GAMER (2009)

GAMER (2009)

Gerard Butler’s latest, “Gamer” is essentially a rehash of the Arnold Schwarzenegger 1987 sci-fi actioner “The Running Man”, minus the groan-inducing quips and overall sense of cheesy fun. Sure, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have more to work with, including a more expressive leading man in Gerard Butler (though he doesn’t necessarily show it off here), better CG-assisted mayhem, and of course, more advanced squib effects to wow the audience with.

Unfortunately the 2009 edition doesn’t have nearly the personality of its predecessor, and for all his thespian chops, Butler is reduced to little more than an anonymous shooting, grunting, and punching stuntman throughout the movie. Mind you, not that that’s a bad thing. Here, a stuntman who can shoot and run and survive outrageous explosions is really all you need.

“Gamer” takes place in one of those “sometime in the future” future, where death row inmates are given the option of participating in a game called Slayers for the chance at freedom. Slayers is a bloody game where the con’s every action is controlled by a player, usually a kid standing inside a high-tech version of a desktop computer, except, well, it’s an entire room. The game was created by eccentric billionaire Ken Castle (Dexter’s Michael C. Hall), who has struck a deal with the federal government to take the cons off their burdened hands, and created an instant, global hit from it. The game’s greatest superstar is Kable (Butler), who as the film opens, is just four games shy of getting his grimy, blood-splattered hands on that elusive ticket to freedom. For you see, in exchange for participation in the game, the prisoners/players will be set free if they can survive 30 rounds of Slayers. No one has ever gotten as far as Kable, and if Castle has his way, Kable’s streak will never reach 30.

Anyone who has played their share of online multiplayer FPS (First-Person Shooters, like the “Call of Duty” games) will think they’ve just been beamed into an honest to goodness multiplayer game, complete with grenade-lobbing players and those loathsome campers. Written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (the boys behind the “Crank” films), “Gamer” feels so in tuned with the online multiplayer gaming world that it’s not hard to be sucked in if you’ve ever created a custom class and jumped into a quick online game of “Call of Duty” with players from around the world. It’s only when the film’s proper “plot” kicks in that things get bogged down. Yeah, yeah, what Castle is doing is wrong, I agree – now can we get back to the badass free-for-all action already?

The film’s “real world” plot has a small group of hackers (led by rapper Ludacris, if that wasn’t ludicrous enough, ahem, and including “Drag me to Hell’s” Alison Lohman and “Friday the 13th’s” Aaron Yoo) trying to break Castle’s growing control of society’s entertainment needs. Kyra Sedgwick plays a reporter who questions Castle’s motives; her amusing interview with the eccentric Castle early in the film also acts as the script’s introduction to “Gamer’s” world. The hackers figure prominently into helping Kable escape the game, though I could never really figure out if Neveldine and Taylor knew what they wanted to do with the characters once Kable was freed. Logan Lerman plays Simon, the teenager who “plays” Kable. He’s another character that the writers/directors seem unsure what to do with once Kable is set loose.

If you’ve seen “Crank” or its sequel, then you know what to expect from Neveldine and Taylor, and they certainly don’t hold back here. The film’s real draw is its intense Slayer action, featuring some harrowing action sequences that need to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately the film’s biggest strength also reminds us how lacking the rest of the film is. Once Kable escapes, the intensity of the action drops noticeably. The film tries to soldier on by following Kable’s quest to reunite his family, which includes a young child and his wife, Angie (Amber Valletta), who is forced to make a living as an avatar for players in Castle’s other hit game, Society — basically a twisted, perverted, and real-life version of the popular SIMs game.

The parts of “Gamer” that excels are its “in-game” worlds – the entirely unrealistic but brutal world of Slayers, and the queasy, twisted, and oh-so-possible hedonism of Society, where people are literally controlled by players who forces them to do anything and everything for their enjoyment. Compared to Society, the world of Slayers is so over the top that it’s hard to take too seriously (would anyone really condone “playing” people who essentially kill other for our enjoyment, even death row convicts?), whereas Society’s world feels like it’s right around the corner, and is something that might be more readily acceptable to the masses. Yes, there are people who will pay to take control of strangers and use them to live out their fantasies, and there are people who are desperate enough that they would willingly subject themselves to be “played” for money. “Gamer’s” method of control, through nanite machines implanted in people’s brains may be farfetched, but let’s face it, a more low-tech version of Society is very much possible now.

Gorehounds and action junkies will certainly find a lot to like about “Gamer”. The film may be rated R, but I’m surprised it wasn’t slapped with something harder. The Slayers sequences feature an insane amount of graphic deaths, while the Society sequences are just wrong in so many ways. Neveldine and Taylor have clearly done their homework when it came to making sure their movie’s “games” are as real as possible, but alas, the rest of “Gamer” is stuff rehashed from “The Running Man”, right down to the eccentric and nutty villain. The only difference is that instead of just trying to make some cash, “Gamer’s” Richard Dawson has global domination ambitions. I guess you can say the bad guy here is more James Bond villain than heartless ratings-obsessed game show host.

Being familiar with Neveldine and Taylor’s filmmaking style, I wasn’t at all surprised by the level of crazy (some would say, refreshingly creative) that makes up much of “Gamer”. It’s such a “Neveldine and Taylor movie” that I would be disappointed if the film was any less out of control and this close to being downright offensive. The plot with the hackers is hackneyed (no pun intended) and filler material, and the film’s closing act is a big letdown after the film’s (literally) explosive start. Really? A fistfight on a basketball court? I guess. That aside, the film is a lean, mean 90 minutes, and boredom won’t be much of an issue. Gamers will no doubt get more out of it than your average moviegoer, but everyone else should still have fun with it.

Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor (director) / Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor (screenplay)
CAST: Gerard Butler … Kable
Amber Valletta … Angie
Michael C. Hall … Ken Castle
Kyra Sedgwick … Gina Parker Smith
Logan Lerman … Simon
Alison Lohman … Trace
Ludacris … Humanz Brother
Aaron Yoo … Humanz Dude
Milo Ventimiglia … Rick Rape
Zoe Bell … Sandra
John Leguizamo … Freek

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