Gamer
Gamer
Set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle has created the controversial form of entertainment, "Slayers," a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies -- online -- in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension-mind control-manipulation-people playing people. At the center is Kable, the superstar and cult hero of "Slayers," the savage, ultra-violent first person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.
1.7 out of 5 based on 7 reviews
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Omniscore:
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| Certificate |
18 |
| Genre |
Action / Adventure, Sci-Fi / Fantasy |
| Director |
Brian Taylor Mark Neveldine |
| Cast |
Michael C. Hall, Alison Lohman, Milo Ventimiglia Gerard Butler |
| Studio |
Lakeshore Entertainment |
| Release Date |
September 2009 |
| Running Time |
95 mins |
| |
Set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm. Humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle has created the controversial form of entertainment, "Slayers," a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies -- online -- in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension-mind control-manipulation-people playing people. At the center is Kable, the superstar and cult hero of "Slayers," the savage, ultra-violent first person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.
Watch the trailer on the official website
Reviews
Empire Magazine
Kim Newman
“It’s not as immediately gripping as Crank and has one crucial lapse of imagination – the main game seems like a conventional first-person shooter – but has astonishing moments (Hall miming to Sammy Davis Jr as his choreographed kill-squad batter Butler) and concepts.”
25/09/2009
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Time Out
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
“Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (‘Crank’) direct with their usual flashy brio, and basso profundo Keith David has a sublime cameo as a cop indignant at the thought of a pistachio butter sandwich. Yes, it’s that kind of movie, folks.”
17/09/2009
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Total Film
Tony Horkins
“It won’t win points for originality or depth, but the Crank boys are still on their game as far as sex, violence and sheer unapologetic excess go. High concept, high octane, highly likely to end up a post-pub staple.”
15/09/2009
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Variety
Rob Nelson
“Notwithstanding some visual quotations from Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" and "Gladiator," there's little to distinguish the film from a random assembly of Xbox carnage. Neveldine/Taylor's post-production crew subjects the helmers' footage to split-second cutting, strobe effects and all other manner of digital futzing, to no effect but the viewer's growing desire to play "Call of Duty 4" -- or "Pac-Man" -- instead.”
04/09/2009
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The Los Angeles Times
Glenn Whipp
“It's a deeply cynical and joyless point of view, completely lacking in the winking visual style that made "Crank" worth a look. The one touch of wit -- Hall lip-syncing and dancing to Sammy Davis Jr.'s rendition of "I've Got You Under My Skin" before going ballistic on Butler -- is quickly enveloped by an ending that could generously be described as perfunctory. Rarely have the words "game over" come as such sweet relief.”
07/09/2009
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Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
“I have a suspicion that the script for Gamer wasn't so much written as cobbled together from the leftover chips and circuits from The Running Man, Death Race and Rollerball... It may be intended to come across as satire but the film's beatings and killings are delivered in an atmosphere of morally weightless flash, and the rampant misogyny isn't subversive or witty, just painfully adolescent.”
13/09/2009
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The Daily Telegraph
Sukhdev Sandhu
“...why would its target audience of arrested adolescents and twitchy man-boys want to schlep all the way to a movie theatre and pay extra quids to watch a non-interactive version of a form of entertainment they already have at home? There were other questions I wanted to pose to the makers of Gamer as I left the screening in a state of, well, not concussion, but rather borderline comatization: can I get my money back? Can I get back the ninety minutes of my life that I squandered sitting through this miasmic upchuck of techno sludge? What was the story again?”
17/09/2009
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