GAMER (2009)

Written & Directed By: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Cinematography By: Ekkehart Pollack
Editor: Doobie White, Fernando Villena & Peter Amundson

Cast: Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Terry Crews, Amber Valetta, Kyra Sedgwick Alison Lohman, Logan Lerman, Ludacris, Aaron Yoo, Johnny Whitworth, Michael Weston, Zoe Bell, Milo Ventimiglia, John Leguizamo, Keith David, James Roday, Lloyd Kaufman


Now while I enjoyed their other films like CRANK and it’s sequel. They felt more tongue in cheek and campy. So over the top you never took them seriously. They were funny in a vile way. This film just feels Vile, Offensive and disgusting. Even the visuals aren’t inspiring. It misses something and makes sitting through the film unbearable. The film has a interesting premise and a few good ideas about what will be the next step in a gaming society. Where the industry goes out of it’s way to give customers a new identity and there ultimate fantasies making the game world as real or close to reality as possible.

In this film it supposes that the next step is the have not’s selling there bodies to these games and the have’s who are using these bodies as there own from the comfort of their homes. That is were the good ideas of the film end. It’s easy to compare this film to THE RUNNING MAN as they both deal with prisoners used on a game show to get pardoned. Here they go on military style missions and if you survive 30 – 40 missions you get released. In this film the top player is only a few missions away but he realizes the man behind the whole gaming business is going to kill him. Plus the player wants to clear his name for the murder that got him locked up in the first place and save his wife from working as a sex slave in the other game society. Hopefully he can do all this with the help of of the teenager Controlling him in the game and the anti-gaming resistence movement.

The level of wit in this film can be measured by the naming of a character Rick Rape. There is nothing in this film to help it the action scenes feel poorly executed and not that exciting. The film seems to have a punk nihilistic view for the future. Which I don’t mind if it didn’t feel so ugly and offensive.

Michael C. Hall seems to realize how ridiculous this film is since he is over the top and campy as the villain. Where as all the other actors take the material so seriously it gives the movie more seriousness then it should have.

The Film is just missing too much to make it entertaining.

Skip It.

GRADE: F