The Gamechangers

Critics, even Rockstar themselves, have been very negative of the recent release (15th September 2015) of The Gamechangers. It has been slated for being poorly acted or not accurate to the real-life events or even just plain bad; but what these opinionated reviews are missing is the entire pragmatic of the film.

The Gamechangers clearly states, without sounding like one of lawyers in the film, that the scenes shown have been altered for dramatic effect (or words to that effect) thus any point on how realistic the film really was is entirely out of the question, all that matters is that the events happened. Just happened. And what this film really did was present both sides of the argument in, for possibly the first time in the film industry, a balanced manner.

In my personal opinion the film does not romanticise any aspect of the lives of each side of the GTA debate, which can be generalised to the entire argument of violent video games, and even if, as a viewer, the viewer feels they liked or were made to associate more with a certain type of character, or one side of the argument, more then they must ask themselves if a character on the opposing side could not be empathised with by a different type of person. In film, everyone feels a connection with a certain type of character and those characters vary. Some prefer the villain to the hero, the Joker to Batman and so on. Yet as the film finishes, which ever character you empathise with the most you cannot but feel as thought you are stuck in two minds, debating with yourself, about who really is the most respectable, honourable or even moral character in this tale. The plain exclamation that --- remains on death row seems to provide a led weight on the conscious if you associate more with the GTA team or, conversely, the amount of money and respect Rockstar still gain, as is stated, provides a balancer for those who associate with the moral movement against violent video games for developing minds. Either way both sides have characters presented as mad, immoral and ugly whilst also portraying aspects of good, revolution and development.

In essence, this film has provided a non-biased ending, which the viewer can take away not a sense of excitement or pleasure from their film but rather leave in a contemplative and quizzical state. And that is rare for modern film. This picture has, as is the aim of many of the characters, broken down barriers and revolutionised real-life based film. But the question after you have balanced your moral scale and decided on a place to stand is why have films documenting real events not provided as bleak and factual interpretation as this one previously?

Real-life dramas should let us make up our own minds. And I believe this film has taken the first step in letting us do so.

I have been playing arcade games since the late 1970s. Computer games since the Home Computer revolution of the early 1980s and I bought a copy of GTA III for the Playstation 2. Despite this I do not consider myself as a gamer. However I am known to show my skills off to my kids every now and then to let them know that their old dad has a trick or two up his sleeve when it comes to Mortal Kombat or Virtua Fighter.

What struck me about GTA III was the expansive almost free flowing game-play. You had missions to complete but you could just wander off and do something else. For the first time I felt video-games had made that leap forward more than the hype from console manufacturers going on about Emotion chips.

People might be surprised to discover that GTA is actually British created by two brothers, Sam and Dan Houser who in this BBC film are based in New York. Daniel Radcliffe plays Sam Houser, the Don Simpson obsessed visionary who wants to take gaming to the next level. He also comes across as brattish rather than a maverick.

After a shooting incident the game's developer Rockstar lock horns with Jack Thompson (Bill Paxton) a God fearing conservative lawyer on a moral crusade against rap and video-games and its insidious effects on kids.

Thompson struggles at court and is at risk of being disbarred but Rockstar rather ineptly or deliberately left hidden coding in one of their later version of GTA which brought them further trouble in the US courts.

The problem with the film was it was too slight. The BBC received no cooperation from Rockstar who also enforced their trademark to not to allow them use the game footage. I think this was unwise of them.

The film is based on true events but some scenes have been changed for dramatic effect. In short padded out to create tension where probably none existed.

Like a lot of recent BBC one off films its noticeable that the 5 years licence fee is having an effect. Part of it just looked a little too cheap and low budget even though there was New York location shooting and it had a style of filming in parts to give it an immersive computer game setting.

The makers hoped to create a buzz like the film The Social Network but here the battle about a moral crusader who uses grandstanding to destroy Rockstar felt overlong even at 90 minutes. Paxton also reminded me too much of the righteous character he played in his directorial debut, Frailty.

Poor Daniel Radliffe, the weight of this entire movie is being carried by him and him alone.

1. He is the only actor that brings life and character to his role. 2. Next is the staff at the company, Rockstar, they are just passable in their roles. 3. Bill Paxton and Fiona Ramsay as Jack & Patricia Thompson is perfectly awful, really almost laughably awful like comic book characters. 4. And all I could think about was what a goofy parallel this story is to The Social Network. Not an exact parallel but the set up in Gamechangers is just too similar.

The director Owen Harris and writer James Wood should have taken a hint from the very topic of this story - namely Computer Graphics! An entire cast could have been designed, added voice overs, and the movie would have been the same. Uninspired, with witless dialog, and just plain slow. Even some of the photography is silly - like the scene where Radcliffe is in deep though at his desk and on the desk is an 8 Ball toy!! (get it?) And then at the end his shadow is stretched out over the staircase as he walks out into the street, really?! (like a 40's film noir) And then the Thompson character always whacking golf balls and the neighbors houses are just a few feet away. No wonder his front window was smashed in, I'm sure he broke plenty of neighbors windows whacking those golf balls! And in every Thompson house interior scene the 'cross' on the wall is in practically every camera shot.

Honestly, I truly believe Radcliffe must have been offered a sweetheart deal to appear in this kitty cat scratch box of a movie. And I bet every wacky fundamentalist Christian church will be showing this trash in their classrooms as proof positive that Christians are persecuted in this country. And nobody will ever notice that this is a crappy production.

I've had fun and love the Grand Theft Auto series, so I'm excited to see how the game has evolved. The only question that remains is what all was real and what wasn't. I enjoyed it that way, but who knows what is real and what is not. If you don't mind some false information, probably a cool movie, but if you want reality, I'd probably rather avoid it. The thing is, it's mentioned at the beginning of the movie that some scenes were edited to make it more interesting, but the question is which ones. I don't know. How true this film is in the final act I don't know. Either way, I had fun. I did. So the biggest hitch is that it probably wasn't quite like that, but it's good that it's mentioned at the beginning and I enjoyed the finale and had a good time.

Gives both sides of the argument about how the level of influence the games industry has.

I think it is thought provoking but gives both sides of the arguments and presents them in a unique style.

A lot of negative comments on here I think come from people who want to defend the games industry - but this really does give both sides of the argument and I learnt a lot at the same time as finding it entertaining.

They should do another one about COD!