Gamer

At one point during this film my girlfriend commented that it "looked just like Modern Warfare 2" – a game she has seen me play all too much and all too frequently. Indeed it does look very much like a FPS at times and this is the point of what is essentially the concept of The Running Man updated for the modern world of online gaming and living other lives out via the internet. Although the idea is far-fetched in terms of controlling people and indeed killing them, it is not a huge step for a fantasy film and it stays close to the world of Second Life, The Sims and the Call of Duty online shooter franchise. So, to my mind, this film had potential to be relevant, interesting, insightful or at least have loads of good action.

The problem is that, while it does a very small amount of all those things, it doesn't really do anything particularly well. The makers/writers clearly know the world they are entering here (witness a fat man "playing" a hot woman online, or a soldier tea-bagging a fallen enemy in the middle of all the action) but they don't seem to have an opinion on it all or, if they do, then it doesn't come across very well in the writing. I say this because the social commentary here is minimal. OK there are certain things shown that are exaggerated versions of where we now are but that in itself is not enough to count – there is no opinion behind it, nothing for the viewer to think about either then or later on that evening. This leaves the action to carry the film.

On this front the film is "OK" as it has noise and a sort of plot for us to follow. Problem is that the way both are delivered actually detracts rather than enhances. I get the idea – the rapid editing and regular "static" touches to the footage meant to suggest the world of broadcast and online media. Problem is that it is all too frantic and too excessive to really engage. The "Second Life" sections are just too OTT to not seem daft and it doesn't feel like an established online game but rather everyone enjoying the novelty of it (which is not where this part of the film is). Again the hot pants, regular nudity and general female sexuality is all part of the gaming world but done to excess like it is here it spoils things a bit rather than being a fair observation – it feels the film is overdoing it on purpose to play to these viewers. Similarly the action is hampered by two things. Firstly the same frantic editing makes it all too chaotic and too hard to get into in terms of being an action movie. The second thing to note is that by being so close to a FPS in terms of look it forgets that generally video games are best when played and actually make for pretty dull viewing when you're waiting for your turn. The action scenes are mostly "so-so" where really these should have been the place where the viewer is "gotten into the film". Perhaps the style worked with Crank because the whole film was nonsense but here the concept doesn't suit it.

The cast were maybe attracted by the concept hoping for more intelligence but nobody has much to do. Butler remains to be nothing more than a solid presence to me – not sure why he is seen as a big star lead all of a sudden but here we are. He is OK I guess but his performance cannot find the humanity or comment that is lacking from the script. More irritating is the way Hall is wasted. So great in Six Feet Under and Dexter, he has very little to work with here – although he still works with it well. Sedgwick is equally wasted while Ludicrous appears to have done all his stuff in about two days and has no character to speak of. Crews is a physical presence but again his part in the film is so poorly thought out that he might as well not be there. Nobody really excels here and it is all about the delivery – which sadly isn't great either.

Overall Gamer is a distraction that works on that level but never gets close to the potential it has. At moments it seems like it will be excessive craziness like Crank was – but it doesn't ever follow through on that (even if it does produce a great moment for Pysch fans). It has a concept that suggests social commentary but doesn't have anything to say. Finally it sells itself as an action movie but is put together in such a way that the action doesn't have a flow to it that draws the viewer in. For all it offers Gamer is sadly average at best – distracting and short but that's about the height of the praise I can offer it.

Set in a totalitarian society , a future-world where powerful humans can rule other unfortunates humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, star player from two games called ¨Society ¨ and "Slayers" looks to get his independence while taking down the game's mastermind . Kable (Gerad Butler) is a convict who was wrongly framed for killing and condemned to death penalty . Castle (Michael C Hall) is the manager of a game show wherein convicted delinquents are given the chance to run to freedom but have to elude the stalkers; men who hunt them down and kill them in gruesome manners . With full control over the media, Castle attempts to quell the nation's yearning for freedom by broadcasting a number of game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these programs is ¨Slayers¨ . 17-year-old Simon (Logan Lerman) controls Kable and leads him around the battle camp . After massacring most everyone in his way, Kable gets blasted outside of the war zone . Kable arranges to run to the safe point to win the battle. Afterward, the surviving characters are transported elsewhere the show's next contestant. Furthermore , we watch Kable's spouse named Angie (Amber Valletta) going to work as a rare role in Society . Angie also is controlled by a fat man . Elsewhere, the convicts for Slayers are being transported to the next battlefield . Kable gets escape and tries to free Angie .

