Gamer

• Starring : Gerard Butler, Alison Lohman, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael C. Hall, John Leguizamo, Logan Lerman, Terry Crews
• Release date: 4 September 2009
• Runtime: 95 mins
• Rating: R
• Genre: action, sci-fi, thriller

Synopsis:

Reality and video games merge in this high-concept sci-fi action thriller from Crank creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. In the not too distant future, mind-control technology allows humans to control the actions and movements of other humans, allowing reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) to create the ultimate video game. It’s called “Slayers,” and it’s a mass-scale, multiplayer online first-person shooter that’s as controversial as it is popular. In the world of gamers, Simon (Logan Lerman) is a rock star; miraculously managing to keep his character alive week after week, he racks up frags like Billy Mitchell jumps barrels. But unlike Mitchell’s Mario, Simon’s video-game avatar is a living, breathing human being named Kable (Gerard Butler). Defying the odds to keep Kable running and gunning though even the most explosive battles, Simon captures the imagination of a global audience. Torn from his family, thrown into prison, and forced to fight against his will, Kable realizes that his only hope of ever seeing his family again is to somehow escape the game, reclaim his identity, and expose Castle’s dehumanizing technology on live television. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Review:

“Gamer” takes up the wild action where the two “Crank” movies left off. Following the boxoffice success with those films, co-creators Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor turn their video game/boy sensibilities to science fiction. Here, gamers play icons that are, in fact, living human beings who kill or get killed according to the skill of their online controllers.

The movie is meant to be a total rush. Action is frantic, life is cheap, images hit fast, characters barely register, and the whole experience is one of desensitization. No doubt, Crankheads will eat it up.

The “Crank” films saw Jason Statham rushing here and there to keep his heart pumping hard so that a Chinese poison wouldn’t kill him. In “Gamer,” an athletic Gerard Butler dashes through an urban battle zone, wasting faceless, nameless opponents without any control over his actions. For Kable — a prisoner who can supposedly vie for a commuted sentence by participating in these gladiatorial games — is controlled (via implanted computer chips in the brain) by Simon (Logan Lerman). This teen video prodigy guides him to weekly victories that enthrall millions around the globe.

The game, along with a sister game that delves into sexual fetishes and prostitution, is the brainchild of reclusive megalomaniac Castle (Michael C. Hall). Not only has Castle been made a multibillionaire by these games, but he uses them to test out mind-and-body controls for even more sinister purposes.

Butler’s character has a backstory along with a wife (Amber Valletta) and daughter, but this sort of movie has no time to get into all that. Indeed, nothing about the movie’s political or sociological environment is given even a passing glance. A moment of thought is a wasted moment here, so Neveldine/Taylor, as the writers-directors bill themselves, keep pressure on the throttle for 95 minutes.

Butler is the perfect nonthinking hero. Scarcely aware of his own reality or identity, Butler dashes through the movie in a role that is all action and no acting. No one else, including Kyra Sedgwick as a trashy talk-show host, fares any better.

Hall does have a bizarre moment near the climax when he does a slick dance number with a few thought-controlled goons that suggests Neveldine/Taylor actually were going for humor. It doesn’t work, though, because it’s totally out of keeping with everything else.

The technical barrage of visual and digital effects, quick cuts and strobe lighting does produce something akin to the sensation of playing a video game. So why, one wonders, don’t potential viewers simply play one instead of watching this pale imitation? (hollywoodreporter.com)