Gamer (2009)

Director: Brian Taylor

Cast: Gerard Butler as Kable / John Tillman, Amber Valletta as Angie, Michael C. Hall as Ken Castle, Kyra Sedgwick as Gina Parker Smith, Logan Lerman as Simon Silverton, Alison Lohman as Trace, Terry Crews as Hackman, Ramsey Moore as Gorge, Ludacris as Humanz Brother (as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges), Aaron Yoo as Humanz Dude, Jonathan Chase as Geek Leader, Dan Callahan as Backup Geek, Brighid Fleming as Delia, Johnny Whitworth as Travis Scotch, Keith Jardine as Mean Slayer

Funnily, the movie does verge toward something interesting and possibly
intriguing at two or three places. But alas--- nothing whatsoever came
of any of that, and the plot simply oozed on, spreading outwards like
the sludge from a spilt toxic waste barrel.

All of the movie's concepts and plot points were covered loads better
in earlier films. Not least is the old Arnold Schwartzenegger "Running
Man." That was a popcorn trifle, to be sure, but nonetheless pretty
novel and very good at the time. Even last year's "Death Race," the
EXACT same concept, was done much, much better, and was in fact a minor
work of art for those into the genre.

The trailers for "Gamer," heck, even the title of this movie were
clear: this was a movie immersed in the action and feel of a young
kid's violent hand-held video game. Duh... I thought, though, that
perhaps there was some kind of story underneath it all. I thought
surely there is some redeeming value here. Perhaps it was one of those
"world view" treatises that explores alternate realities or something.
Wrong. I should known better. Thsis movie was so chock-full of junky
violent effects, most of them of a mediocre quality, that it was
nothing but a storm of 14 year-old boys' fantasies. I had them when I
was 14. I am way past that now, thus the movie was just dull and stupid
from my viewing perspective.

I am not upset that such violent trash gets made. Different strokes for
different folks, etc. But unless you are someone who truly enjoys going
to Monster Truck demolition derbies, swerve your car to actually HIT
squirrels in the roadway, or spend virtually every waking moment
slack-jawed and drooling whilst furiously clicking away on your Gameboy
(or whatever is cool these days), I urge you to save your time and your
money, and avoid this messy, blurry, extremely nervous and vapid
exercise.

Let me make it even clearer: this film is badly made. My objection to
it is not the plot, nor the characters nor the theme. Rather I object
to the fact that it is crap, in my view. I am willing to lose a few
quid on the ticket... but how do I recoup my lost time going to the
cinema? Again,. my bad. I should have known better. Oh---and yes, I
have seen examples in this genre that I kind of liked, over the years.