Real Playing Game

I was very interested to see this movie after learning that it had been "made in Portugal" and especially after watching the trailer. However I was hugely disappointed. In fact,I left during the interval, something I have not done in a very long time. The acting was very stilted, I could not get into or enjoy the film. In my opinion, if this movie had been made in Portuguese, that is, actors speaking Portuguese, then the actors and the movie would have come across as more natural. I think they were concentrating so hard on speaking English they forgot how to act. This is a great disappointment as Portugal has produced great films and it is just a pity this is not one of them. The trailer appears to be the best part of the film.

I absolutely loved this film! It was thrilling, especially trying to figure out who was who before the characters did. I was not at all bothered by lack of special effects, and the plot concept was so deep that I doubt any movie maker could possibly satisfy the full exploration of the concept in just one movie length, even with a big budget. Well done and I loved the accents, it really helped to believe that these people indeed were from all over the world. I am going to google similar movies to watch right now, as this film has inspired me to find others like it. I really did not want it to end. I believe people these days expect way too much and I think the ratings users are giving this film are way too low for the credit deserved.

I was willing to get past the thought that it's one more "Survivor"/"Hunger Games" concept ripoff and was curious to see if they managed to do something different. The beginning was promising but then it quickly descended into cardboard cutout characters and not much action either.

I understand that this was a low budget production so they couldn't have much in terms of the SFX and action scenes but they could have made a great ensemble piece if they spent a lot more times thinking while writing, coming up with character developments and then treating it almost like a theatrical play with a lot of rehearsals. That's how a low budget production can compensate for the lack of expensive effects and fight choreographies - by taking the time to write much better script and rehearse actors to perfection.

Instead they pinched bits and pieces from different aspects available to this kind of movie and ended up with nothing. Even "romance & sex" scenes were unconvincing.

The movie started promising that it would be something different. I was fed up with the Hollywood versions of the story (hunger games) and was interested in watching how a low budget production would show something interesting through acting.

Unfortunately, the acting was rather bad, the scenario was a copy of what we have seen. The actors simply couldn't do something more. They acted the way they could.

As if the above wasn't enough, the ending is a little bit blurred.

My proposal: it's better to see hunger games, which are more complete movies.

10 wealthy old people play a virtual reality game where they inhabit the bodies of young people. They have to kill one another leaving 1 person at the end who gets to keep the young body even in real life.

The idea is great and makes for great SciFi and some good ethical and moral questions. However, aside from Rutger Hauer's first 5 minutes, you quickly realise that the dialogue is awful, as if put together by some student writers who don't have a clue. It's like something from a 1950's melodrama.

The acting is pitiful mostly throughout the film. Not just bad, but embarrassingly bad. I felt for the actors, if they watched themselves on screen they may well be embarrassed at themselves for their poor performances.

Was it the Director that had no idea how to direct them? I don't know but the videographer was poor too. Obviously the camera was hand held throughout, but not even steady cam. So watching it was almost like having vertigo.

I gave it a 3 because I loved the idea of it and the overall storyline, I just think how it was brought to film was poor, amateurish and sloppy.