# Ready Player One (Music by Alan Silvestri)



## aaronventure (Apr 10, 2018)

Spielberg's *Ready Player One* has been in the theaters for nearly two weeks now. Have you seen the movie? Have you listened to the soundtrack? What are your thoughts?

The main theme was posted before the movie was released and is absolutely fantastic.



Full album can be found here (official playlist)


I enjoyed the movie, it made me feel like a kid again (which I think was the point), it was fun and had some great moments. Spielberg still knows his shit. Despite my enjoyment, there were some plot holes and "what the hell" scenes. I feel like it could've really profited from something like 10 additional minutes. No spoilers, but there's a moment about 40 minutes in where the movie "jumps" and I felt like someone cut out 10-15 minutes out of the film. 

The score worked well with the movie, but for me isn't much fun to listen to on it's own. Silvestri's still got it, though. Great orchestration and writing. The cues I like are _"Why Can't We Go Backwards?"_ (this entire part was great), _Looking for a truck_ and _Welcome to The Rebellion_. I feel like the whole score could've been more memorable and the theme used more.


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## bryla (Apr 10, 2018)

Agree with memorability but it was a nostalgic score! The motif when they employed the cube made me smile!

I feel like the movie - however enjoyably it was - was maybe ten minutes too long. Too much explanation in the beginning and too much Spielberg in the end.


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## South Thames (Apr 10, 2018)

I listened to the score over the weekend - haven't seen the film yet. It's rather uninspired I thought -- pretty bland overall, with rather (and probably deliberate) nods to Williams and Horner, as well as Silvestri's earlier (and far superior) work. The choral stuff above is pretty insipid as well. 

Interesting how Spielberg doesn't seem to have a picked a regular Williams stand-in.


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## NathanTiemeyer (Apr 10, 2018)

I agree! The score is fantastic!! I've haven't stopped listening to it since I've seen the film. Listening to the main theme on it's own is nice, but it really shines when you hear it in the context of the film- it's movie magic. You can really tell Mr. Silvestri had fun with this one.

Also, I absolutely love all of the musical callbacks in the film ... but this takes the cake as my favorite:



A wonderful nod to THE man who pioneered film scoring!


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## NoamL (Apr 10, 2018)

Steiner! Wow, that's a clever reference. Respect to him for writing it and you for spotting it


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Apr 10, 2018)

Well, I actually didn´t saw the move and didn´t listened to the whole soundtrack but the maintheme and what can I see: Pure mastery. It just shows me why I loved back then scores for big cinema so much. It is so rare having such sophisticated writing nowadays in a bigger movie. Silvestri is still absolutely top imo.


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## aaronventure (Apr 10, 2018)

bryla said:


> Agree with memorability but it was a nostalgic score! The motif when they employed the cube made me smile!
> 
> I feel like the movie - however enjoyably it was - was maybe ten minutes too long. Too much explanation in the beginning and too much Spielberg in the end.



Nostalgic indeed. I loved all the references!

Huh. I really thought they could explore the characters a bit more. And the early scenes I agree, "The Oasis" really could've done with little to no voiceover. The picture was pretty self explanatory.



South Thames said:


> I listened to the score over the weekend - haven't seen the film yet. It's rather uninspired I thought -- pretty bland overall, with rather (and probably deliberate) nods to Williams and Horner, as well as Silvestri's earlier (and far superior) work. The choral stuff above is pretty insipid as well.
> 
> Interesting how Spielberg doesn't seem to have a picked a regular Williams stand-in.


I too listened to the score before watching the film. It's just not the kind of a score that works without the picture, unfortunately. 

Williams was doing Spielberg's other movie, The Post. I suspect he was done with action/adventure for a time, having scored Star Wars just a few months ago.



NathanTiemeyer said:


> I agree! The score is fantastic!! I've haven't stopped listening to it since I've seen the film. Listening to the main theme on it's own is nice, but it really shines when you hear it in the context of the film- it's movie magic. You can really tell Mr. Silvestri had fun with this one.
> 
> Also, I absolutely love all of the musical callbacks in the film ... but this takes the cake as my favorite:
> 
> ...




Yeah, there are a lot of _Easter Eggs _in the score :D It was also cool to hear that Kong snippet when he appeared the second time - the entire first race has no music at all, IIRC.



AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Well, I actually didn´t saw the move and didn´t listened to the whole soundtrack but the maintheme and what can I see: Pure mastery. It just shows me why I loved back then scores for big cinema so much. It is so rare having such sophisticated writing nowadays in a bigger movie. Silvestri is still absolutely top imo.



Yup. There's a lot of stuff in here that's seemingly barebones but it _just works_. I was transcribing some snippets here and there and I'm always amazed how simple Silvestri actually is. It's all so damn simple, but he uses all these simple devices so effectively.


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## paularthur (Apr 10, 2018)

Fantastic movie, saw it twice, Loved the motif and the cohesion of the score.. .already bought some of it! "Why Can't We Go Back" was my fav as well! My only criticism would be that maybe Parcifal and Artemis came together to quickly, not enough tension? ..and (SPOILER ALERT) the climax in The Stacks was a little ehh?


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## aaronventure (Apr 10, 2018)

paularthur said:


> My only criticism would be that maybe Parcifal and Artemis came together to quickly, not enough tension? ..and (SPOILER ALERT) the climax in The Stacks was a little ehh?



That's where I felt 10 minutes were missing.


Spoiler: Spoiler



I mean I kinda understand, he's a kid who's spent most of his life in the game, with very little interaction with the real world and real people. But then he touched her chin and I really thought they were fuckin with us and just cut like half the reel out because that move was so "out of touch". But maybe that's the whole point, the world they live in. Could've built to it that way, but you gotta put in (screen) time. My disbelief wasn't suspended.

And the climax yeah, lol, I can hardly believe that no one there had any weapons and here's the guy who blew up some of your neighbors and family members just a few days prior. The mob would've torn him apart.



Also I totally forgot: given the PG-13 rating, the one "fuck" they get was used rather well, hah!


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## Mars (Apr 11, 2018)

Silvestri seems to be in great shape. 
There's a short clip with his music for the next Avengers, and there are some great stuff in just 30 tiny seconds  
(the sync with cuts and body motions is awesome).


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## NoamL (Apr 11, 2018)

Wow, that's excellent. I kinda lost track of the MCU but will definitely watch this one @ the big screen.


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## paularthur (Apr 11, 2018)

aaronventure said:


> That's where I felt 10 minutes were missing.
> 
> 
> Spoiler: Spoiler
> ...



I agree with everything you said there, could've been a 5 out of 5 had that been fixed! I have a strong feeling that there will be a Universal Studios Park adaptation, those cues would/will be great for that environment.


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