The Controller

If this film had been made in 1978 then it MIGHT be considered prescient. The fact that it was actually made in 2008 shows that the writers, director and producers couldn't even look back at recent history and construct a contemporary film.

Plot: A billionaire owner of a games software company finds that his wife has been kidnapped and he has to hire a team of game players to fight their way through a customised version of his best-selling game to rescue his wife. To make things worse, the billionaire is locked in a room whilst playing the game.

As a premise there are some intriguing possibilities but the writers clearly have no idea how online gaming works so the whole plot line collapses into absurdities. For example, only certain servers in the world could possibly host the game being played and they could be identified in seconds. (I'd say more but then I'd have to give out spoilers.) And the final plot twist is truly, truly awful. Unbelievably awful. However, the twist does explain why so much that has gone before doesn't make sense.

This is clearly a budget production, with shaky camera work, bad actors, and unbelievably bad dialogue. In the 21st Century how do you struggle to find a competent actor to play a CEO character? The guy first appears in a meeting, jet-lagged from a flight from Japan, and then goes through the rest of the film in a similar state. It's like the actor's on tranquillisers and nobody called the doctor to sort him out. Most of the other actors aren't much better, but they at least appear awake most of the time. The one exception is Tank Jones - yes, that's his name. He's by far the best actor on screen.

The in-game graphics are very poor, but that might have been state of the art when the film was made. Also, not much happens within the game given that players are playing for 8 hours. And how about the billionaire who's stuck in a room with no food and no toilet? In trying to find a way to sum up this movie, the word that came to mind is SNOOZEFEST. If you manage to stay awake until the end you'll wonder just when you turned into such a masochist. Go have some root canal work done, it's quicker and less painful than watching this film.

I am watching this now and all I can say is lol! It sorta looks like a group of friends got together in a small town and decided to make a "film". The main character's acting is just terrible. Most of the supporting casts' acting is "OK", at best, but still better than the main character. Fragmaster is pretty funny tho.

The film quality is professional looking but the acting IS NOT.

Kind of makes me want to grab some of my friends and make a "film"! I think younger kids (younger than 15 or 16) would enjoy this movie.

Overall, good movie for kids and pre-teens. I guess OK to watch if there is nothing else on t.v. (like I'm doing now). I will never watch again tho if there is nothing else on t.v. I will just turn it off lol.

I watched this movie last night and right away noticed that the animation and acting sucked. I watched about 40 minutes of it hoping the film would get better it didn't. I wanted so much to turn it off however I had already committed myself to 40 minutes of the movie so I watched the rest. This movie was funny only because they tried to make this so real and suspenseful. The actors tried so hard but it was just so obvious there was no real talent here and it made the film horrible. OK, enough about the acting lets talk about the graphics/special effects. Lets just say the graphics of the movie were equivalent to a 1996 Sega game. It's jaw dropping how a movie from 2008 can be so behind the times. I wonder what kind of budget they had and if the movie even made enough to cover it. OK so overall this was a poor movie, but since I suffered through it I want you too also. I have been trying to trick my friends into watching this but after seeing the trailer they just laughed and said "hell no"

I was recently visiting friends in Kona, Hawaii and we ran into The Controller showing at a local film festival. My son and I really enjoyed it. It was very ambitious for an independent film, but it was fun and entertaining throughout. And unlike most indie films, I could enjoy it with my son. He especially liked PappaPooh. This character was trying to play this online video game and take care of his two young children at the same time. Needless to say that caused many funny moments. Also, there was a lot of CG in the movie, and although it was not to "Hollywood standards", it seemed to fit into the framework of the movie and created some good action moments. Overall, we were really impressed. I'm glad someone finally made a movie about a hobby that millions of people enjoy, including myself.

The movie doesn't start as a comedy, but once competitors have to be found it turns into a comedy. For example, PappaPooh happens to be home with his kids in Portland, Oregon, which provides many opportunities for laughs. Once the action begins, while there is comedy, it's not as much a part of the movie as it was earlier.

The actors playing the competitors are really good, and they make us care about them. There are plenty of laughs as well as touching moments.

The actress playing Captain Jenkins does a capable job. Her second in command is good for a few laughs.

The one major weakness is Bob Rue as William. He seems like he is auditioning for the role, or perhaps reading with the person auditioning for another role. While he has his moments, he should have been told, "Thank you, we'll let you know."

The video game art is what I will call video game realistic. Not real realistic, but quite detailed.

I have no experience whatsoever with video games of any type, and the closest I have gotten to this type of experience is an episode of "Community". Still, I had a good time.

It's quite entertaining.