Nice effects though.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

How did they manage to mess up such a tried and tested concept so well? They hired some great actors, but no one could save this script. Michael C Hall does not fit his character whatsoever (and don't get me started on his song and dance routine.)There's a scene where a character drinks alcohol, vomits it into a car's petrol tank, and then uses said vomit to fuel the car. This is meant to be taken seriously. That scene actually sums the entire film up pretty well.I've lost interest that much that I still have the movie on as I type this. They could've gone properly dark and gritty, like Black Mirror, or taken a light hearted B movie approach. Unfortunately they awkwardly sat on the fence between these two choices.Save yourself the disappointment and watch Ready Player One instead.

Director Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor brought the thrills and impressive visuals in the film Crank (2006) and its sequels. Here in this sci-fi action thriller, not so much. Set in the near-future when humans are able to control others through mind control, Michael C. Hall (Dexter) plays Ken Castle, a technological genius who runs a live-action online third-person shooter game known as "Slayers", where prisoners are pulled out of death row and forced to battle in a gun-blazing fight to the death; on live television. The last man left alive at the end of the game wins his freedom. Gerard Butler plays Kable, a prisoner who must fight to the end and make it out alive to get back to his wife and daughter. Logan Lerman plays Simon, a cocky, but expert gamer who controls Kable in the game. While this film follows an undoubtedly interesting premise and boasts some great action sequences, it suffers from an extreme lack of substance and execution; here is why. The plot development is very clumsy and goes in many directions it doesn't need to go. As it follows Gerard Butler's character Kable trying to make to the last round of the game, he learn that Michael C. Hall's character (the bad guy) is plotting to kill him. We are never given the motive as to why he doing it or what he wants from Kable exactly. Towards the climax, the plot transcends into this ridiculous convoluted mess where nothing makes sense anymore. As a case in point, the characters feel one- dimensional and hard to care about. Secondly, throughout the film while we are being treated with these unflinching bloody and violent shootouts, there is an unnecessary amount of sexual intercourse and nudity. Basically whats goes on in these scenes, is men and women who are sort of like avatars in the game world, flashing their breasts, flashing their bottoms, or engaging in sexual activity and what not; and it is just so unnecessary. These scenes are very misogynistic (especially with Amber Valleta's character) and are designed to just make the audiences uncomfortable. Then there are these other scenes that are just straight up perverted. It makes the movie look more like a porno. And the worst part is, the players on the outside controlling them. This film seems to aim to be more exploitative than realistic. Don't get wrong, I am have seen movies like this, but this is one just makes it unpleasant. Overall, Gamer is a bit of a mess. This film not only runs on a horrifically bad script, but is very crude, loathsome, and tries it hardest to make viewers uncomfortable. Basically, if you have a problem with extreme violence, sex, and nudity; you are definitely gonna hate this movie. Even if you are a big video game addict, you still have very little chance of enjoying this.

Imagine digital entertainment where players dress, equip and control a persona in the game world and interact with a community of other players through these personas. Now replace the digital personas with real, remote controlled human beings and assume that society had evolved to be OK with that. That's this film's basic premise. Then, one step further, take 3rd person shooter games where a player equips and controls a virtual soldier in a combat arena fighting other players' soldiers and, again, replace the virtual combat with the real thing. That's what had me interested. The whole idea of these brutal "games" and a society that accepts them as entertainment strongly reminded me of Rollerball, The Running Man or Death Race 2000. At first, the film sets this up really well: "players" have become detached from the fact that they control other human beings and they overlook the visceral details of the battles they control. Then there's the focus on the protagonist Kable (Geralt Butler) with his mysterious motivation and his player, who is actually just a naive kid. I was expecting the film would focus on this relationship, maybe forcing them into a reluctant partnership. Of course, in the tradition of dystopian future stories, there's also a resistance trying to shut the games down. So, with this number of parties involved I was getting ready for some interesting things to happen. Sadly the film does not deliver what it promises. I think the important questions like who Kable is and what makes him so significant to his opponents were left largely unanswered. The relationship with the actual "gamer" - the player - is never really explored and even the game aspect itself becomes fairly redundant. Ultimately, I felt even The Running Man made its main character more believable - and that's saying a lot. So, this film borrows concepts from other dystopian death game scenarios but it doesn't do much with them except modernize and further dumb down the plot. It's almost as if producers were scared of stepping on corporate toes. Whatever talent or potential the film may have is wasted on a flimsy excuse of a plot to make Geralt Butler's grizzled fighter beat and shoot things up. I found it entertaining for a while and then the convenient coincidences, contrived conclusion and especially the mustache-twirlingly evil villain got on my nerves. From the blurb I was expecting a reasonably complex sci-fi action thriller. Those expectations were clearly the wrong ones.

Gamer, directed by Neveldine/Taylor is set in a dystopic future where the global prison system puts criminals, convicts and death row inmates in a game called Slayer, where a user takes control of the prisoner's body, and sends them into all-out war. Survive 30 rounds, and you're set free. The only problem is, no one has ever beat the game. When death row inmate Kable (Gerard Butler), the icon of Slayer, discovers he's a part of a conspiracy involving Slayer, Society (another game where people control people) and Ken Castle, the man who created both games. Will Kable survive long enough to expose the plot, or be another victim to the game.Gamer is certainly a creative and entertaining movie, one that's not based on a video game, but a movie about video games. Neveldine/Taylor are strange and inventive directors, but not the best (Crank 2 and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance are examples of their failures). Though, here, they are at their best. With gritty, "in your face" camera work and non-stop violence, Gamer certainly takes action to another level. Although, their writing is poor here. Almost all of the footage involving Society, a Sims-esque reality, is all about sexual drive. So, really, that's the biggest low-point of Gamer; where they show Society being all about sex. The high-point of Gamer, though, is the acting. Gerard Butler is better here than in 300, and Michael C. Hall as Ken Castle was just amazing. A scene towards the end where Kable and Ken come face-to-face, and with Castle's goons is just phenomenal (also, the best written scene). The visual effects are good for a lower-budgeted film, and the soundtrack is good and fitting. I just wish they got rid of a lot of the sexual content from the movie because, if they did, and focused more on the regular prison life outside Slayer (as well as life outside Society) the movie would have been truly great.7/10 Stars