Gamer (2009)

Gamer: Directed by Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor. With Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Michael C. Hall, Kyra Sedgwick. In a future mind-controlling game, death row convicts are forced to battle in a ‘Doom’-type environment. Convict Kable, controlled by Simon, a skilled teenage gamer, must survive thirty sessions in order to be set free.

“The previews of Gamer didnu0026#39;t terribly appeal to me. However, after reading some initial reviews and seeing that the people over at Joblo found it to be pretty decent, I thought I would check it out. Was it what I thought it would be? Kind of. Was it entertaining? Sure.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGamer is, first and foremost, mostly a brainless action film in the vein of Crank and other hyperkinetic actioneers, which is presented in fast, somewhat jittery cuts. Thereu0026#39;s plenty of ultraviolence here and a world of uber-tech that revolves around mind control and the next phase in adult entertainment. While the premise seems a bit silly, with some people subjecting themselves to more demeaning elements, it is a bit thought provoking, which is kind of nice in an action film. It does edge close to Schwarzeneggeru0026#39;s Running Man, although this film stands on its own with a stern Gerard Butler and over-the-top Michael C Hall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, you canu0026#39;t help but feel detached from everything. The film rushes itself, finally slowing down to a decent pace at the end, with an ending that is very fitting and entertaining. However, most of it is a mix between speedy action and lackluster dramatic scenes. Why Leguizamo is in this film, I have no clue. There is enough action and techno-gunk here, however, to make for an entertaining 90 minutes. Thereu0026#39;s also plenty of Tu0026amp;A, which is rare in films these days, although I found most of it to be not veyr attractive. The interesting thing is that the film does do a good job of creating a world that could potentially exist. No matter how disturbing some elements in the film may be, they seem to have an air of truth, and that elevates this film just-above-average.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough it is certainly a film with many short comings, itu0026#39;s entertaining and presents an interesting world with some scary realizations. Let us hope that, in our lifetime, we donu0026#39;t see this sort of thing happen.”