Gamer

Dir: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Crank: High Voltage)
Cast: Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Alison Lohman, Michael C Hall, Logan Lerman, Kyra Sedgwick, Ludicris, John Leguizamo, Zoe Bell
USA, 2009

Seen: September 4, 2009 at Scotiabank

Reason to see: Gaming-centric film with Gerard Butler? I'm exactly that target market.

Wow. I'll give Gamer 2 things and 2 things only. 1) Michael C. Hall was fantastic as the eccentric monopoly megalomania . 2) They totally tricked me! The trailers had no hint at all of a huge section of the film filled with gender crap and gaming/virtual reality scenarios where women are subjected to awful potential or actual scenarios and are literally treated like objects. Have any doubts? Look at the characters names listed for the film, specifically Rick ____.

The side of the film that they do show in the trailer with the prisoners-are-being-played-in-extremely-violent-scenarios is only about half of the film and the action for it was extreme but not bloody (ratings choice?). The world created was reminiscent of something between Starship Troopers and Repo! The Genetic Opera but without singing or aliens. The gaming worlds itself was full of loopholes and rarely provided clear explanation to how or why things happened.

I'm shocked I stayed to watch it in full. I don't think I'll be seeing any more films for me by these directors.

Shannon's Overall View:
I hated it
I will not watch it again
I'd recommend it people who liked Crank, which was a Non-Review

15 minutes of preshow including 5 commercials and 5 previews: The Wolfman (2010), Surrogates, Jennifer's Body, The Fourth Kind and Saw VI

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© Shannon Ridler, 2009