Gamer

Some years ago, never mind how many (it was four, actually), there was a movie. A movie in which the events were so amazingly stupid and over-the-top that its filmmaking was pure genius. A movie that split audiences in the middle, with some saying it was a retarded, piss-poor pile of crap, and others who said it was a brilliantly self-aware shotgun up the ass to those whose movie taste ranges from "arty crap" to "even more arty crap." The latter group are the smart ones. In a way.

This was Crank, a hilariously unrestrained movie done in the style of a video game, written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. And now from these two michevious filmmakers, we have Gamer, another overblown live action video-game, but this one is a little different.

Gerard Butler is Kable, a condemned criminal who should be on death row for murder (he's obviously a very likeable main character....seriously, he is). But instead he is the popular super-star of "Slayers", a game in which the bodies of convicts are fully controlled by outside players through microchips in the inmate's brains. In this brutally violent game which is broadcast to the whole nation, the prisoners are forced to battle each other in vicious surroundings (guns, explosions, people on fire, cars spinning through the air, also on fire, y'know), with the one to survive 30 contests being set free. Kable, however, has other plans, and decides to escape so that he can see his wife Angie (Amber Valletta), who is part of another living game called Society, and his daughter Delia (Brighid Fleming).

Of course, this pisses off the game's creator Ken Castle (a mesmerising Michael C. Hall), whose warped schemes (gasp!) are threatened by Kable's breakout. And so, Kable joins forces with an extremist group which is against Castle to find his wife and daughter, while determined to take Castle down and kick his ass. Awesome.

And that's all this movie is. Awesome. It's bullets, blood, carnage, with a slice of revenge and filled with things that go boom. Not only does this aid in the movie's appeal, it also holds it back. With Neveldine and Taylor's Crank, it was so much more than that. You see, Crank was not just awesome, it was brilliantly memorable, extraordinarily immoral and so exaggerated that it was somewhat hypnotic. Gamer, however, just doesn't quite have this, but hell it gives it a go.

Sure, it doesn't have the extravagance or sense of humour of Crank, but there's no denying that it's just as fun and entertaining as it, which is all it's trying to be. This is partly due to Neveldine and Taylor's direction, of which I am a fond admirer. Their fast-paced, erratic way of filming is put to perfect use in Gamer, giving a sense of the warfare on-screen, and also delivering the feel of an action-packed video game. And as usual, they've put in lots of pointless shots of tits. Woop.

In Gamer, we have three different worlds presented to us. One is just the normal, yet futuristic streets of the outside world. Another is Slayers, the gritty and violent blood-shed game. And there is also another world, the world in which Kable's wife Angie works. This is Society, which is very much akin to The Sims, and is presented in a cartoony, colourful way, the complete opposite of Slayers. It shows off Neveldine and Taylor's brilliant creativity and gives them a chance to do something a little different, as the rest of the movie is full-on brutality and grit. It also displays how messed up these breathing human-character games are, as Angie is forced to do degrading things by her fat shit slob of a controller.

The editing of Gamer is pretty solid, flawlessly captivating during action scenes without seeming like a schizophrenic mess. However, I have to say that overall the movie is a bit brief, with the final act arriving a bit too early. But Christ, what a final act!

Butler's performance is decent enough, playing a character who's been through a lot of torment and pain. You can feel Kable's desperation to escape the blood and guts of Slayers, and to just go home to his wife and daughter. However, I have always had a problem with the Scotsman's attempts at an American accent. To me, he just sounds weird. I can't explain it, he just does, and there were points in the movie where I just wanted to rip out his vocal chords so that I didn't have to listen to the exasperating Scottish American drone coming from them. Ugh. But it's Michael C. Hall who stands tall in Gamer, offering an enthralling performance as the eccentric villain who has been given too much control. It's an excellently over-played excecution from him, showing off his impressive talents as an actor.

Also on fine form is Logan Lerman, who plays Kable's 17 year old controller, Simon (yeah, yeah, Simon Says, very funny). He is basically an exaggeration of the modern-day teenager, addicted to technology and the internet, with a massive, uh, future computer wall-screen thingy in his house.

Neveldine and Taylor have never been known as subtle filmmakers, and this is no exception. I'm not just talking about the action, I'm talking about the message, or moral, or meaning, whatever, that centers around Gamer. It is a message that we as a society are obsessed with technology and games, and this movie paints a future where we take this all too far. Yes, a future like this is unlikely, but it's a clear message that boosts the film up from being just another stupid action-fest, and being rather admirable.

Despite being a tad over-serious and lacking in Crank's wicked sense of humour, Gamer is still a pumped up, exciting piece of thrilling entertainment with fantastic direction and decent performances. It's creative, it's original in its look, and it's unique. Just someone tell Butler to keep his mouth shut.

8/10