The Hollywood standard of making an action hero movie about a man who is able to find weapons on a minutes notice or a man who has a back ground that will help him dispatch the bad guys. The new thing today is the condemned man on death row taking part in a game to earn their freedom, we saw this in Death Race earlier this year, their the movie was as bad as they get. Taking a Sci-Fi movie and mixing it with an action theme can be truly awful or amazing to watch, seldom is there any middle ground, with "Gamer" the amazing idea that this premise brings to the table works, its not perfect but it is still very much exciting to watch.
Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, one such game called Slayers allows convicted felons to earn their freedom if they survive ten matches. Kable (Gerard Butler) is almost through his ten matches when he starts to get signals that some things may not be on the up and up. Humanz Brother (Ludacris) is a hacker trying to regain some semblance of control. he is trying to let the world know that what is going on in these games is nothing more than murder. The kid, Simon (Logan Lerman) who is controlling Kable is also let in on the scheme to help free Kable to once and for all bring down the designer of the game, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) from the inside.
Things go from hectic to crazy when Kable's wife, Angie (Amber Valletta) is working another one of castle's games a more intimate game where people can control others for what ever kinky idea of fun they can come up with. When Kable is able to break free from the games boundaries his first order of business is to go get his wife, pursued by every cop in the area, Kable has to make his way across town, aided by Humanz Brother and his crew, Kable is able to make it to where his wife is and save her, he is also able to get to Castle, and when he does its game over.The game sequences are pretty fast and in your face, the violence is right there, it is blood and gore from the start.
Along the way, a reporter Gina Parker Smith (Kyra Sedgwick) with a nose for the truth discovers that Kable is free and looking for revenge. When she is able to track Kable she decides that she wants to help him get to the truth no matter the cost, when people start to die around them it is time to turn up the heat. Soon it will be time for Kable confronts Ken, the build up to this is swift and intense. So it is sad to say that the expected fight between the two is disappointing to say the least. The fight is almost silly and isn't worth the build up that it took to get from point A to point B. That's a shame because the movie has a lot going for it, Gerard Butler has proven he can flex his muscle with the best of the best, here he wastes his bulk and talent. Michael C. Hall has done inane and silly before and he does it very well on Showtime's Dexter, that series is fantastic and the silliness grows on you, in Gamer it grows tedious and dull.
I give Gamer a 2 and on my avoidance scale a 0, only because the cast is deserving of a better script and also because the action isn't comedic or silly, it is as real as it gets. If you like movies for the action this is one to watch, but if you want realistic payoffs this game(r) may not be for you.
Gamer is rated R for Frenetic Sequences of Strong Brutal Violence Throughout, Sexual Content, Nudity and Language
Running time is 1 hr. 45 mins.
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