's an 1990's himself. From the perspective of a film score collector, there are two ways to look at Silvestri's approach to Ready Player One, first as a functional, stand-alone score and second as a work rich with referential nuggets meant for appreciation by aficionados. From both perspectives, there are positives and negatives to the finished product, Silvestri succeeding at his task in general at forming a satisfying narrative that is littered with familiarity, but he fails to achieve greatness in either respect. While his seeming inability to collect his thematic ideas into a truly cohesive narrative may be blamed to a degree on the presence of all the songs, there are many places in the score where a desired thematic connection is lacking, making the secondary original motifs of the score largely useless outside of their demeanor in performance. The ensemble for the film is extremely familiar to Silvestri's action works, his standard orchestral fantasy tones joined by choir, minimal solo vocals, and reasonably calibrated electronics for the villains. This presence of vintage Silvestri action, modeled mostly after his Back to the Future scores, will alone be enough to satisfy many listeners. As for the referential nuggets, the composer supplies such nods in excess in some places and not at all in others, making the score an intriguing study of spotting session strategy. Just as Spielberg and the lead screenwriter removed some of the novel's references due to licensing problems, perhaps the same issues unfortunately existed with the score.

The thematic foundation of Ready Player One consists of two main themes, the most obvious one of adventure for the quest in general and, by association, the lead character. This theme debuts in "Hello, I'm James Halliday" as the quest is first described by the game's creator, assigning the theme a more general purpose than any one character. The theme disappears until the soft shades of "Welcome to the Rebellion" and finally stretches its legs in the first minute of "High 5 Assembles." The idea punctuates all the victorious moments in the latter stages of the film and anchors the first half and final fanfare of "Ready Player One - Main Title." It's a nicely malleable theme akin to The Abyss in its deliberation as it maintains a noble, relatively static progression to appeal to a better morality. The second theme is more familiar to Silvestri's softer strokes of melody in Forrest Gump and Contact, a delicate and melancholy identity for the game's co-creator who conjures the quest. Heard often on piano and chimes and introduced at the outset of "Why Can't We Go Backwards?," this idea accompanies many of the flashback scenes of the character's life and finally flourishes to its fullest symphonic grace in the poignantly revelatory "What Are You?" before wrapping up the latter half of "Ready Player One - Main Title." Outside of these two dominant identities, Silvestri plays around with a few secondary motifs, but none of them makes much impact in the film. The opportunity for love theme development between the two leads in real life is inexplicably missed, the composer providing such an identity at the end of "There's Something I Need to Do" as the movie concludes on a mushy note, but this theme is not explored or even adequately foreshadowed by the composer either in the emotional separation moment of avatars at 2:27 into "Real World Consequences" or anywhere in the tender, face-to-face meeting between the leads' real life identities in "Welcome to the Rebellion." The female lead's avatar does receive a somewhat vintage Hans Zimmer-like brass anthem, complete with string ostinato, at 1:50 into "Real World Consequences" and more muscularly at the outset of "Hold On to Something." Born out of the same beefiness is the mass rebellion motif, congealing in the latter moments of "Wade's Broadcast," that eventually takes on the heroics of The Avengers by "She Never Left" and the second half of "Looking For a Truck."

Finally, the villains of the story are treated with primarily an electronic ambience that is bit more cleverly constructed than one might expect. Since the main villain, Ben Mendelsohn's executive baddie, Sorrento, is essentially a fraud, Silvestri chooses not to even dignify him with an obvious motif. There is an ominous bass-string idea early in "Wade's Broadcast" that may be such an identity. However, when he consorts with a bounty hunter in the Oasis to track the protagonists, his muscle-bound alter ego is afforded a menacing theme heard at the outset of "An Orb Meeting" on brass and 0:13 into "Real World Consequences." This identity morphs into a super-maniacal villain's triumph in "Orb of Osuvox;" by the end of the cue, the character and the orb he acquires are treated to an almost primal motif of choral magnificence. Meanwhile, the rather humorous, posture-related antics of the bounty hunter are afforded a solo string waltz worthy of a Zimmer Pirates of the Caribbean score, albeit with a few Harry Potter melodic twists, in "An Orb Meeting" and later in the middle of "Orb of Osuvox." The remainder of the melodic infusion into Ready Player One is largely inspired by other works, often in direct quotation. Spielberg, after the shellacking he took with his disastrous 1941, was hesitant to parody any of his own films' themes, and, likely as a result, you don't hear many direct references to John Williams melodies, unfortunately. Several scenes that could have used a quick blast of a famous theme slid by unaddressed as a result, once again raising questions about whether this decision was made by Spielberg artistically or by licensing restrictions. Most obviously, the whole of Ready Player One is informed by Back to the Future more than anything else, even when references to that movie are not present. Much of the famous 1985 work is based upon phrases consisting of trios of notes, whether in the main theme or in the Doc Brown suspense stingers, the magical time-travelling motif on chimes, or the snare rhythms of its action sequences. These straight carryovers are led by the Doc Brown stinger, a three note descending phrase of comedy and failure, and Silvestri uses it liberally in this score, especially in the final few cues. It's heard fullest during the chase in the latter half of "Hold On to Something" and even accompanies the henchwoman's punch of Sorrento at 2:34 into "There's Something I Need to Do."

