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''...Kable's the perfect soldier. He's a tactical killing computer. His only vulnerability is the nanex itself; the *ping*, the delay between Simon's commands and Kable's ability to execute...''
Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments...
Gerard Butler: Kable
We see many types of futuristic films mixed with an action-packed revenge bad guy theme. In this regard Gamer is no different from previous projects which have preceded this venture. For it's strengths it has some interesting ideas and moralistic questions of how free will and control can be applied to human beings on a large scale. Death Race, a similar film released a couple of years ago, also had an entertainment spin on violence, criminals and racing. Gamer is a sort of virtual version of the former, being one of action, carnage and perhaps lacking originality in places but making up for that with new ideas in others.
The whole concept gels well because Gamer also has a tightly knitted cast of strong players. Gerard Butler being the star attraction of the whole affair, Michael C. Hall the villian mastermind, and Logan Lerman as Simon the kid controlling Butler's Kable star of the game 'Slayers'.
Acting wise it is weak on various scenes, which is unfortunate because other scenes are well executed.
The actors weren't bad, but they were given little to work with. Butler was extraordinarily limited with few lines, I realise he's capable of so much more emotion than he showed here, so even his most poignant scenes were apparently stripped of almost all feeling by the directors. Sedgwick was so exaggerated as a character that she was stereotypically robotic, so much so that her character didn't gel with all the other characters she got into contact with. Can Valeletta act? I have no idea because she really didn't act at all here nor did it appear that she was supposed to.
As for Ludacris he was simply ludicrous in this, his acting talent non-existent. I mean not all black people talk like home boys, and this let down the film slightly.
''I hope one day to have the opportunity to breach your firewall, Miss Parker Smith.''
Gamer was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor(Crank). I loved the action, but I disliked the script. It was disjointed and far too stylized, while I'm as much a fan of hand-held cameras as anybody, it was overused in the whole picture, and then combined with what amounted to a strobe effect as the screen flashed split seconds of disparate scenes. While these things can be very effective and provide unique perspectives they are not necessary in being used so often.
I liked ideas, in the film, such as Kable drinking a whole bottle of vodka or alcohol, so he can later be sick into a car, hence giving fuel to the vehicle. A particularly disgusting fat guy controlling a girl confused me, but also made sense, in the regard there are a vast amount of sickos out there. A midget, a basketball final act, and a massive shootout in a suburban area show how surreal this whole affair is.
Overall, Gamer is over so fast, gives us new ideas as well as old ones, opens our eyes to a futuristic vision of possibility. Gamer seems to be released in a time where hollywood seems to be interested in ''control'' and ''future'' with the also similar Surrogates. Fans of Gerard Butler, action films or futuristic movies will love this, just don't go into Gamer expecting a revelation or mind-blowing twist, this is violent rollercoaster fun.
''This is not something you can control!''
6/10