This stirring picture displays noisy action , thrills , lots of violence and some doses of nudism . This movie is about as action-packed and adrenaline-punched , an action movie you're going to see in a while . It's stylishly made, with lots of tense action from the beginning to the end to keep one satisfied. The motion picture provides fast and furious amusement with spectaculars scenes . The tale packs unstopped movement and is extremely entertaining for action lovers and video-games fans . The battle scenes are made with authentic stunts but also by C.G.I . This story about a chilling and surprisingly realistic tale of reality TV gone mad is professionally told , though it results to be a post-modern version of ¨The running man (1987)¨ by Paul Michael Glaser and based on a Stephen King's novel . Directors, writers , producers Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine present an eye-popping glimpse at the television of tomorrow . This witty slice of sociological future world keeps the action flowing throughout, and presents us with some bizarrely fascinating villains , especially played by Michael C Hall , as well as the usual action frolics. One query, however , is over the high level of violence and some erotic scenes that contain this exciting film . Rating : 5,5 . Acceptable and passable .

In a not too distant future, the world is obsessed with "Slayers", a game that allows it's players to control real death row inmates in a real world gaming environment. If they win a certain amount of games, the inmate receives a full pardon. The star inmate is Kable. He's won more games than any other "Slayer" has even come close to, and he's close to getting out. However, the game's billionaire creator, Ken Castle, has no intention of letting that happen.

Mixing elements of The Running Man with bizarre game-playing scenarios, outlandish events and a sizable chunk of social commentary, Gamer is an interesting if not always successful little action picture. The commentary on things such as people living reality through game-play and the depths to which society will sink for entertainment are on the mark. Aside from "Slayers", Castle also created an earlier game called "Society", which is sort of like "Sim City", only with real people. Gamers control people in the game and make them do whatever disgusting act they want, such as burning themselves, sex fantasies and the like. I personally felt these were the most effective segments in the film, including a perfect use of the song, "The Bad Touch".

Michael C. Hall was a big draw for me, as he is terrific on one of my favorite TV shows, Dexter. As expected, he was the standout among the cast. His Ken Castle is an over-the-top megalomaniacal nut case, and I enjoyed every moment he was on screen. Alas, he wasn't on screen as often as I expected going in. We naturally get much more of Gerard Butler, who isn't much of an actor from what I've seen. He's tolerable here, but nothing special. We also get a few smaller roles for the likes of Kyra Sedgwick, Pathology's Milo Ventimiglia, Terry Crews, who feels out of place in a non-comedic role, and terrific Drag Me to Hell actress, Alison Lohman.

The action itself is underwhelming, as it suffers from the all too common quick cutting/shaky cam routine. I have to admit, that doesn't bother me as often as it does most people, but it did here. There's also one ridiculous scene involving Kable filling up a truck's fuel tank with something other than fuel. Regardless, while a flawed film, it does have some solid material to offer. It just could have been wrapped a little tighter.

I saw a work-in-progress screening of GAME last night. It blew me away. The premise is intriguing, the action is outstanding - not a boring minute in the film. I am not a fan of Gerard Butler in general, I find his acting terribly limited, but he was fine. Logan Lerman and Michael C. Hall were great and there is a musical number in the film that is pure genius. Made me want to stand up and cheer. The whole film is like an explosion right in your face. Everything is over the top - the style, the violence, the story. It is a real fun ride while being incredible edgy and dark. There is also quite a bit of social criticism layered in there, dealing with voyeurism, cocooning, the culture of video games. Leaving the theater I didn't know if I wanted to rush home and get my XBox going or never play a video game again. Great job, Neveldine/Taylor! Can't wait to see it again with all the special effects done!

The movie was fairly good. Even though slayers should have been more defined, it did explain the basics of it (make it to the save point alive). The movie being "abstract" worked very well for everything besides the slayers sequences, but those were surprisingly short. Something that I thought they did very well though is showing how the user interacts with their character. In MMO's today, you have a-holes who will screw up other people's fun and during one of the society scenes, there is an example of this with the roller blading. Its made even more powerful by people laughing at other people 's injuries, disgracing of dead bodies, etc. because its the icons (avatars) getting abused, not the users.

From an academic standpoint, this movie is great since it shows off how sick and uncaring people can be when its not their bodies being abused or shot at.

Anyways, if you want to see this movie, I warn you that there it is rated R for good reasons. It made me think that they should separate the R-rating into R1 and R2 or R and RR. This is because many R movies are lite-R's (some swearing, some nudity, some blood, but nothing out-of-control so to speak) and many other R movies are heavy-R's (i.e. saw, many cheesy horror flicks, and this movie)