Today’s quick review: Gamer. In the future, death row inmates are given a second chance at freedom through a lethal game called Slayers, where their bodies are used as player characters in a live-action version of a shooter video game. Injected with nanobots and controlled remotely by players, the inmates win their freedom if they survive thirty death matches. At the top of the charts is Kable (Gerard Butler), a man who wants his freedom so he can reunite with his family, and his controller Simon (Logan Lerman), a teenage gamer with dreams of wealth and glory. With only a few matches left until Kable goes free, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall), the wealthy and sociopathic creator of Slayers, pulls out all the stops to ensure that Kable dies in a ratings-boosting blaze of glory.
Gamer is a violent sci-fi thriller that explores the question of what happens when humans turn their bodies over to external control. While the main emphasis of the film is on the action of Slayers and Kable’s attempts to escape it, Gamer actually manages to deliver on some of the speculative aspects of its premise. The decadence and perversion of the Internet are extrapolated to the real world through Society, a Sims-like game where players control real people who rent out their bodies for the purpose. Gladiatorial combat makes a comeback through Slayers under the fig leaf that death row inmates are given a chance at freedom. There are valid points here about the inhumanity of our entertainment, rooted in violence and freedom from consequence, or perhaps about the necessary boundary between fiction and reality to prevent the entertainment from becoming inhumane.
But for the most part, Gamer uses its far-fetched premise as an excuse for a death game. Slayers is a fairly generic FPS-style urban warfare game, mostly a vehicle for gun-toting action sequences, gory deaths, and shock value. Apart from one or two clever moments, the combat is unremarkable box-checking, mostly there to satisfy the action requirement and acquaint the viewer with Slayers. Gamer does earn style points for its music choice: the film has two or three standout tracks that add a lot to the atmosphere of the world. The acting similarly supports the tone of the movie: Gerard Butler plays one of the only normal characters in the film, Terry Crews plays a menacing and psychotic rival to Kable, and Michael C. Hall plays a sadistic billionaire who has the world fooled. Everything from the camera work to the characters to the violence contributes to the surreal sensation of a world gone amok.
Gamer suffers from a number of problems that act as barriers to enjoyment. The premise is geared heavily towards an action movie, but the action in Gamer is merely adequate, not outstanding. The premise also works as a social commentary and area for sci-fi speculation, but the purposeful distastefulness of the world directly impacts its plausibility. Gamer has the tone of a critique and the back story of an action movie, and neither of these are enough to support Gamer as serious speculation. Its entertainment value as an action movie is damaged by its mediocre combat and emphasis on an inhuman future. The film is left to coast on its style and its dark but consistent view on humanity.
Watch Gamer if you are willing to spend some time with the seamy side of humanity for the sake of violence, style, and intellectual bubblegum. Gamer does not stand out as an action movie, a sci-fi movie, or a social commentary, but the combination of elements makes for an interesting watch. Those who find the tone or style enjoyable will get something out of this movie, but most others will not. The ideal viewer is desensitized to violence, attracted to spectacle, and willing to chew on what speculation and commentary Gamer has to offer. Those who are sensitive to violence, have an optimistic view of humanity, or prefer their action unadulterated and guilt-free should skip the film entirely.
5.8 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.0 to 7.5 for interesting concepts and stylization, but others will find it closer to 6.0 or 6.5 according to their tastes.