In a distant future, death row inmates are forced to battle in a real world combat game called ‘Slayers’. Convict Kable (Gerard Butler), who is controlled by the exceptionally skilled teenage gaming sensation Simon (Logan Lerman), must survive thirty grueling ‘Slayers’ sessions, in return, he will be set free, which according to ‘Slayers’ creator Ken Castle, ‘is a pretty good deal…..’
I know what you cynics are thinking, I confess, I initially thought exactly the same…..Gerard Butler is playing the lead role and Neveldine and Taylor are directing, this is going to be abysmal. Well, hold that thought…because as an action film, Gamer more than holds its own as it has brutal fights a plenty, large-scale battle scenes, all of which are executed extremely well.
However, in another interesting twist, Gamer is a much more intelligent piece than the trailer, and some of the directors other work will lead you to believe and in fact also delivers as a sort of science fiction movie in my opinion.
The movie touches on themes that we can resonate with, including back in 2009, a very real economic desperation, as well as other subject matter including, prison overcrowding, the fallout of materialism and technology naively promoted as respite for society’s ills – see much more intelligent than you’d have given it credit for right??
The movie digs deeper into the issue of society being addicted to technology at the expense of facing reality – sound familiar? Masses of ‘gamers’, trapped within adolescence or drawn to the promise unbridled self-indulgence without factoring any of the consequences, living lonely existences, solely through their avatars.
Then, you have the poverty stricken, the desperate people with this society who have surrendered control of their bodies to the will of ‘gamers’ Ok, at times, it is very Neveldine and Taylor and by this I mean it pushes the envelope visually, thus making me cringe – but I really do feel that these visuals have a place here as it really rams home what this world we are immersed in, is actually about.
Anyway, enough philosophy, Michael C. Hall delivers a fantastic performance as the multi-faceted Ken Castle, Kyra Sedgwick nails her talk show host, it was great to see her back on screen, and that brings us nicely to Mr. Butler who plays the hero archetype admirably, as every bit of the man who his spoiled teenage gamer-puppeteer cannot become – poor old Gerrard does get a bad rap at times, but I personally really like him and there isn’t a lot I won’t watch him in, but that will no doubt divide opinion.
Gamer may actually end up as a cult classic, a slowly growing mainstream success, or could stay underrated indefinitely, but it’s definitely worth a view if you are a fence-sitter on this type of move, the directors, or its lead.