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The Back to the Future snare and cymbal rhythms are heard at 2:14 into "Why Can't We Go Backwards?" (the DeLorean car shines in this scene) and persist in "Looking For a Truck" (and the expanded version of this cue as "Ready Player One - End Credits") and "Hold On to Something." The straight Doc Brown comedy antics are reprised at 1:09 into "Looking For a Truck," meanwhile. The two more recognizable Back to the Future motifs referenced are the film's main theme and the two, three-note descending phrases denoting the sense of "magic" on chimes. Interestingly, neither of these references exists in conjunction with the DeLorean itself. Rather, they exist together to represent the "Zemeckis Cube" device that turns back time in the game during one action sequence. For this sequence, Silvestri, pairs the main theme and magic motif nicely at 1:13 into "Real World Consequences." The lack of the "magic" motif in the remainder of the score is a bit of a disappointment given how prominently it was heard in the film's trailers. But the composer does provide one very intelligent inverted form of the motif in conjunction with harp at 2:08 into "This is Wrong," indeed suggesting that something is not quite right. As for the remainder of the references to other music of the era in Ready Player One, Silvestri introduces audiences to the Oasis in his first cue with a clear homage to Karl Jenkins' 1990's new age hit "Adiemus," but without even half of the same resonance of depth. A quick reference to Danny Elfman's Batman theme was sorely missed here. Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" opens "Hello, I'm James Halliday" as we see the Oasis creator in a casket fashioned like the torpedo Spock was sent off in during Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; a brief quote of James Horner's music for that film would have been perfect instead, though you do hear the trademark, delayed Horner bass chord technique applied at 1:31 into "Ready Player One - Main Title." The "Why Can't We Go Backwards?" cue is rich with potential; the original car race scene through New York intriguingly went unscored, but when the lead player figures out that the trick is to drive backwards through the race, this second try is offered outstanding music by Silvestri. After the creator's theme opens the cue, we transition to the race with a fanfare at 1:19 that finally announces Silvestri's score in full force.

Continuing with "Why Can't We Go Backwards?," the Back to the Future rhythms for the DeLorean commence at 2:14 under the main theme. Silvestri ignores the T-Rex from Jurassic Park (surely a blast of the four-note descending theme of terror could have been inserted here) but he offers an outstanding rendition of Max Steiner's King Kong theme at 2:41 that segues beautifully into Silvestri's own main theme before wrapping up the fanfare from earlier in the cue. At the end of this cue, the creator's theme is presented in its reverent "wizard" form that some have commented gives the identity the feel of the conclusion of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The latter half of "An Orb Meeting" contains some unique enigmas, starting with a loving reference to Williams' 1941 theme during a humorous scene of celebrity; in the last minute of the cue, Silvestri provides the score's only stereotypically haunting solo female vocals (albeit processed) during a scene of contemplation that didn't really require such musical style. The electronic ambience for Sorrento that runs from late in "Real World Consequences" through "Sorrento Makes an Offer" is rather uneventful, but by early in "Orb of Osuvox" it begins to exude some of the punchiness of a Mark Snow "X-Files" episodic score. The last minute of "Sorrento Makes an Offer" accompanies a terrifying execution scene that interestingly builds to a crescendo with pairs of notes and tapped snare resembling Williams' Jaws theme but with the phrases descending. A chance for some Trevor Jones Excalibur material was missed during the chants of "Orb of Osuvox." It should probably be mentioned at this point that the second of the three challenges in the quest of the Oasis takes place in the Overlook Hotel from the Stanley Kubrick adaptation Stephen King's The Shining, painfully recreated digitally here. The main theme by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind for that film was adapted by Silvestri for the transition to this setting, and several of the classical pieces featured in that horror film are reprised here in kind. None of this material is to be found on the score album for Ready Player One, leaving a rather large hole in the product's narrative. In the film, however, this music, along with the visuals, is awe-inspiring to the point of dark humor. In "Sorrento Punked," Silvestri returns to his electronic realm, with some thumping bass presence and ostinatos that are bit too modern compared to the rest of the score but makes sense in context.

