Another graduate from the school of "high-budget, low-brow action movies" (also known as "Crank" College) is this effort, which at least offers an interesting sci-fi twist to proceedings. The other thing I found interesting was that the philosophy behind such movies is to emulate video games and none more so than this. The trouble is, any statements about the impact of gaming and social networking is lost amid the bullets, bombs and blood.
Sometime in the future, mankind is obsessed with a new sort of gaming. Using technology invented by media mogul and multi-billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), violent criminals known as Slayers are pitched against each other in a nightmarish battle where their actions are dictated remotely by unknown people. One such Slayer, known as Kable (Gerard Butler), is only three battles away from winning his freedom thanks to his controller Simon (Logan Lerman). But Kable has plans of his own - he just wants to clear his name and recover his wife (Amber Valletta) and daughter. But with Castle determined to keep control, and a mysterious hacker group launching cyber attacks against the system, what chance does Kable actually have?
I'm not normally one to get turned off by violence in movies but "Gamer" really does take things to extremes - gore, limbs and organs splatter all over the shop amid the explosions and chaos. Such visual nastiness doesn't really allow Butler much scope for any acting quality but at least he looks the part. Hall is much better but sadly, isn't on screen that much. The action scenes are what most viewers will want to tune in for and these are well-shot, visually exciting and actually feel like a video game. Like "Crank", the film's adrenaline-fuelled action really delivers. But whereas "Crank" is a laugh, "Gamer" is grim and depressing and I struggled to enjoy this movie as much.
If it were a bit lighter and not reliant on brutal violence, frequent nudity and an oddly old-fashioned view of the future (think Day-Glo colours and "Blade Runner"-inspired fashions) then "Gamer" might have scored higher. As it is, I found it a tad repetitive after a while and felt like I needed a shower afterwards. It isn't a pleasurable experience and personally, that's one of the most important things I look for in a film. If you're looking for excessive violence and a thrilling, body-filled blast then this will probably float your boat. But assuming that you're not a teenage boy obsessed with "Call Of Duty" then this will go down as a wasted opportunity. The questions it tries to raise about how we live our lives and the direction we're heading in as a society are swept under the blood-stained carpet and replaced with yet more bloodied corpses. A pity.
Sometime in the future, mankind is obsessed with a new sort of gaming. Using technology invented by media mogul and multi-billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), violent criminals known as Slayers are pitched against each other in a nightmarish battle where their actions are dictated remotely by unknown people. One such Slayer, known as Kable (Gerard Butler), is only three battles away from winning his freedom thanks to his controller Simon (Logan Lerman). But Kable has plans of his own - he just wants to clear his name and recover his wife (Amber Valletta) and daughter. But with Castle determined to keep control, and a mysterious hacker group launching cyber attacks against the system, what chance does Kable actually have?
I'm not normally one to get turned off by violence in movies but "Gamer" really does take things to extremes - gore, limbs and organs splatter all over the shop amid the explosions and chaos. Such visual nastiness doesn't really allow Butler much scope for any acting quality but at least he looks the part. Hall is much better but sadly, isn't on screen that much. The action scenes are what most viewers will want to tune in for and these are well-shot, visually exciting and actually feel like a video game. Like "Crank", the film's adrenaline-fuelled action really delivers. But whereas "Crank" is a laugh, "Gamer" is grim and depressing and I struggled to enjoy this movie as much.
If it were a bit lighter and not reliant on brutal violence, frequent nudity and an oddly old-fashioned view of the future (think Day-Glo colours and "Blade Runner"-inspired fashions) then "Gamer" might have scored higher. As it is, I found it a tad repetitive after a while and felt like I needed a shower afterwards. It isn't a pleasurable experience and personally, that's one of the most important things I look for in a film. If you're looking for excessive violence and a thrilling, body-filled blast then this will probably float your boat. But assuming that you're not a teenage boy obsessed with "Call Of Duty" then this will go down as a wasted opportunity. The questions it tries to raise about how we live our lives and the direction we're heading in as a society are swept under the blood-stained carpet and replaced with yet more bloodied corpses. A pity.