Didn't I See This Last Year?! "Gamer" Is "Death Race" Without The Cars.
Written: Aug 31 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Decent acting, Moments of concept, Fun in a mindless way
Cons: Unoriginal concept, Characters we don't care about.
The Bottom Line: Not truly all that imaginative (or even interesting),"Gamer" explores a violent prison game in 2034 and follows one criminal's impending freedom (if only he can kill a few more people...).
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| wlswarts's Full Review: Gamer |
For those who follow my regular reviews, I'm making no note of "violence" in the "pros" or "cons" of the new film, "Gamer" because it is, quite simply That Kind Of Film. Complaining about the violence in "Gamer" is like complaining about car chases in a Jason Statham film. That there was the closest I come to a clever segue in complaining about "Gamer," the Fall's first big action flick for adults who want mindless entertainment. The biggest complaint I had after enduring a screening of this ninety-five minute "shoot-em up" flick was that it did not take long before all I was was bored with the film. My boredom came from an easily-identifiable source: I've seen this movie before. "Gamer" is a mildly clever twist on "Death Race" (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_442126929540 ) and given that that was a remake, "Gamer" becomes pretty unoriginal upon reflection.
This ought to have been unsurprising for me considering that "Gamer" was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the team that brought us the one-trick pony "Crank" (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_340067389060 ) and its mind-numbingly pointless sequel earlier this year (which even I could not muster up the enthusiasm to go see!). Neveldine and Taylor play on the same basic instincts with "Gamer," a near-future flick that involves tough men with guns, big explosions and pointless nudity. But, again, what are we complaining about, we pretty much figured this going in!
Incarcerated and working as part of a "work release" program, Kable is a player in a game where he is a character in a live-action video game. Along with other convicted criminals, he is plugged into a Gamer's console and he responds to commands to take out adversaries, in this case other convicts. Told he will be set free after thirty victories, Kable begins to become convinced that the system itself is corrupt. As the popularity surrounding Kable grows, pressure is put on Ken Castle, the designer of the system, to keep the ratings high and the system working.
But as Kable gets closer to the thirty victories, the system itself seems to be against him and with contacts on the outside, Kable begins to piece together a conspiracy to keep the gaming system intact and popular regardless of whether or not Kable lives or dies! As the menace grows, Kable tries to work with the sympathetic forces to expose the corruption of Castle and the game.
"Gamer," to be fair, often feels fresher than it actually is and the directors do occasionally unexpected things like throw in a literal song and dance (this is less surprising when one knows that Michael C. Hall, who plays Ken, has a dance and theater background). But for the most part, "Gamer" is undermined because exactly what we suspect will happen does. This includes, rather annoyingly, moments where the mind-control technology of the gaming system is sublimated to sheer human will and we are meant to feel like human will can trump anything. Unfortunately, in this context, the idea is more problematic. Kable is supposed to be at the mercy of his player, Simon, and even the idea of Kable being able to speak without Simon controlling it becomes problematic for the concept. After all, if Kable truly has the will to take on the system all along, how did he get so far with Simon controlling him?
This leads to an unnecessary and often-pointless plot involving the reasons Kable was incarcerated and the state of his family on the outside. Here the film more-than borrows from "Death Race" and given how often uninspired that movie was, it is unsurprising how the whole conspiracy story unravels. As a result, "Gamer" is a movie that has multiple personalities, even if both are monolithic. One half of the film is a pointless, violent action-adventure film wherein a man responds to controls from a player to blow apart other human beings (who just happen to be death row inmates). The other half of the movie is a mystery involving Kable's family and the institutions which arose to create the game "Slayers."
"Gamer" is stripped of any real social commentary or social relevancy, though, because Ken Castle is a somewhat monolithic villain. There is something not right about the entrepreneur from the beginning and the movie spends more time looking at him and his issues than it does at exploring one of the basic questions the film implies. If death row criminals are set free after thirty wins - which involve killing, maiming and generally violent behavior - what is the penal system doing to society? The idea that video games are bad for people is a metaphor in hyperbole in "Gamer," but the idea that in addition to raising a new generation of psychopaths (the gamers who devalue human life by playing with death row inmates) our society becomes content within a quarter decade to let out the current generation's psychopaths for doing exactly what got them incarcerated to begin with is utterly ridiculous. As a result, this becomes a movie one can only watch with their brain firmly in the off position (though there are plenty of explosions and bright lights for those who do!).
The acting in "Gamer" is fair, with most of the performers simply playing to their strengths. Michael C. Hall uses his theater background and ability to vocalize in dialect well and Kyra Sedgwick shows up and plays essentially the same way she does in "The Closer." Even Ludacris (Chris Bridges) is surprisingly sedate in this movie and playing along the lines of other characters he has in the past. Of course everyone in "Gamer" looks Hollywood beautiful in either obvious or "ruggedly good-looking" ways.
Gerard Butler once again plays a warrior and here his performance is entirely within what is expected of him and it is hard to be empathetic with his character because Kable is a bad guy on some level. Butler plays the role as the archetypal action hero and lets the dialogue make for any character ambiguities, but on screen, he is tough, moves well and he carries the action scenes.
Still, there is nothing remarkable about "Gamer" and this becomes very easy to pass up in theaters. Wait until it hits DVD; you won't be missing anything on the slightly smaller screen.
For other films currently in theaters, please check out my reviews of:
"Love Happens" - http://www.epinions.com/content_482564607620
"Adam" - http://www.epinions.com/content_482793459332
"Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince" - http://www.epinions.com/content_477475278468
“The Time Traveler’s Wife” - http://www.epinions.com/content_481323421316
"Post Grad" - http://www.epinions.com/content_482096549508
"G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra" - http://www.epinions.com/content_481848823428
"The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" - http://www.epinions.com/content_481731251844
"District 9" - http://www.epinions.com/content_481221774980
"Julie & Julia" - http://www.epinions.com/content_478855990916
"G-Force" - http://www.epinions.com/content_478948200068
"The Ugly Truth" - http://www.epinions.com/content_478424960644
Recommended:
No
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wlswarts
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Member: W.L. Swarts
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