For listeners awaiting some Avengers moments in Ready Player One, note that Silvestri does throw out a bone at the end of "Wade's Broadcast." The suspense music during the female lead's imprisonment in the villain's headquarters is rather unremarkable in "Arty on the 'Inside'" outside of a brief snippet of the Sorrento motif near the end. The "Looking For a Truck" cue is rich with solid material, accompanying the mass attack sequence in conjunction with the third challenge and the real-life pursuit of the protagonists in their postal truck. Silvestri could have referenced a ton of themes in this cue, including Michael Kamen's The Iron Giant most prominently, but he holds his stock in Akira Ifukube's main theme from 1954's Godzilla instead, expressing a lengthy tribute to the theme at 2:13 as the villain takes control of a Mechagodzilla avatar. It's really an awesome statement featured prominently in the film's mix as well. Perhaps coincidentally, there is a sequence strikingly similar to John Williams' Amazing Stories main theme earlier in the cue. While the rhythms of Silvestri's own Predator are not prevalent in this score, there is a short, ascending passage at 4:33 into "Looking For a Truck" that reminds of that classic score. A series of effective but not quite as memorable cues ensues, though "She Never Left" is a worthy suspense interlude. The electronic Sorrento material in "Last Chance" yields to a faint echo of the Godzilla theme at 2:21 before continuing without much interest in "Get Me Out of This." After some long references to the last action cue from Back to the Future in "Hold On to Something," Silvestri switches gears to his choral majesty from The Abyss in "This is Wrong," interrupted by chase material for the real world as needed. The solo flute and piano tones at the end of "What Are You?" are appropriately heartbreaking, representing the composer at his absolutely most sentimental. The final nuggets in the score exist late in "There's Something I Need to Do;" at 3:52, Silvestri briefly alludes to Williams' Superman mannerisms before launching into a version of the love theme at 3:56 that is eerily reminiscent of a song from Andrew Lloyd Webber's failed sequel for The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies. (Incidentally, the film failed to make connections to the greatest stage hits of the 1980's. Certainly, either The Phantom of the Opera or Cats could have figured somehow given how engrained they were in pop culture at the time.)

Overall, it's really challenging to evaluate the score for Ready Player One because there are so many measures by which it could conceivably be judged. Regardless of your approach, Silvestri's score functions well enough in the film to serve its purpose of driving the nostalgic sound of his own and John Williams' music of the era. His thematic attributions are not always clearly enunciated, however, a result of some suspect decisions during the spotting of the music. A person could also argue that there could have been 20 more brief musical references, licensing permitting, given the parade of such cameos in the script, and these would have been received with great affection by fans if handled properly. Short, three or four-note phrases representing everything from Dune and Aliens to Krull and Tron could have been interpolated into the score, and it's moderately surprising not to see anything from The Matrix pilfered given the subject matter. The lack of Jurassic Park, Excalibur, and The Iron Giant musical references are particularly notable. Ultimately, the decisions about those placements were likely Spielberg's, and he is notoriously cautious about such things. The score remains highly entertaining in context regardless of these intellectual quibbles, but don't expect such satisfaction with the album situation. If ever a comprehensive song and score combination album was required for a fantasy film, this is it. At the very least, even if not presented in chronological order (there would be four songs in between the cues of "An Orb Meeting" and "Real World Consequences," representing the nightclub scene), the collection of both score and songs needed consolidated on the same album. Unfortunately, that's a pipe dream, as the music would span about 150 minutes and three CDs if you threw in all the material from The Shining. The score was originally offered as only a download option of 84 minutes in film order; it later transitioned to CD, where its dynamic sound quality can be best appreciated. The songs of the film, meanwhile, are not all provided on the album dedicated to them. Aside from the passages from Overlook Hotel, there are a few original Silvestri cues not released on the score album, including some of the material of lamentation for the lead character in his van. In the end, this is not a perfect soundtrack, nor is there a really satisfying album for the film, but the project must still be categorized as a success for Silvestri. His collectors have been waiting years for him to crank out a score with the personality and size of Back to the Future, Judge Dredd, and Van Helsing, and Ready Player One is that appropriately nostalgic resurrection.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or Download

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For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.43 (in 44 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.31 (in 40,282 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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