Gamer

2.5/5

I'll get straight to the point, this really isn't a very good film. It really is style over substance big time, and if they actually went into developing the substance more it would have made for a good social commentary piece, as there is a lot to say there but they really didn't go in the direction. Instead they focused on the action and the gross sex stuff.

So what is this about exactly? Well it is the future, and games are pretty much all anyone is doing. There are two main games which were created by this insanely rich guy Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), Society and Slayer. These games are a lot different as you actually play as real people, where one game focuses on sex the other is about violence. One of the gamers Kable (Gerard Butler) and his player are unstoppable and Kable seems to be the key to the rebels taking down Castle.

So what was actually good about this film? Gerard Butler, he does what he has to do with the role (and a terrible name for his character), the man belongs in action. He's ripped, he's charismatic, and he's awesome. The action scenes in the game of Slayer for the most part are pretty awesome and gruesome in their violence and I dug that. Michael C. Hall whilst he had a really poorly written character, really just runs with it and owns. He's a cool dude and even though there is a scene with out of the park dancing, he can pull it off. This film is filled with weird cameo's and some feel out of place, and others were just utterly disturbing (Milo Ventimiglia).

The Society game is actually very disgusting, and some of those scenes are just nausiating to watch, the way they were filmed was just too trippy and just not very good. Society is like an over sexed SIMS type game, and there is so much they could have said about it but they didn't. The script is pretty awful for the film, the team behind this film pulled off something awesome and fun with Crank but it seems they can't really recreate that.

There were moments in this film I had fun, and other moments that dragged, and other bits that were just not very good at all. For the most part I enjoyed Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall but yes this film does not have a lot going for it. Pretty average, and it could have been so much better considering the premises is actually a good one.